Psychotherapies Flashcards
What are the three general types of defense mechanisms?
mature (healthy and adaptive)
neurotic (in OCD, hysterical patients, severe stress)
immature (children, acolescents, psychotic patients)
What are the 4 mature defense mechanisms?
altruism, humor, sublimation, and suppression
Describe altruism.
performing acts that benefit others in order to vicariously experience pleasure
i.e. a woman who’s son recently died from cancer donates a large sum to help raise community awareness
What defense mechanism is this: purposely ignoring an unacceptable impulse or emotion in order to diminish discomfort and accomplish a task
suppression
What defense mechanism is this: satisfying social objectional impulses in an acceptable manner
sublimation
like a person with unconscious urges to physically control others becomes a prison guard
(ummmm…I don’t think this sounds like a healthy mature defense mechanism, but First Aid says it is)
What are the 7 neurotic defense mechanisms?
- controlling
- displacement
- intellectualization
- isolation of affect
- rationalization
- reaction formation
- repression
What one is this: a physician dying from colon cancer describes the pathophysiology of his disease in great detail to his 12 yr-old son.
intellectualization - avoiding negative feelings by excessive use of intellectual functions and by focusin gon irrelevant details or inanimate objects
What one is this: a student is angry at his mother and talks back to his teacher the next day.
displacement
shifting emotions from an undesirable situation to one that is personally tolerable
What one is this: A women describes the recent death of her beloved husband without emotion.
isolation of affect
unconsciously limiting the experience of feelings or emotions associated with a stressful life event in order to avoid anxiety
What one is this: “my boss fired me today because she’s short tempered and impulsive, not because I haven’t done a good job.”
rationalization
creating explanations of an event in order to justify outcomes or behaviors and to make them acceptable
What one is this: A man who is in love with his married coworker insults her.
reaction formation
doing the opposite of an unacceptable impulse
What is the difference between suppression and repression?
repression is the UNCONSCIOUS prevention of a thought of feeling from entering consciousness, whereas suppression is CONSCIOUS
What are the 4 immature defenses?
acting out
denial
regression
projection
What is this one: a man who has been told his therapist is going on vacation “forgets” his last appointment and skips it.
acting out
giving in to an impulse, even if socially inappropriate in order to avoid the anxiety of suppressing that impulse
[I’m not sure if I buy this one]
What is this one: a woman who has been scheduled for a breast mass biopsy cancels her appointment because she believes she is healthy.
denial
not accepting a reality that is too painful
What is this: a husband who is attracted to other women believes his wife is having an affair.
projection
attributing objectionable thoughts or emotions to others
What is this: a woman brings her childhood teddy bear to the hospital when she has to spend the night.
regression
performing behaviors from an earlier stage of development in order to avoid tension associated with current phase of development
What is this: “You and the nurses are the only people who understand me; all the other doctors are mean and impatient.”
splitting - labeling people as all good or all bad
What is the general goal of psychoanalysis?
to resolve unconscious conflicts by bringing repressed experiences and feelings into awareness and integrating them into the patient’s conscious experience. So it’s insight oriented
What are some important techniques/concepts used in psychoanalysis?
free association (whatever comes to mind)
dream interpretation
therapeutic alliance (bond between pt and therapist)
transference
countertransferance
What is transference?
the projection of unconscious feelings about important figures in the patient’s life onto the therapist
interpretation is used to help the patient gain insight and resolve unconscious conflict
What is countertransference?
the projection of unconscious feelings about important figures in the therapist’s life onto the patient
this can interfere with objectivity
Which type of conditioning is it when you condition an unconscious response (often physiologic) to a given stimulus?
classical conditioning - this is Pavlov’s dog
So what is operant conditioning then?
Behaviors can be learned when followed by a positive or negative reinforcement or punishment (skinner)
What is the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement
positive reinforcement is giving a reward
negative reinforcement is taking away something aversive
both work to increase a behavior - reinforce a behavior
What type of therapy is this: patient performs relaxation technique while being exposed to increasing doses of an anxiety-provoking stimulus. Gradually, he or she learns to associate the stimulus with a state of relaxation.
systemic desensitization
What type of therapy is this: the patient is confronted with a real or imagined anxiety-provoking stimulus and is not allowed to withdraw form it until he or she feels calm an din control. Relaxation exercises are used to help them tolerate the stimulus. Often used to treat phobic disorders
flooding (if the stimulus is real) or implosion (if the stimulus is imagined)
What type of therapy is this: a negative stimulus (such as an electric shock) is repeatedly paired with a specific behavior to create an unpleasant response. commonly used to treat addictions or parpahilias.
aversion therapy
What type of therapy is this: rewards are given after specific behaviors to positively reinforce them. Commonly used to encourage showering, shaving and other positive behaviors in disorganized or mentally retarded individuals.
token economy
What type of therapy is this: physiological data (such as heart rate and BP) are given to patients as they try to mentally control physiological states. Common used to treat migraines, hypertension, chronic pain, asthma and incontinence.
biofeedback
What is the primary goal of cognitive therapy?
seeks to correct faulty assumptions and negative feelings by teaching patients to identify their maladaptive thoughts and replace them with positive ones
most commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders
What are the four logistical types of couples therapy?
conjoint - one therapist sees couple together
concurrent - one therapist sees couple separately
collaborative - each person has their own therapist that work together
four-way - two therapists see the couple together
