Psychological Therapies treatment therapies Part 1 Flashcards
Describe what is psychotherapy
Treatment through communication and relationship factors between an individual and a therapist
How the therapist responds depends on the type of psychotherapy
Usually brief, problem-oriented
What is cognitive therapy ?
Therapist promotes the idea that thoughts affect emotions through discussion, therapist identifies patient’s cognitive errors
Patient learns to evaluate(challenge) the validity of the thoughts and replace them with more adaptive thoughts
When and what form is cognitive therapy most useful?
- useful for managing mild depression and generalized anxiety
- Most often cognitive therapy is combined with behavioral therapy known as Cognitive-Behavioral therapy ( CBT)
What is behavioral therapy?
Therapies that focus on changing behavior by using principles of classical, operant, and vicarious conditioning
Describe and list examples of behavioral therapy
Treatment is a fun oriented and directed toward a specific behavior
- Systemic desensitization
- Exposure therapy and flooding
- Token economy
- Aversion therapy
- Biofeedback
- Vicarious Conditioning
List the 3 steps to systemic desensitization
Step 1: relaxation training
Step 2: hierarchy construction
Step 3: desensitization
Describe all the steps in systemic desensitization
- Relaxation training:
- diaphragmatic breathing to lower hyperventilation and anxiety symptoms
- Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR): systemic contraction and release of muscles to lower tension - Hierarchy construction- patient develops a hierarchal list from lowest to highest fear of anxiety provoking situations
- Desensitization - patient confronts each item on the list starting with the least stressful using relaxation techniques
- imaginary, in-vivo or virtual exposures are used
What is the goal of systemic desensitization?
To associate the anxiety-provoking scene with relaxation rather than anxiety
What is the goal of relaxation training in systemic desensitization ?
To train patients in physical states that are incompatible with anxiety
What are exposure and flood therapy?
Both techniques, the patient is exposed to the feared stimulus (in vivo, imaginable or virtual) for a prolonged period WITHOUT training in an incompatible response(I.e. no relaxation training )
Differentiate exposure and flood therapies
Exposure therapy: gradual exposure to a fearful stimulus
Flooding: non-gradual, prolonged, full-intensity exposure to a fearful stimulus
What are token economies ?
A behavioral therapy of a system or reinforcing and punishing specific behaviors by giving or taking away tokens. Tokens are exchanged for rewards
What is aversion therapy?
A behavioral therapy that reduces an undesirable behavior by associating the behavior with an actual noxious stimulus/consequence (e.g. pinching oneself when one has an urge to smoke)
What is covert sensitization therapy?
Behavioral therapy a type of aversion therapy in which the undesirable behavior is associated with an imagined noxious stimulus/consequence (e.g. imagining a breakup of relationship because of drinking)
What is biofeedback?
A behavioral therapy what includes learning to control an involuntary physiological activity through feedback of a bodily state(E.g. Muscle tension)
How does biofeedback work?
Physiological activity is translated to a signal(e.g. sound) so that any change in signal reflects a physiological change
Feedback (through reinforcers and punishers) helps person learn to detect and automatically modify one’s bodily state
What is vicarious conditioning?
A behavioral therapy that includes learning through observing someone whose behavior has been operantly or classically conditioned (e.g. a boy sees a peer get punished for swearing; now the boy doesn’t swear)
What is vicarious conditioning often used to do ?
Often used to develop interpersonal skills (social skills, assertiveness, medical interviewing)
Involves viewing others (live/videotaped) in specific contexts and the consequences of their behaviors
What is the main use of behavioral therapy?
Used to develop, modify and manage behaviors in people of all ages and types of problems (beyond mental illness)
Often used as cognitive behavioral therapy
What psychodynamic therapy?
A long-term therapy approach in which the patient does most of the talking while the therapist occasion interjects comments, questions and interpretations
What does psychodynamic therapy involve?
- analysis of early relationships with parents and significant others and how they relate to a patient’s present-day problems
- analysis of transference (a patient’s emotional reaction to the doctor) and countertransference(the doctor’s emotional reaction to a patient) based on past relationships
Can be both positive and negative forms of transference and countertransference
Both have influence on clinical judgement
What specifically does psychodynamic therapy seek to accomplish?
- identification and modification f a patient’s use of defense mechanisms
- the use of techniques to reveal the contents of the unconscious (I.e. repressed thoughts)
Why un-repress memories? (Done in psychodynamic therapy)
Rationale: repressed thoughts are believed to cause emotional distress
Objective: to release strong, repressed emotions (the term for this process is called “catharsis”)
Consequence: improved mental health
List some techniques of psychodynamic therapy to access the unconscious
- Hypnosis
- Free Association tests
- Interpreting Freudian slips
- Dream interpretation
Describe hypnosis
- Induction of a trance-like state
- helps patient relax and focus on past memories
- May lead to false memories due to patient’s heightened state of suggestibility
Describe free association tests
- Stating the first word that comes to mind when word is spoken
- the generated word is thought to reveals one’s thought
Describe interpreting Freudian slips
-unintentional speech/writing errors are regarded as revealing one’s true feelings
Describe dream interpretation
Symbolism in dreams is thought to reveal one’s true thoughts
A major goal of psychodynamic therapy is to promote insight, what is the rationale fir this?
- if a patient understands the reasons for one’s behavior, they are greater likely to change
- insight doesn’t always cause a change and this treatment approach is not appropriate for all mental problems
What is the goal of humanistic therapy?
To facilitate “self-actualization” (maximizing one’s potential ) by fostering problem-solving in a supportive environment
What are the techniques used in humanistic therapy?
Involves therapists:
- listening without judging, directing or advising
- Displaying genuineness, empathy and acceptance “unconditional positive regard”
- Actively listening by reflecting and clarifying what patient expresses
- Acting as a “psychological mirror” that helps clients see the necessary course of action more clearly
Describe the purpose of group therapies
Therapy provided to more than 1 person com currently using any psychotherapeutic approach
Describe traditional group therapy
Groups of people with the same issue, increases self-acceptance, self esteem, self disclosure and feedback from other members
- learning through influence of peers
- Opportunity for patients to practice new interpersonal skills learned in individual sessions
What are the 2 types of group therapies?
- Traditional group therapy
2. Family systems therapy and marital therapy
Describe family systems therapy and marital therapy
Goal: improve family dynamics by changing any part of the system
Technique: the therapist observes family dynamics in a group setting and has the members practice different ways of responding
Uses the premise that an individuals problem results from the family system
What are self-help groups?
A voluntary organization composed of members who share a common problem and have the mutual goal to help one another deal with the problem
How are self-help groups done?
- led By somebody with the same issue, not a mental health professional
- provides a source of support and inspiration to its members
- considered a vital part of treatment for many disorders, especially drug addiction
Why is the effective press of psychotherapy difficult to study ?
Due to heterogeneity of psychotherapy (e.g. patient diagnosis, technique used, therapy duration)
Describe the effectiveness psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is better than no treatment
On average there is no significant difference in outcome based on psychotherapy type
Certain techniques are more effective at treating certain disorders ( CBT for anxiety )
Describe the active ingredient in all psychotherapies
The therapeutic alliance: the means by which a doctor and patient engage with each other to try to effect beneficial change in the patient
Often the alliance itself is considered more important than the brand of therapy
