Unit: Therapy – Flashcards

book: treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

alleydog: When people talk or think about psychological therapy, they are really referring to psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is any type of therapeutic situation between a trained professional and someone seeking help. There are more than 250 different types but the most well known are psychoanalysis, humanistic, behavior therapy, and cognitive therapy.

book: prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person's physiology. this offers other biological treatments

alleydog: Biomedical therapy, as associated with psychology and psychiatry, includes methods of treatment of mental illnesses by the use of medication or on occasion, surgery. Medical research has proven than many commonplace mental illnesses are the result of brain abnormalities, i.e. neurotransmitter imbalances or insufficiencies or in some cases tumors or electrical malfunctions. Examples of this are the use of antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, ADHD meds, etc.

book: an approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy. this approach can prescribe medication and combine psychotherapy.

alleydog: An Eclectic Perspective in psychotherapy is one that combines aspects of two or more different approaches to meet the needs of a client. For example, an eclectic therapist might use techniques from psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectal behavioral therapy, depending on what works best for a particular client.

book: Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences-and the therapist's interpretations of them-released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight. this theory presumes that healthier and less anxious living is possible when people release the energy they had devoted to id-ego-superego conflicts

book: Sigmund Freud is the most famous developer of this therapy approach. The therapy concentrates on bringing forward repressed unconscious thoughts. Freud believed that the ego and superego spent a considerable amount of energy to keep these feelings and thoughts repressed. It was this repression and the development of defense mechanism that left these hidden conflicts unresolved. Freud thought that these unresolved conflicts prevented normal psychosexual development, which in turn cause personality disorders. One of his most common techniques to bring these thoughts to the consciousness was the use of free association.

book: in psychoanalysis, the blocking from unconsciousness of anxiety-laden material. aka mental blocks. they hint that anxiety lurks and you are defending against sensitive material.

alleydog: During psychoanalysis there are many signs that the client and therapist are making progress and working toward identifying the root of the problem. One sign is resistance, which is a somewhat disruptive response by the client to some topic they find sensitive. The reason it is sensitive is because it is the source or close to the source of the anxiety. For example, the client might make a off-handed remark or joke, claim they forgot the information, or pick a fight with the therapist. When they act in these types of counterproductive ways in response to the therapist addressing certain topics (i.e., the resistance), the therapist is getting closer to the root of the problem.

book: in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent). you can transfer the feelings of dependency or love or anger that you experienced in earlier relationships with family members or others. by exposing these feelings, you gain insight into their current relationships

alleydog: Transference is a phenomenon where patients undergoing clinical therapy begin to transfer their feelings of a particular person in their lives to the therapist. For example, the patient may begin to feel the same feelings towards his or her therapist as the patient does for his or her lover. These types of feelings may be positive or negative. The therapist must be aware of this phenomenon and may even be able to use it to help the patient. For example, role playing with the patient.

book: therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self insight. they focus on understanding current symptoms and less id-ego-superego. they focus on themes across important relationships such as childhood experiences and the therapist relationship. the therapist and patient is face to face.

alleydog: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is a form of therapy focusing on the unconscious mind. Developed by Sigmund Freud, this approach encourages clients to examine past experiences and become aware of unresolved conflicts. For example, if a client is addicted to gambling, a psychodynamic psychotherapist might ask him to explore how his early relationships or his family's financial problems while growing up have contributed to his current risk-taking behaviors with money.

book: a humanistic therapy, by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (aka person-centered therapy). this focuses on the person's conscious self-perceptions. the therapist listens without judging or interpreting, and refrains from directing the client toward certain insights.

book: Person-centered therapy (PCT) refers to a school of psychological treatment that uses a humanistic approach focusing on the human need for self-actualization and emphasizes healthy psychological growth. PCT can also be known as client-centered therapy, Rogerian psychotherapy, and the non-directional approach. It was developed by Carl Rogers in the mid Twentieth century and places emphasis on the role of the client/patient in the treatment process. The therapist takes a non-directional "backseat" role and the client (Rogers preferred using the term 'client' over 'patient') is in control of their treatment. Self-esteem, individual potential, and openness to new experiences were important components in this type of therapy. For instance, this can be where a person who doesn't appear to have any specific emotional or behavioral problem seeks help to "get more out of life" such as enhancing relationships or getting ahead at work.

book: empathic listening i which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Roger's client-centered therapy. the therapist acknowledges the patients' expressed feelings. the therapist only interrupts to confirm feelings, restate what was said by the patient, or seek clarification.

alleydog: Active listening comes from the theories of Carl Rogers' person-centered-therapy. This type of listening involves a person (typically a therapist) listening to a person and then responding to the person using techniques such as paraphrasing. In this way the listener restates what has been said in order to demonstrate empathy, show that he/she was listening and understanding what was being said.

book: a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self acceptance. this can be mistaken for LOVE, but should be known for full acceptance and nonjudgmental. people may accept even their worst traits and feel valued and whole.

alleydog: According to Carl Rogers, Unconditional Positive Regard is when one person is completely accepting toward another person. This is not just a show of acceptance, but is an attitude that is then demonstrated through behavior. Rogers indicated that for humanistic type of therapy to work, the therapist had to have this for the client.

book: therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. behavior therapy doubts the healing power of self awareness so this therapy does not help people get in touch with their feelings like humanistic therapies. this therapy views maladaptive symptoms such as phobias or sexual dysfunction-(instead of looking for inner causes)-as learned behaviors that can be replaced by constructive behaviors video: goal is to unlearn and re learn a new reaction *can use exposure therapy (Take a negative association and turn it into a positive one) or aversive conditioning (Take a positive association we dont want them to have, break it, and make a new negative association) *mental illness has been classically conditioned

alleydog: In 1952, Hans Eysenck coined this term in reference to a type of treatment that focuses on changing or reducing the occurrence of some maladaptive behavior as opposed to simply examining the unconscious conflicts or aspects associated with the maladaptive behavior. So instead of trying to "get to the root of a problem", behavior therapy aims to get rid of the problem regardless of the feelings about the behavior, the underlying causes, etc. In addition, behavior therapy is based on the premise that maladaptive behavior, like adaptive behaviors, are learned, and therefore can be unlearned. Thus, behavior therapies (like systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, and behavior modification) are based on the principles of learning.

book: behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

alleydog: Counterconditioning is a type of therapy based on the principles of classical conditioning that attempts to replace bad or unpleasant emotional responses to a stimulus with more pleasant, adaptive responses. For example, do you remember the case of Little Albert - the boy that John Watson conditioned to fear little white rats? Well, if Watson attempted to "uncondition" the fear response to the rats, he would be engaging in counterconditioning - attempting to replace the unpleasant response (fear) to the rats with a more pleasant response (happiness).

book: behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid *take a negative association and make it positive

alleydog: Exposure Therapy is a form of therapy that is used to treat irrational fears and phobias with gradual and increasing exposure to the feared object. For instance, if a client has a phobia of cats, the therapist might start treatment with showing the client a picture of a cat. When he/she can look at a picture of a cat without feeling anxiety, the therapist may add listening to the sounds a cat makes; meowing and purring, later on the therapy moves on to seeing a live cat from a distance and moves eventually to touching a cat. Through this gradual desensitization process, the client can eventually get over their fears.

book: a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant, relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. commonly used to treat phobias. this helps eliminate anxiety by practicing relaxing when faced with an anxiety-provoking stimuli. *for example if you have a fear of spiders: start by showing them a picture of a spider, than a toy spider, then a dead spider, then a real one-you eventually decrease the anxiety caused by your fear

alleydog: This is a form of treatment or therapy for phobias, fears, and aversions that people have. The premise is to reduce a person's anxiety responses through counterconditioning - a person who learned to be afraid of something is associating fear with that object or behavior, and the way to eliminate this is to teach the person to replace the feelings of anxiety with feelings of relaxation when the object or behavior is present. This approach is based on conditioning relaxation with the feared object or object of anxiety. For example: A) the fear - fear of dating women B) the client is asked to create a hierarchy of anxiety (what makes the client afraid, from least fear producing to most fear producing). 1) sitting next to a woman in class (least) 2) talking to a woman in class 3) walking with a woman on campus 4) calling a woman on the phone 5) eating a meal with a woman 6) going out on a date with a woman (most) C) the therapist then teaches the client some relaxation technique and then has the client use the relaxation technique when encountering (or just thinking about) the first level (sitting next to a woman in class). Once the client is comfortable with this, they move on to the next level, and so on until the client becomes relaxed and is able to go out on a date with a woman.

book: an anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to electronic simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking. some can try out new behaviors in virtual environments through stimulated worlds with avatars etc.

alleydog: Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is a type of treatment that uses realistic fake aversive stimuli to increase stress resilience and control negative symptoms. VRET is used in treatment for phobias, anxiety disorders, addictions, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Patients can be 'exposed' to the fearful stimuli in a way that seems real but isn't. The patient adapts to the stimulus and the fear response and negative reactions decrease. For PTSD as a result of military action the patient will describe the environment to the therapist. A computer program will create a similar landscape where the situations occurred. Audio, vibrations, and even smells are used in order to make the virtual environment as close to the real one as possible. The patient will then virtually be in this environment and will retell their traumatic memories to a therapist who is helping and guiding them throughout the process. After doing this repeatedly the stress response, fear, and anxiety will decrease or disappear because the patient is in a safe place while the traumatic event is going on virtually. For phobias, virtual representations of the fear stimulus (heights, spiders, etc) can decrease and eliminate the fear response. This is a recent and very promising type of therapy.

book: a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state ( nausea) with an unwanted behavior (drinking alcohol). the goal is to substitute a negative (aversive) response for a positive response to a harmful stimulus. it is the reverse of systematic desensitization-it seeks to condition an aversion to something the person should avoid * take a positive association to a negative (used for addictions) *use principles of classical conditioning-pair positive stimulus (alchohol) with a negative association (slips a drug in the alcohol to make you nauseous) to give you a negative feeling (sick/nauseous feeling)

alleydog: Aversive Conditioning is the use of something unpleasant, or a punishment, to stop an unwanted behavior. If a dog is learning to walk on a leash alongside his owner, an undesired behavior would be when the dog pulls on the leash. The owner may use a collar that delivers a shock when a dog pulls - eventually the dog associates pulling on the leash with getting a painful shock and stops pulling. As with all forms of punishment, it may work but is generally less effective than the use of reinforcement.

book: an operant conditioning procedure: positive/negative punishment & positive/negative reinforcement *people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats. an appropriate behavior earns a token acts as a positive reinforcer so they can exchange the tokens later for rewards.

alleydog: Token economy refers to a reward system used in a behavior modification programs. It involves providing tangible rewards (tokens, food, stickers, etc.) for positive behaviors. The underlying premise is reinforcing the desirable behavior. For example, a child may earn a sticker as a reward for completing a chore. This technique is often used in schools or in parenting to change children's behaviors. It's also used in in-patient programs.

book: therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions * teach people new ways of thinking * if people are miserable, they can help change their minds *resolving depression that is due to self-blaming and overgeneralized explanations of bad events * change ones thinking if they see suggestions from others as critisism cognitive perspective: 1. lost job 2. internal beliefs: im worthless 3. depression VS 1. lost job 2. internal beliefs: i deserve something better 3. no depression

alleydog: Cognitive therapy is a form of therapy developed by Aaron Beck who suggested that our beliefs and perceptions influence our emotional responses to the world around us. According to cognitive therapy, our negative thought patterns (not unconscious conflicts or early life traumas as psychoanalysis suggests) cause depression, anxiety and some other mental disorders. Cogitive Therapy helps patients by making them aware of these beliefs, how they produce so many problems, and then working to change these dysfunctional beliefs.

book: a confrontational cognitive therapy, by Albert Ellis, that vigorously challenges people's illogical, self defeating attitudes and assumptions

*many problems arise from irrational thinking *change peoples thinking by revealing the absurdity of their self defeating ideas to enable healthier behaviors

book: therapy that treats the family as a system. views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members *assumes no person is an island; group interaction * heal relationships within a family and mobilize family resources * for example: a child's rebellion is affected by other family tensions

alleydog: Family therapy is a type of therapy in which members of a family are treated. They may not be in the same room at the same time, but the members of the family are all counseled to encourage all members to partake in open communication and healing. For example, when parents are having problems with a child, they may all go to therapy together so that parents can learn about their child's feelings and in turn, the child can learn about his or her parents' feelings. This promotes understanding and empathy that is often the cause of communication problems.

book: a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior) *alter the way we think and act *makes people aware of negative thinking and replace it with positive approach in everyday settings * helps treat anxiety and mood disorders-replace catastrophizing thinking with realistic approaches

aleydog: Cognitive Behavioral therapy refers to a classification of psychotherapeutic techniques that emphasize the important role that thinking (cognitive) plays in how we feel and act (behavioral). In other words, what we think of an event determines how we feel, which in turn influences how we behave. Our feelings are not dictated by the event, but are rather determined by the way we think about our situation. For example, if someone were passed over for a promotion, that person could think that it is because her boss didn't like her. This could lead to depression and a lack of motivation to work, which would in turn decrease her chances of being promoted in the future. From the Cognitive Behavioral perspective, her depression is caused by how she interpreted the event, and not by the actual event itself. This means that if she were to change her thinking, it could lead to a better result. Instead of thinking that her boss didn't like her, she could make an honest assessment of her performance and identify specific areas for improvement. Then she would be able to work on improving her weaknesses and increase her chances of being promoted next time. Cognitive Behavioral therapy has been shown to be most effective for anxiety, depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder,

book: therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, permitting therapeutic benefits from group interactions

*save therapists time and clients money *offers a social laboratory for exploring social behaviors and developing social skills *enables people to see others share their problems

book: the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior *revolutionized the treatment of people with severe disorders * hospitalization in mental illnesses has declined biomedical therapies: 1. drug treatments 2. electroconvulsive shock therapy 2. surgery

alleydog: Psychopharmacology is the study of drugs used for psychological treatments. These drugs can affect moods, sensations, consciousness, and behavioral patterns. These drugs are also called psychotropic medications.

book: drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder *the molecules of these drugs are antagonists; similar to molecules of the neurotransmitter dopamine to occupy its receptor sites and block its activity ***double bling procedure: one person is taking a drug and one is taking a placebo

*chlorpromazine- most helpful for patients with positive symptoms(hallucinations) *clozaprine- negative symptoms- or if chlorpromazine didn't work *clozapine blocks receptors for dopamine and serotonin to remove negative symptoms of schizophrenia *both BLOCK DOPAMINE RECEPTORS *side effect- TARDIVE DYSKINESIA: involuntary movement of the face tongue and limbs

alleydog: a class of medications used to treat psychotic behaviors (irrational or violent behavior that is usually based on hallucinations,delusions,extreme fear, or paranoia. Developed in the 1970s, they were developed to have fewer side effects (like involuntary body movements) and treat more symptoms in patients than the typical antipsychotic drugs that were developed in the 1950s. Antipsychotic drugs affect dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitters in the brain and are used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.

book: drugs used to control anxiety and agitation *depress central nervous system activity *often combined with psychological therapy *reduce anxiety and tension by elevating levels of the gamma-aminobutyric acid neurotransmitter

ex: antibiotic D-cycloserine is one anti anxiety drug that acts upon a receptor that in combination with behavioral treatments, facilitates the extinction of learned fears. this drug increases the benefits of exposure therapy and helps relieve the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder

book: drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, and post traumatic stress disorder *these drugs are agonists: they work by increasing the availability of certain neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine or serotonin, which elevate arousal and mood and appear scarce when a person experiences feelings of depression or anxiety **prozac, paxil, zoloft- are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors that improve the mood by elevating levels of serotonin by inhibiting reuptake

alleydog: An Antidepressant is a substance, either natural or man-made, that is used to treat certain mental disorders, among them depression, anxiety, OCD, and many others. These substances are used to influence brain chemistry and the most common classes of these are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Each of these classes of drugs work in different ways to eliminate depressive symptoms. Natural ingredients that are sometimes used for depression treatment are tryptophan and Saint John's Wort.

book: a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient *patient doesn't remember treatment *helps severe depression *volts of electricity given to the brain *causes convulsions and brief unconsciousness

alleydog: ECT (also known as shock therapy) is a type of biomedical therapy in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of a patient in order to produce a chemical change. This treatment, although not practiced commonly, is most often used to treat severely depressed people, and has been shown to work quite effectively. ECT fell out of favor and was perceived as cruel and inhuman, but in recent years has regained some popularity.

book: the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain, used to stimulate or suppress brain activity

*depressed moods improve *painless procedure *preformed on wide awake patients for several weeks *produces no seizures, memory loss, or side effects like an ECT *The stimulation this procedure activates, nerve cells to form new functioning circuits through the process of long term potentiation

book: surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior *change structure of brain *lobotomy-cut connections between frontal lobe and the rest of the brain to severely distributed people *has decreased due to drug therapy

alleydog: A method to cure psychological disorders through brain surgery. One of the more salient examples of psychosurgery (and one that's seen most often in movies) was the use of prefrontal lobotomies often done in the 1940s and 1950s to reduce aggressive behavior in people with mental illnesses. Psychosurgery has a long history and may have started as far back as 40,000 years ago when it was done to get rid of demons or the "stone of madness" (it was believed that there was some little part of the brain responsible for mental illness so if you just cut that part out you cured the patient). In 1894 the first "rational" (or scientific) psychosurgery was conducted by a Swiss surgeon. Today psychosurgery is still done but it's radically different; today it involves lasers, very precise work on specific areas of the brain, and can be done without opening the skull.

book: a psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

alleydog: Although this is not done much at all anymore (if at all), Lobotomy (also known as a Prefrontal Lobotomy) is a procedure that was once used to reduce uncontrollably violent or emotional people. Technically this is a type of psychosurgery (surgery for psychological purpose that destroys brain tissue to change a person's behavior) in which the nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the parts of the brain that control emotions are severed. Used in the 1930's, the patient would be shocked into a coma then the surgeon would drive a big pick-like tool through the person's eye socket and then move it around to cut the nerves.

Tardive Dyskinesia is a nervous system disorder that results in repetitive, involuntary body movements such as grimacing, lip-puckering or smacking, tongue protrusion, respiratory irregularity and difficulty breathing, rapid eye-blinking or involuntary movements of the limbs, torso and fingers.

alleydog: In some cases a patient's legs may be so heavily affected that walking becomes difficult or impossible. These movements have a slow or belated onset and frequently appear after long-term or high dosage use of antipsychotic medications and is often diagnosed as a mental disorder than as a neurological disorder.