© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Chapter 16: Treatment of Psychological Disorders

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Approaches to Treatment Psychotherapy –Treatment in which a trained professional – a therapist – uses psychological techniques to help someone overcome psychological difficulties and disorders Biomedical therapy –Relies on drugs and other medical procedures to improve psychological functioning

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Psychodynamic Approaches to Therapy Seeks to bring unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into the conscious, where patients may deal with the problems more effectively –Defense mechanisms –Psychoanalysis: Freud’s Therapy Free association Transference

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Behavioral Approaches to Therapy Treatment approaches that build o the basic processes of learning, such as reinforcement and extinction, and assume that normal and abnormal behavior are both learned

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Behavioral Approaches to Therapy Aversive conditioning –Form of therapy that reduces the frequency of undesired behavior by paring an aversive, unpleasant stimulus with undesired behavior Systematic desensitization –Technique in which gradual exposure to an anxiety-producing stimulus is paired with relaxation to extinguish the response of anxiety Hierarchy of fears

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Behavioral Approaches to Therapy Systematic desensitization

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Behavioral Approaches to Therapy Operant conditioning techniques –Token system Contingency contracting –Observational learning Dialectical behavior therapy –Focus in on getting people to accept who they are, regardless of whether it matches their ideal

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Cognitive Approaches to Therapy Teaches people to think in more adaptive ways by changing their dysfunctional cognitions about the world and themselves –Cognitive-behavioral Incorporates basic principles of learning –Rational-emotive Attempts to restructure a person’s belief system into a more realistic, rational, and logical set of views

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Cognitive Approaches to Therapy Rational-emotive behavior therapy

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Humanistic Therapy Underlying rationale is that people have control of their behavior, can make choices about their lives, and are essentially responsible for solving their own problems

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Humanistic Therapy Person-centered therapy –“Client centered” therapy –Goal is to reach one’s potential for self- actualization –Unconditional positive regard –empathic Gestalt therapy –Completing any “unfinished business” from the past that affects the present

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Group Therapy and Family Therapy Group therapy –Several unrelated people meet with a therapist to discuss some aspect of their psychological functioning Family therapy –Involves two or more members of the same family, one (or more) of whose problems led to treatment

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Evaluating Psychotherapy Psychotherapy –Is effective for most people –Doesn’t work for everyone –Certain specific types of treatments are somewhat, although not invariably, better for specific types of problems –No single form of therapy works best –Spontaneous remission Recovery without treatment

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Which Therapy Works Best?

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Which Therapy Works Best? Meta-analysis

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment Therapy that focuses on brain chemistry and other neurological factors –Drug therapy Control of psychological disorders through drugs Antipsychotic drugs Antidepressant drugs Lithium Antianxiety drugs

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment SSRIs – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Electroconvulsive Therapy Electric current of 70 to 150 volts is briefly administered to a patient’s head, causing a loss of consciousness and often causing seizures Transcranial magnetic stimulation –Alternative to ETC –Precise magnetic pulse is directed to a specific area of the brain

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Psychosurgery Brain surgery in which the object is to reduce symptoms of mental disorder –Prefrontal lobotomy Surgically destroying or removing parts of a patient’s frontal lobes that were thought to control emotionality –Cingulotomy Used with rare cases of OCD

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Community Psychology: Focus on Prevention Geared toward preventing or minimizing the incidence of psychological disorders –Deinstitutionalization Movement of former mental patients out of institutions and into the community

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Seeking Therapy You should feel comfortable with your therapist Therapist should have appropriate training and credentials and should be licensed by appropriate state and local agencies You should feel that you are making progress after therapy has begun, despite occasional setbacks