Exit Table of Contents Chapter 13 Methods of Therapy

Exit Table of Contents What is Therapy? Psychotherapy: a systematic interaction between a therapist and a client that: Applies psychological principles to affect the client’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in order to; Help the client overcome psychological disorders, Adjust to problems in living, Or develop as an individual.

Exit Table of Contents Psychodynamic Therapies: Modern Approaches The modern approach is: Briefer and less intense. Focus on revealing unconscious material. Client and therapist usually sit face to face rather than having the client lie on a couch. The therapist is usually directive. Usually more focus on the ego and less emphasis on the Id.

Exit Table of Contents Humanistic-Existential Therapies The focus is on quality of the client’s subjective, conscious experience. Focus on the here and now. Client-Centered Therapy: Help people get in touch with their genuine feelings and pursue their own interests, regardless of other people’s wishes. Therapy is non-directive and focuses on helping the person feel whole. To achieve this the therapist has the following qualities: Unconditional positive regard. Empathetic understanding. Genuiness.

Exit Table of Contents Behavior Therapy Applies the principles of learning to directly promote desired behavioral change. conditioning and observational learning. Fear-Reduction Methods. Systematic desensitization The client learns to handle increasingly disturbing stimuli while anxiety is being counterconditioned.

Exit Table of Contents Behavior Therapy Aversive Conditioning. Controversial procedure in which painful or aversive stimuli are paired with unwanted impulses. Operant Conditioning Procedures. We tend to repeat behavior that is reinforced. Behavior that is not reinforced tends to become extinguished.

Exit Table of Contents Examples of Operant Conditioning The Token Economy. Patients must use tokens to purchase things they like. Tokens are reinforcements for productive activities. Successive Approximations. Successive approximations is often used to help clients build good habits. Social Skills Training. Employ self monitoring, coaching, modeling, role playing, behavioral rehearsal and feedback.

Exit Table of Contents Cognitive Therapies Cognitive therapy focuses on changing the beliefs, attitudes and automatic types of thinking that create and compound their client’s problems.

Exit Table of Contents Cognitive Therapies Cognitive Triad: Expect the worst of themselves. Expect the worst of the world at large. Expect the worst of the future. Therapists need to challenge beliefs that are not supported by evidence. Cognitive errors contribute to client’s miseries by: Clients selectively perceive. Clients overgeneralize. Clients magnify. Clients engage in absolutist thinking.

Exit Table of Contents Cognitive Therapies Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy focuses on beliefs about events as well as the events. Many harbor irrational beliefs.

Exit Table of Contents Group Therapies Advantages to group therapies: It is economical. Provides more information and life experience for clients to draw on. Appropriate behavior receives group support. Affiliating with people with similar problems is reassuring. Many clients practice social skills in a relatively non-threatening atmosphere.

Exit Table of Contents Analysis of the Effectiveness of Therapy Cognitive therapy or CBT has shown the most widespread applicability and success. Psychodynamic and client-centered are most effective with well educated, verbal, strongly motivated clients. Gestalt therapy wasn’t as effective. Shadish found that: Psychotherapy is generally effective. The more therapy the better. It is not enough to ask which type of therapy is most effective. We must ask which type is most effective for a particular problem and a particular patient.

Exit Table of Contents Biological Therapies Biological therapies: Drug Therapy: work by acting on neurotransmitters Antianxiety drugs. prescribed for patients with anxiety disorders. Side effects. Sedation is the most common side effect. When use is stopped, clients may experience anxiety rebound. Can induce physical dependence.

Exit Table of Contents Biological Therapies: Drug therapies Antipsychotic Drugs reduce agitation, delusions, and hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. acts by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain.

Exit Table of Contents Biological Therapies: Drug therapies Antidepressants. used to help clients with depression, eating disorders, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorders and social phobia. Antidepressants work by increasing levels of neurotransmitters. Mainly serotonin and noradrenaline. Usually takes weeks to build up to therapeutic levels.

Exit Table of Contents Biological Therapies: Drug Therapy Lithium. Lithium is used to flatten out cycles of manic behavior and depression. Affects the functioning of neurotransmitters, including glutamate.

Exit Table of Contents Biological Therapies Electroconvulsive Therapy. Used mainly for people with major depression who do not respond to antidepressants. Side effects of ECT include: Memory problems. Effects may be temporary.

Exit Table of Contents Psychosurgery Prefrontal lobotomy: a picklike instrument severs the nerve pathways that link the prefrontal lobes of the brain to the thalamus. This method has been largely discontinued in the U.S.

Exit Table of Contents Does Biological Therapy Work? Drug therapy has helped many people with severe psychological disorders. The combination of cognitive therapy and antidepressants is superior to either treatment alone with chronically depressed people. No chemical can show a person how to change an idea or solve an interpersonal problem.