Psychological Therapies

Question 1

What is interpersonal psychotherapy?
- focus?
- methods?
- effectiveness?

Answer 1

short-term psychodynamic therapy focused on improving current relationships
- focuses on grief, role disputes, role transitions, interpersonal deficits
- therapist plays an active role
- can be effective (particularly for depressive disorders)

Question 2

What are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors? How can they be helpful to some patients? Explain the mechanism for how they work

Answer 2

a class of antidepressant medications that increase the availability of serotonin in the brain and cause fewer side effects than earlier antidepressants
- they bind to channels for presynaptic reuptake of neurotransmitters (increase concentration in the synaptic gap)
- more opportunity to bind on the postsynaptic neuron
- not fully understood why it works for depressed patients

Question 3

What is systematic desensitization and how is it different from exposure therapy?

Answer 3

• a type of behavior therapy that involves learning a new conditioned response that is incompatible with or inhibits the old conditioned response (fear and anxiety)
• with exposure therapy, one is continuously exposed to what induces their anxiety in controlled conditions until being exposed to it no longer induces anxiety
• with systematic desensitization, the clients is in a relaxed state and imagines being exposed to each progressive stage within their anxiety hierarchy

Question 4

What are some operant conditioning techniques in behavioral theraoy?

Answer 4

shaping - reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior

Positive and negative reinforcement - increase the incidence of desired behaviors

extinction - used to reduce the occurrence of undesired behaviors

Question 5

What is electroconvulsive therapy?

Answer 5

biomedical therapy mostly used in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Involves electrically inducing a brief brain seizure. Very quick and effective treatment (relief could potentially just be short term)

• only used when other forms of treatments have failed
• controversial because some think it’s unsafe and ineffective

Question 6

What is aversive conditioning?
Why is the use of this technique limited?

Answer 6

a technique of behavior therapy that involves repeatedly pairing an aversive stimulus with the occurrence of undesirable behaviors or thoughts
- it’s generally ineffective
- this technique can potentially harm or produce discomfort for clients

Question 7

Differentiate insight-oriented therapies from cognitive, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral therapies.

Answer 7

• Cognitive, behavior and cognitive-behavior therapies have been more successful for people with panic disorder, OCD, phobic, and PTSD disorders
• there is no one therapy that is better than the other, overall they all have roughly the same success rates, besides group therapies

Question 8

Explain the “ABC” model.

Answer 8

• used to explain pathological problems in rational-emptive behavior therapy
• When an activating event occurs its the person’s beliefs about the event that cause emotional consequences.

(Activating event, beliefs, consequences)

Question 9

What are counselors?

Answer 9

• Variable training which depends on state
• amount of therapy training is dependent upon a state’s requirements

Question 10

What is the token economy?

Answer 10

a form of behavior therapy in which the therapeutic environment is structured to reward desired behaviors with tokens or points that may eventually be exchanged for tangible rewards

• most successful in controlled environments in which the client’s behavior is under ongoing supervision

Question 11

What is group therapy? what are its advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 11

therapy where multiple individuals work on their individual problems in a group

Advantages
- cost effective
-shared experience and insight

Disadvantages
- organizational difficulties
- problem individuals
- attention isn’t focused

Question 12

What is behavioral therapy?
- goal?
- origins?
- techniques?

Answer 12

• goal is to change maladaptive behavior patterns
• originated from assumption that disordered behavior is learned through conditioning
• used conditioning to extinguish unwanted behaviors

Question 13

What is psychoanalysis? what does it focus on? What techniques does it use? how effective is it?

Answer 13

• psychotherapy with emphasis on impact of repressed childhood conflicts which are influencing current problems (started by Fraud’s ideas)
• clients use free association of memories and experiences
• limited effectiveness

Question 14

How are placebo effects and natural improvement important considerations when evaluating treatment efficacy?

Answer 14

• some people report improvements despite being. administered an ineffective treatment
• often time symptoms return to their average levels without therapy

Question 15

What is motivational interviewing?

Answer 15

A humanistic therapy technique designed to help clients overcome mixed feelings they might have about committing to change
(applied to a range of problems)
- encourages and strengthens the client’s self-motivating statements

Question 16

What are psychologists?

Answer 16

licensed individuals with PhD trained to conduct therapy. Conduct psychotherapy, usually can’t prescribe medication

Question 17

What is rational emotional behavior therapy?

Answer 17

a type of cognitive therapy that focuses on changing the client’s irrational beliefs

Question 18

What is client-centered therapy?

Answer 18

a type of humanistic psychotherapy in which the therapist is non-directive and reflective, and the client directs the focus of each therapy session
- therapist must be genuine, have an unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding

Question 19

Describe cognitive biases and how they can play a role in disorders like depression.

Answer 19

instead of realistically evaluating their situation, depressed patients have developed a negative cognitive bias, consistently distorting their experiences in a negative way

Question 20

What are social workers?

Answer 20

• licensed individuals with at least a Master’s
• Trained to help individuals experience dire life situations

Question 21

What are self-help and support groups?
What are some advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 21

various methods (meetings, chatrooms, etc.) for people to discuss a shared disorder or experience

Advantages
- similar to group therapy
- can be useful for different types of issues

Disadvantages
- trained therapists usually not involved

Question 22

What is cognitive therapy?

Answer 22

• emphasis on interpretation of beliefs and assumptions
• aims to identify and correct any distorted thinking about self, others, or the world

Question 23

What is psychodynamic therapy?

Answer 23

• more modern application of Freud’s ideas
• aims to understand experiences through exploration

Question 24

What are psychotropic medications? How can they help with psychological disorders?

Answer 24

prescription drugs that alter mental functions, alleviate psychological symptoms and are used to treat psychological disorders

• they often decrease the activity of specific neurotransmitters in the brain that cause psychological disorder symptoms due to their overactivity

Question 25

What is exposure therapy?

Answer 25

a type of behavioral therapy that involved confronting emotion-arousing stimuli to reduce an emotional response
- used for phobias, panic disorders, PTSD, or related anxiety disorders

Question 26

What is short-term dynamic therapy?

Answer 26

a type of psychotherapy based on psychoanalytic theory
- time-limited, has specific goals, and therapist has an active role

Question 27

What is counterconitioning?

Answer 27

a behavior therapy technique that involves learning a new response that is compatible with a previously learned response

Question 28

What are psychiatrists?

Answer 28

• medical doctors who specialize in psychological disorders
• primarily prescribe medication but some perform psychotherapy

Question 29

What is humanistic therapy?

Answer 29

therapy with the emphasis of human potential, self-awareness, and freedom of choice
- most important factor in personality is an individual’s conscious and subjective perception of their self