Therapy Flashcards
What are the 2 approaches to treatment?
Biomedical treatment - includes drugs, electroconvulsive, psychsugery, etc.
Psychotherapy - psychdynamic, hevioural, cognitive, humanistic, systems, etc
How does the biomedical approach to treatment work?
- uses psychotropic drugs (drugs for the brain)
- attempts to help with the “dysfunction”
- typically, medications help regulate neurotransmitters
- treats the symptoms, not the cause - they are not a “cure”
How do excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters affect neurons and their electrical charges?
Ex/ If a neural connection needs 3 Na+ ions to activate, it requires EXACTLY 3 ions, all or nothing!
- If a Cl- ion comes in, then we need 4 Na+ ions.
Excitatory neurotransmitters:
- increase the charge in dendrite
Inhibitory neurotransmitters:
- decrease the charge in dendrite
how do neurotransmitter medications relate to anxiety?
Benzodiazepines
- increase amount of GABA (inhibitory)
- Positives: very fast & efficient
- Negatives: very addictive
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
- increase the amount of serotonin in synapse
How do neurotransmitter medications relate to depression?
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
- block enzymes from breaking down serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine
Tricyclics
- Stop reuptake of norepinephrine / serotonin
Cons: increased blood pressure, constipation, difficulty urinating, racing heart, blurred vision
Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitors
- work specifically on serotonin
- Takes 2 weeks/months to start working
- Reduces sex drive, weight gain, nausea
New drug: SNRIs
Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors
- does same thing as the one above, but includes norepinephine
How do neurotransmitter medications relate to bipolar disorder?
lithium
- it’s a mood stabilizer
- helps regulate how the signal travels along the neuron
- works in 1/3 patients
How do neurotransmitter medications relate to schizophrenia?
How does schizophrenia work?
- mis regulation of DOPAMINE in the MESOLIMBIC and MESOCORTIAL pathways!
Solutions
Antipsychotics
- block dopamine, reduces positive symptoms (mesolimbic system)
Atypical antipsychotics
- focus on negative symptoms by regulating serotonin and dopamine pathways (mesocortical pathway)
What is psychotherapy?
- A variety of techniques used to overcome personal problems and for personal growth
- several psychotherapeutic orientations
Types:
Psychoanalysis
Humanistic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Cognitive-Behavioral
What is psychoanalysis?
it’s Freudian
- Psychological dysfunction result from repression of childhood trauma
- need to bring trauma to light
Effects
- Psychoanalysis takes years
- 4-5 sessions per week
- 3-6 years
- strong +/- feelings end up being attatched to the therapist
- often resemble the feelings asociated with the relationship in question
What are the techniques associated with Psychoanalysis?
free association
- Say whatever, and therapist would connect themes about ego’s hesitations eventually
dream analysis
- write down your dreams and Freud would interpret them
What is humanistic therapy?
- Carl Rogers = client centered therapy
- nondirective therapy - therapist does not provide feedback or advice
- person comes to their OWN realization
active listening:
- acknowledges, restates, paraphrases, clarifies what the client is saying
- listen with empathy and with unconditional positive regard - client does not feel fudged
What is behavioral therapy?
- behaviours are learned
- behaviours can be unlearned (counter- conditioning)
Aversive Conditioning and Exposure Therapy
- Pairing an unpleasant stimulus with an undesirable behaviour
Expose therapy: self explaintory
What is cognitive therapy?
- base assumption- how you think determines how you feel/act
- three main types of cognitive distortion
OVERGENERALIZATIONS
- generalize from one instance to everything
ALL - OR - NOTHING THINKING
- I got rejected this once, I’ll always get rejected
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
- This person didn’t want to work with me again, this means I am a loser
What is Cognitive Behavioural therapy?
Change how we think and act
Combines cognitive therapy (change how we think) with behaviour therapy (change how we act)
Which psychotherapy is most effective?
- Typically, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) = gold standard
- Modern psychoanalysis proven to be just as effective
Really depends on you and your relationship with your therapist!
