Theoretical Orientations & Modalities Flashcards
What is transference from the perspective of traditional psychoanalysis?
1) Transference is resistance, or an unwillingness to relinquish one’s fantasy that one’s infantile wishes will be gratified
2) Transference is considered a key component of psychoanalysis because its interpretation leads to insight
Why did Gerald Caplan develop mental health consultation?
Because he thought indirect services could benefit more individuals’ mental health
What are the primary strategies used in motivational interviewing?
OARS - Open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summaries
What is the primary tenant of communication/interaction family therapy?
A circular model of causality where symptoms are both the cause and effect of dysfunctional communication (e.g., blaming, criticizing, mindreading, and overgeneralizing)
What are the 2 types of communication patterns in Communication/Interaction family therapy?
1) Symmetrical communications reflect equality between communicators but may escalate
2) Complementary communications reflect inequality and maximize differences between communicators
What are the 4 shared assumptions with psychodynamic theories?
1) Universal principles explain personality and behavior
2) Behavior is motivated by the unconscious
3) Early development is important
4) Insight into the unconscious is the key to therapy
What are the 4 underlying characteristics of Freudian psychoanalysis?
Pessimism, determinism, mechanistic, and reductionistic
What age does Freud’s ego develop?
6 months
What age does Freud’s superego develop and why?
4 - 5 years and due to internalization of society’s values and standards as taught by parents through rewards/punishments
What are Freud’s 5 psychosexual stages of development?
1) Oral (birth - 1)
2) Anal (2-3)
3) Phallic (4-5)
4) Latency (6-12)
5) Genital (12+)
What is Freudian anxiety and how does the ego deal with it if it can’t use realistic means?
1) Unpleasant feelings from the autonomic nervous system that alert the ego to threats
2) Defense mechanisms that deny or distort reality
What are the 4 basic Freudian defense mechanisms?
1) Repression
2) Reaction formation
3) Projection
4) Sublimation
According to Freud, what causes psychopathology?
Unconscious, unresolved conflicts from childhood
What are the 5 key components of Freudian psychotherapy?
1) Psychoanalysis - free associations, dreams, resistances, and transferences
2) Confrontation - seeing bx in a new way
2) Clarification - clarifying client’s feelings
3) Interpretation - connecting behavior to unconscious processes (may involve catharsis and insight)
4) Working through - assimilation of insights into personality
What is Freudian confrontation?
Trying to get the client to see their behavior in a new way
What is Freudian interpretation?
Connecting behavior to unconscious processes (may involve catharsis and insight)
What are the 2 modern modifications to Freudian psychotherapy?
1) Collaborative, egalitarian view of therapeutic relationship
2) Reconceptualization of transference and countertransference (e.g. not a fantasy but a source of real information)
What are the 5 key characteristics of brief psychodynamic therapy?
1) Time limited
2) Target interpersonal problem in first session
3) Interpretation (stage 3) happens early
4) Emphasis on strong working alliance
5) Positive transference is good because it promotes positive alliance, maximizes client’s motivation, and reduces likelihood that transference neurosis will occur
What are the 5 similarities shared by humanistic psychotherapies?
1) Phenomenological approach (subjective exp is important)
2) Focus on current behavior
3) Belief in self-determination and self-actualization
4) Focus on authentic, collaborative, and egalitarian alliance
5) Rejection of assessments and diagnostic labels
According to Rogers, what is anxiety?
Incongruence that signals that the unified self is being threatened
What is the primary technique in Rogerian psychotherapy and the 3 strategies?
Cultivation of the right environment by using 3 facilitative conditions:
1) Unconditional positive regard
2) Genuiness/congruence
3) Accurate empathetic understanding
How did Adler differ from Freud in 2 major ways?
1) Focused on social rather than instinctual factors on development
2) Took a teleological approach (bx is motivated by future goals rather than the past)
What are the 4 key concepts in Adler’s individual psychology?
Inferiority feelings, striving for superiority, style of life, and social interest
What is Adler’s style of life?
Adler’s style of life refers to the way a person compensates for inferiority, which unifies the various aspects of the personality.
What does Adler’s healthy style of life and mistaken style of life mean?
Adler’s healthy style of life is marked by optimism, confidence, and concern about the welfare of others.
His mistaken style of life is characterized by self-centeredness, competitiveness, and striving for personal power.
What did Adler think of parenting styles?
Pampered children do not develop social feelings, while neglected children are dominated by a need for revenge.
What did Adler’s individual psychotherapy involve?
1) A collaborative therapeutic alliance
2) Identification of style of life and its consequences using a “lifestyle investigation”
3) Change in client’s beliefs/goals to foster an adaptive lifestyle
What is Adler’s lifestyle investigation?
Examination of:
1) Client’s family constellation
2) Fictional (hidden) goals
3) Basic mistakes (distorted beliefs and attitudes)
What is Systematic Training for Effective Teaching based on and what are the basic tenants?
1) Adler’s individual psychology approach
2) Children’s misbehaviors always have 1 of 4 goals - attention, power, revenge, display deficiency
3) Children want to belong but sometimes have faulty beliefs about how to do that
What are the 3 major ways Jung differed from Freud?
1) Defined libido as general psychic energy
2) Focused on future goals rather than past events (like Adler’s teleological approach)
3) Saw development as a lifelong process and was interested in growth after 30s
What are Jung’s archetypes generally?
“Primordial images” that cause people to experience and understand certain phenomena in a universal way
What are Jung’s parts of personality?
1) The persona, or public mask
2) The shadow, which is the “dark side” of the personality
3) The anima (feminine) and animus (masculine)
4) Myers-Briggs like dimensions - introversion/extroversion and thinking, feeling, sensing, intuiting
What does Jungian psychotherapy focus on?
Bridging the gap between the personal and collective unconscious via interpretation
In object relations theory, what are introjects?
Internalized representations of relationships that become part of the self and influence future social interactions/relationships
What is splitting and which 2 theorists is it related to?
1) Division of individuals or self into good and bad
2) Kernberg stated maladaptive splitting is related to Borderline PD overidealization and devaluing
3) Malher’s stated that if splitting isn’t adequately resolved during the separation-individuation process, it can cause problems
What is the premise of Fritz Perls’ Gestalt therapy and personality theory?
Each person is capable of personal responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions and living as an integrated “whole”.
Personality consists of the self (self-actualizing aspect) and the self-image (the darker side that hinders growth and self-actualization by imposing external standards).
What are the 5 principles of Gestalt therapy?
1) People seek closure
2) A person’s “gestalts” (perceptions of parts as wholes) reflect current needs
3) Behavior represents a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts
4 ) Behavior can be fully understood only in its context
5) Experiences fit the principle of figure/ground
How do Gestaltian’s view maladaptive behavior?
Maladaptive behavior is a growth disorder, an abandonment of the self for the self-image, and non-integration.
Maladaptive behavior stems from boundary disturbances between the self and external pressures that interfere with self-actualization and homeostasis.
What are the 4 Gestalt/Perl boundary disturbances?
1) Introjection - when a person fully accepts a concept without processing/understanding (e.g., overcompliance)
2) Projection - when a person disowns aspects of the self by assigning them to others (e.g., paranoia)
3) Retroflection - when a person does to themselves what they want to do to others (e.g., self-harms)
4) Confluence - absence of boundary that causes intolerance of differences between self and others (e.g., causes guilt, resentment)
What are key therapy techniques in Gestalt therapy?
1) Present focus because awareness is the primary curative factor
2) View of transference as counterproductive so it is confronted
3) Common interventions include games of dialogue, guided fantasies for present experiences, and dreamwork
What is the premises of existential therapy and how do maladaptive behaviors develop?
Existential therapies emphasize personal choice and responsibility for developing a meaningful life and state that maladaptive behavior develops because of the inability to cope with ultimate concerns of existence (death, freedom, isolation, meaninglessness)
What does existentialism say about anxiety?
It says existential anxiety is normal and promotes growth and motivation, but that neurotic anxiety is due to avoiding existential anxiety and can be maladaptive.