Therapy Theories Flashcards
Psychodynamic Therapy
Change through insight and understanding of early, unresolved issues
• Insight oriented therapy
• A belief that psychopathology develops especially from early childhood experiences
• Understanding the influence of the past on current behavior
• Explore client’s transference
• Identify defense mechanisms
• Non-directive, open-ended sessions based on free association
• Good for high functioning people capable of insight, relationship problems
Behavioral Therapy
Change of behavior through reinforcements and punishment
• Identify the problem, monitor behavior, reinforce desired behavior
• Positive Reinforcement (Reinforcement): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus that is rewarding, increasing the frequency of that behavior.
• Negative Reinforcement (Escape): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus, thereby increasing that behavior’s frequency. Ex: Wife nags husband until he does something, then the nagging stops.
• Positive Punishment (Punishment): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus, such as introducing a shock or loud noise, resulting in a decrease in that behavior. Ex: spanking
• Negative Punishment (Penalty) (also called “Punishment by Contingent Withdrawal”): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of a stimulus. Ex: taking away a child’s toy following an undesired behavior,
resulting in a decrease in that behavior.
• Token Economy (Contingency Management) is an exchange system using the principles of operant conditioning where a token is given as a reward for a desired behavior. Tokens may later be exchanged for a desired prize or rewards such as power, prestige, goods, or services.
• Shaping is a form of operant conditioning in which the increasingly accurate approximations of a desired response are reinforced.
• Good for children with behavioral problems
Attachment Theory
A model for understanding how attachment to early caregivers affects our long term functioning
• How a caregiver responds to an infant/toddler’s cues shapes that child’s view of the world.
• Used to assess the bond between mother and child. Observing how child responds when caregiver leaves and returns to room.
• Poor attachment leads to indiscriminate attachment and lack of trust.
Cognitive Therapy
Change through learning to modify dysfunctional thought patterns
• Clients explore patterns of thinking and beliefs that lead to self-destructive behaviors.
• Once an individual understands the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, the individual is able to modify or change existing patterns of thinking to cope with stressors in a more positive manner.
• Focus on automatic thoughts, schemas, assumptions, beliefs
• Good for Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar Disorder
Solution Focused Therapy
Change through accessing client’s strengths and resources
• Brief, goal-directed therapy focused on client’s strengths and resources
• Focuses on what the client wants to achieve instead of focusing on the problems
• Focuses on the client’s strengths and resources in order to create a more effective future
• Miracle Question
• Good for short-term problems
Gestalt Therapy
Change through increased awareness of here-and-now experience
• Focuses on the process, what is actually happening, and the content, what is being talked about
• Emphasizes what is going on in the present moment within both the client and the therapist rather than what has happened
• Empty Chair technique example of bringing issue into present moment
Structural Family Therapy
Change through remodeling the family’s organization
• Many family problems arise as a result of maladaptive boundaries and subsystems within the family system.
• A systems approach that address relationship dynamics of whole family. The therapist helps the family understand how family structure (relationships and hierarchies) can be changed, the impact of rituals and rules, and how new patterns of interaction can be integrated into the family.
• Enmeshed families known for incest
• Disengaged families known for substance abuse
• Good for families that are having problems with in-laws
Bowen Family Therapy
Change through understanding multigenerational dynamics
• Individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another but rather as a part of their family.
• Family members are driven to achieve a balance of internal and external differentiation, which causes anxiety, triangulation, and emotional cutoff.
• This can be changed by understanding multigenerational or current family dynamics and patterns.
Logotherapy
Change through finding meaning in life
• Founded upon the belief that it is the striving to find a meaning in one’s life that is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force.
• Understanding purpose
Feminist Therapy
Change through recognizing disempowering social forces and empowering client
• The therapist helps the client recognize disempowering forces or influences, a process which can ultimately empower the client.
• The therapist recognizes that with every symptom there is a strength, and also shows the client that she is her own rescuer and equal to the therapist.
• Good for eating disorders
Task-Centered/Problem Solving Therapy
Task-Centered/Problem-Solving Therapy
Change through supporting clients to take actions to address the problems in their lives;
Short term
• Focus of help is on client-defined problems and goals; Practitioner is open about purposes and nature of service, eschews hidden agendas.
• The client’s problems, goals, and the nature and duration of service are explicitly stated and agreed upon by both practitioner and client.
• Analysis of a problem leads to consideration of the kinds of actions needed to solve it, what might facilitate those actions, and obstacles standing in the way of their
implementation. Change is affected primarily through problem-solving actions or tasks the client and practitioner undertake OUTSIDE the interview. The practitioner helps clients select tasks.
• Practitioner facilitates task work through assisting the client in planning task implementation and establishing the motivation for carrying out the plan.
• Practitioner helps client rehearse and practice the task and analyze obstacles to its achievement.
• Reviews of the client’s accomplishments on each task allow the practitioner to
provide corrective feedback on the client’s actions and serve as the basis for developing new tasks.
• Good for lower functioning individuals—schizophrenia, homeless.
Dialectical Behavior Theory
Aims to change behavioral, emotional, and thinking patterns associated with dysfunction
• Developed to treat intense emotional swings, impulsiveness, confusion regarding the self (identity), and suicidal behavior
• Teaches mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and self-management.
• Good for Borderline Personality Disorder
EDMR
Alleviates symptoms of trauma through Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) of trauma.
• This treatment is based on an 8 step highly structured protocol
• Based on idea that trauma overwhelms normal cognitive and neurological coping
• Clients recall distressing images/memories while engaging in bilateral stimulations/controlled eye movements
• Utilizes desensitization techniques
• Used for people who have experienced trauma and are still emotionally effected by the event in some way
• Therapists must engage in thorough training and supervision before they can offer EMDR treatment unsupervised.
Narrative Therapy
Change occurs by externalizing problem and creating a new narrative or story, which emphasizes the client’s competencies and strengths.
• Problems are viewed as separate entities from the client
• Therapist “externalizes” problem, separates it from client
• Highlights “unique outcomes” when the client could resist the problem
• Therapist “maps the influence” of the problem
