AP Psychology Therapy Unit 13 – Flashcards

Biomedical (Drugs/ ECT/ Psychosurgery) Humanistic (Client/Patient Centered) Behavioral (Classical/ Operant) Psychodynamic (psychologists) Cognitive -Traditional Cognitive (Aaron Beck) - CBT (Rational Emotion/Albert Ellis)

-trained therapist uses psychological techniques to assist someone seeking to overcome difficulties or achieve personal growth. - offers medication or other biological treatments.

an approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy.

*Psychoanalytic theory presumes that healthier, less anxious living becomes possible when people release the energy they had previously devoted to id-ego-superego conflicts (see Module 55). Freud assumed that we do not fully know ourselves. There are threatening things that we seem to want not to know—that we disavow or deny. *Freud's therapy aimed to bring patients' repressed or disowned feelings into conscious awareness. By helping them reclaim their unconscious thoughts and feelings and giving them insight into the origins of their disorders, he aimed to help them reduce growth-impeding inner conflicts. *discusses ID, Ego, and SuperEgo - resistance - in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden, material. (When asked to freely associate at a photo, you first think of an embarrassing thought but don't actually say it.) - interpretation - in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight.

* therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight. * help reveal past relationship troubles as the origin of current difficulties. *Face to Face therapy: no more sitting on the couch such as Psychoanalysise Interpersonal psychotherapy - a brief (12- to 16-session) variation of psychodynamic therapy, has effectively treated depression. Although interpersonal psychotherapy aims to help people gain insight into the roots of their difficulties, its goal is symptom relief in the here and now. Rather than focusing mostly on undoing past hurts and offering interpretations, the therapist concentrates primarily on current relationships and on helping people improve their relationship skills.

* often referred to as Insight Therapies: a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses. * aims to boost people's self-fulfillment by helping them grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance. * Promoting this growth, not curing illness, is the focus of therapy. * The path to growth is taking immediate responsibility for one's feelings and actions, rather than uncovering hidden determinants. *Conscious thoughts are more important than the unconscious. * The present and future are more important than the past. The goal is to explore feelings as they occur, rather than achieve insights into the childhood origins of the feelings. 1. client-centered therapy - a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth - (AGE) Believing that most people possess the resources for growth, Rogers (1961, 1980) encouraged therapists to exhibit acceptance, genuineness, and empathy - Active Listening - empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy. - Unconditional Positive Regard - a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

How do psychotherapy, biomedical therapy, and an eclectic approach to therapy differ? - Psychotherapy is treatment involving psychological techniques; it consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth. - The major psychotherapies derive from psychology's psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives. - Biomedical therapy treats psychological disorders with medications or procedures that act directly on a patient's physiology. - An eclectic approach combines techniques from various forms of psychotherapy.

What are the goals and techniques of psychoanalysis, and how have they been adapted in psychodynamic therapy? - Through psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud tried to give people self-insight and relief from their disorders by bringing anxiety-laden feelings and thoughts into conscious awareness. - Techniques included using free association and interpretation of instances of resistance and transference (transfering their negative emotions concerning relationships they may have unto the therapist to try to work them out) How have they been adapted in Psychology. Contemporary psychodynamic therapy has been influenced by traditional psychoanalysis but is briefer, less expensive, and more focused on helping the client find relief from current symptoms. Therapists help clients understand themes that run through past and current relationships. Interpersonal therapy is a brief 12- to 16-session form of psychodynamic therapy that has been effective in treating depression.

What are the basic themes of humanistic therapy, and what are the specific goals and techniques of Rogers' client-centered approach? - Both psychoanalytic and humanistic therapies are insight therapies—they attempt to improve functioning by increasing clients' awareness of motives and defenses. - Humanistic therapy's goals have included helping clients grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance; promoting personal growth rather than curing illness; helping clients take responsibility for their own growth; focusing on conscious thoughts rather than unconscious motivations; and seeing the present and future as more important than the past. - Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy proposed that therapists' most important contributions are to function as a psychological mirror through active listening and to provide a growth-fostering environment of unconditional positive regard, characterized by genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.

Explain what psychoanalysis is, and then discuss the relationship of transference and resistance to the therapy. Answer 1 point: Psychoanalysis is a Freudian therapy that seeks to get patients to release repressed feelings to gain self-insight. 1 point: Transference is the patient's transfer of emotion to the analyst. 1 point: Resistance is the blocking of consciousness (by the patient) of anxiety-laden material.

-* Psychodynamic therapies expect problems to subside as people gain insight into their unresolved and unconscious tensions. * Humanistic therapies expect problems to diminish as people get in touch with their feelings. * Proponents of behavior therapy, however, doubt the healing power of self-awareness. (You can become aware of why you are highly anxious during tests and still be anxious.) * They assume that problem behaviors are the problems, and the application of learning principles can eliminate them. Rather than delving deeply below the surface looking for inner causes, therapies using 1. Counterconditioning - behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning. a) - exposure therapy - 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. b) - systematic desensitization - a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant, relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. (Systematic desensitization is a behavioral technique whereby a person is gradually exposed to an anxiety-producing object, event, or place while being engaged in some type of relaxation at the same time in order to reduce the symptoms of anxiety.) Commonly used to treat (phobias.) --------If a phobia is difficult or expensive to recreate such as flying in an airplane, Virtual Reality may be used. The therapist would have the patient wear a headset that exposes him/her to a lifelike series of scenes that would be set to their particular fear. c) - virtual reality exposure therapy - an anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to electronic simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking. d) - aversive conditioning - the goal is substituting a negative (aversive) response for a positive response to a harmful stimulus (such as alcohol). Thus, aversive conditioning is the reverse of systematic desensitization—it seeks to condition an aversion to something the person should avoid. EX of aversive: If the stress of studying for exams acts as a stimulus and your response is biting your nails, aversion therapy would help you avoid the unwanted behavior of nail-biting. One option would be to paint your nails with an intensely bitter-tasting polish. The next time your hand moves to your mouth, you taste the awful bitterness and move your fingers away. Over time, consistently pairing the nail-biting with an aversive taste will cause you to feel nauseous when you even think of biting your nails. You have now been counter-conditioned, and the bad habit stops.

Operant Conditioning - token economy - an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats.

that they reduce symptoms without resolving underlying problems

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions.

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

- (gentler approach than REBT) Beck sought to reverse clients' catastrophizing beliefs about themselves, their situations, and their futures. Gentle questioning seeks to reveal irrational thinking, and then to persuade people to remove the dark glasses through which they view life teaching people to restructure their thinking in stressful situations.

CBT is based on the theory that a person's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected and can be restructured to support new, healthier thoughts and actions. Only we can change the way we think to feel / act better even if the situation does not change.

- saves time and money - no less effective - you see more people share your struggle - It provides feedback as clients try out new ways of behaving. Hearing that you look poised, even though you feel anxious and self-conscious, can be very reassuring. - It offers a social laboratory for exploring social behaviors and developing social skills.

treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members.

- people that have hearing problems, alcohol problems, AIDS go to these usually. Popular for people to see they are not alone. Popular for a growing culture with more individualistic characters that are on their own

How does the basic assumption of behavior therapy differ from those of psychodynamic and humanistic therapies? What techniques are used in exposure therapies and aversive conditioning? - Behavior therapies are not insight therapies. Their goal is to apply learning principles to modify problem behaviors. - Classical conditioning techniques, including exposure therapies (such as systematic desensitization or virtual reality exposure therapy) and aversive conditioning, attempt to change behaviors through counterconditioning—evoking new responses to old stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors.

What is the main premise of therapy based on operant conditioning principles, and what are the views of its proponents and critics? - Therapy based on operant conditioning principles uses behavior modification techniques to change unwanted behaviors through positively reinforcing desired behaviors and ignoring or punishing undesirable behaviors. - Critics maintain that (1) techniques such as those used in token economies may produce behavior changes that disappear when rewards end, and (2) deciding which behaviors should change is authoritarian and unethical. - Proponents argue that treatment with positive rewards is more humane than punishing people or institutionalizing them for undesired behaviors.

What are the goals and techniques of cognitive therapy and of cognitive-behavioral therapy? - The cognitive therapies, such as Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy for depression, assume that our thinking influences our feelings, and that the therapist's role is to change clients' self-defeating thinking by training them to view themselves in more positive ways. - Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a CONFRONTATIONAL cognitive therapy that actively challenges irrational beliefs. - The widely researched and practiced cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) combines cognitive therapy and behavior therapy by helping clients regularly act out their new ways of thinking and talking in their everyday life.

What are the aims and benefits of group and family therapy? - Group therapy sessions can help more people and costs less per person than individual therapy would. Clients may benefit from exploring feelings and developing social skills in a group situation, from learning that others have similar problems, and from getting feedback on new ways of behaving. - Family therapy views a family as an interactive system and attempts to help members discover the roles they play and to learn to communicate more openly and directly.

If we were to base our opinions completely on patient testimonies, we would say yes since most agree they feel a change afterward. However there are reasons why we can not trust them... - People often enter therapy in crisis so even if it doesn't work after time naturally the crisis may pass un effected by the actual therapy. - Clients may need to believe the therapy was worth the effort of money and time they put into it. (Self-justification is a powerful human motive.) - Clients generally speak kindly of their therapists since they have been so kind and understanding to them also.

Placebo Effect - the power of belief in a treatment. Of course if people believe it will work it has a better chance of "working", or at least making them think it works regression toward the mean - the tendency for unusual events (or emotions) to "regress" (return) to their average state.

Randomized Clinical Trials - researchers randomly assign people on a waiting list to therapy or to no therapy, and later evaluate everyone, using tests and assessments by others who don't know whether therapy was given. Meta-Analysis - a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies. (how randomized clinical trials are digested) Evidence-Based Practice - (3 key factors) clinical decision making that integrates the 1) best available research with 2) clinical expertise and 3) patient characteristics and preferences.

Light Therapy - To counteract winter depression, some people spend time each morning exposed to intense light that mimics natural outdoor light. EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING (EMDR) - when one is rapidly moving one's eyes while recalling traumas... debatable as to why it actually is therapeutic most of the time.

- a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem.

- an ability to cope with stress and recover from adversity

Does psychotherapy work? Who decides? - Clients' and therapists' positive testimonials cannot prove that therapy is actually effective, and the placebo effect and regression toward the mean (the tendency for extreme or unusual scores to fall back toward their average) make it difficult to judge whether improvement occurred because of the treatment. - Using meta-analyses to statistically combine the results of hundreds of randomized psychotherapy outcome studies, researchers have found that those not undergoing treatment often improve, but those undergoing psychotherapy are more likely to improve more quickly, and with less chance of relapse.

Are some psychotherapies more effective than others for specific disorders? - No one type of psychotherapy is generally superior to all others. Therapy is most effective for those with clear-cut, specific problems. - Some therapies—such as behavior conditioning for treating phobias and compulsions—are more effective for specific disorders. - Psychodynamic therapy helped treat depression and anxiety, and cognitive and cognitive-behavioral therapies have been effective in coping with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. - Evidence-based practice integrates the best available research with clinicians' expertise and patients' characteristics, preferences, and circumstances.

What three elements are shared by all forms of psychotherapy? - All psychotherapies offer new hope for demoralized people; a fresh perspective; and (if the therapist is effective) an empathic, trusting, and caring relationship. - The emotional bond of trust and understanding between therapist and client—the therapeutic alliance—is an important element in effective therapy.

How do culture, gender, and values influence the therapist-client relationship? - Therapists differ in the values that influence their goals in therapy and their views of progress. These differences may create problems if therapists and clients differ in their cultural, gender, or religious perspectives.

What should a person look for when selecting a therapist? - A person seeking therapy may want to ask about the therapist's treatment approach, values, credentials, and fees. - An important consideration is whether the therapy seeker feels comfortable and able to establish a bond with the therapist.

-What is the rationale for preventive mental health programs? - Preventive mental health programs are based on the idea that many psychological disorders could be prevented by changing oppressive, esteem-destroying environments into more benevolent, nurturing environments that foster growth, self-confidence, and resilience.

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the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior.

Why do this? The placebo effect and regression toward the mean still have an effect concerning the effectiveness of Drug Therapies. SO there needs to be a way t determine if they are effective through hard evidence What is it? researchers give half the patients the drug, and the other half a similar-appearing placebo and neither the staff nor the patients know who gets which

psychoses (disorders in which hallucinations or delusions indicate some loss of contact with reality

drugs that provided the most help to patients experiencing positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as auditory hallucinations, paranoia and/or other forms of severe thought disorder. - The molecules of most conventional antipsychotic drugs are antagonists; they are similar enough to molecules of the neurotransmitter dopamine to occupy its receptor sites and block its activity. This finding reinforces the idea that an overactive dopamine system contributes to schizophrenia.

- sluggish, tremors, and twitches similar to this of Parkinson's Disease. - long term use can produce tar dive dyskinesia, with involuntary movements of the facial muscles (such as grimacing), tongue, and limbs. - increase the risk of obesity and diabetes Risperidone (Risperdal) and Olanzapine (Zyprexa) - although not more effective, are among newer antis-pychotics that have less side effects. Perhaps you can guess an occasional side effect of L-dopa, a drug that raises dopamine levels for Parkinson's patients: hallucinations

b. Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter affected by taking antipsychotics; an overactive dopamine system may be one cause of the hallucinations and delusions commonly experienced during psychosis.

- Used to control anxiety and agitation - depress central nervous system activity - the antibiotic D-cycloserine, acts upon a receptor that, in combination with behavioral treatments, facilitates the extinction of learned fears. Experiments indicate that the drug enhances the benefits of exposure therapy and helps relieve the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder

- A criticism sometimes made of the behavior therapies and is that they reduce symptoms without resolving underlying problems—is also made of drug therapies. -- - Unlike the behavior therapies, however, these substances may be used as an ongoing treatment. "Popping a Xanax" at the first sign of tension can create a learned response; the immediate relief reinforces a person's tendency to take drugs when anxious. - Anti-anxiety drugs can also be addicting. After heavy use, people who stop taking them may experience increased anxiety, insomnia, and other withdrawal symptoms.

- increasingly being used to successfully treat anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. - agonist - 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. - The most commonly prescribed drugs in this group, including Prozac and its cousins Zoloft and Paxil, work by blocking the reabsorption and removal of serotonin from synapses - often called SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) because deals with not only depression but anxiety, strokes...

- areobic exercise is also effective because it 1) calms people who feel anxious and 2) energizes those who feel depressed. - Cognitive therapy, by helping people reverse their habitual negative thinking style, can boost the drug-aided relief from depression and reduce the post-treatment risk of relapse -alot of studies suggest to use Antidepressant drugs with cognitive therapy to reap best results

patients with minimal or moderate symptoms - aerobic exercise or psychotherapy patients with severe depression or cases - medication (drugs) ***the reason there is no use to prescribe medication to patients with minimal symptoms is because usually the placebo affect and regression toward the mean over powers the effects of the medication.

- For those suffering the emotional highs and lows of bipolar disorder, the salt LITHIUM can be an effective mood stabilizer. - LITHIUM also reduces bipolar patients' risk of suicide—to about one-sixth of bipolar patients not taking lithium

- a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient that has been given an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant (preventing injury) - patient awakens from the 30- 60 second electrical current and remembers nothing of the treatment or of the preceding hours.

Nobody knows for sure, but they think its effctuvenss is related to the placebo effect

The application on wide awake people of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity. ***Unlike ECT, it produces no seizures, memory loss, or other serious side effects

Other patients whose depression has resisted both drugs that flood the body and ECT that jolts at least half the brain have benefited from an experimental treatment pinpointed at a depression center in the brain. - it bridges the thinking frontal lobes to the limbic system. This area, which is overactive in the brain of a depressed or temporarily sad person, calms when treated by ECT or antidepressants. To experimentally excite neurons that inhibit this negative emotion-feeding activity,

- surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior. - Irreversible, Most drastic treatment, Least used biomedical treatment Lobotomy - 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.

a study was once done where they invited small groups of people with depression to undergo a 12-week training program with the following goals... -Aerobic exercise, 30 minutes a day, at least 3 times weekly (increasing fitness and vitality, stimulating endorphins) -Adequate sleep, with a goal of 7 to 8 hours a night (increasing energy and alertness, boosting immunity) -Light exposure, at least 30 minutes each morning with a light box (amplifying arousal, influencing hormones) -Social connection, with less alone time and at least two meaningful social engagements weekly (satisfying the human need to belong) -Antirumination, by identifying and redirecting negative thoughts (enhancing positive thinking) -Nutritional supplements, including a daily fish oil supplement with omega-3 fatty acids (supporting healthy brain functioning)

What are the drug therapies? How do double-blind studies help researchers evaluate a drug's effectiveness? - Psychopharmacology, the study of drug effects on mind and behavior, has helped make drug therapy the most widely used biomedical therapy. - Antipsychotic drugs, used in treating schizophrenia, block dopamine activity. Side effects may include tardive dyskinesia (with involuntary movements of facial muscles, tongue, and limbs) or increased risk of obesity and diabetes. - Antianxiety drugs, which depress central nervous system activity, are used to treat anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These drugs can be physically and psychologically addictive. - Antidepressant drugs, which increase the availability of serotonin and norepinephrine, are used for depression, with modest effectiveness beyond that of placebo drugs. The antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are now used to treat other disorders, including strokes, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. - Lithium and Depakote are mood stabilizers prescribed for those with bipolar disorder. - Studies may use a double-blind procedure to avoid the placebo effect and researchers' bias.

How are brain stimulation and psychosurgery used in treating specific disorders? - Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient, is an effective treatment for severely depressed people who have not responded to other therapy. - Newer alternative treatments for depression include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and, in preliminary clinical experiments, deep-brain stimulation that calms an overactive brain region linked with negative emotions. - Psychosurgery removes or destroys brain tissue in hopes of modifying behavior. - Radical psychosurgical procedures such as the lobotomy were once popular, but neurosurgeons now rarely perform brain surgery to change behavior or moods. - Brain surgery is a last-resort treatment because its effects are irreversible.

How, by taking care of themselves with a healthy lifestyle, might people find some relief from depression, and how does this reflect our being biopsychosocial systems? - Depressed people who undergo a program of aerobic exercise, adequate sleep, light exposure, social engagement, negative-thought reduction, and better nutrition often gain some relief. - In our integrated biopsychosocial system, stress affects our body chemistry and health; chemical imbalances can produce depression; and social support and other lifestyle changes can lead to relief of symptoms.

Anti-anxiety Drugs - depress central nervous system Psychoanalysis - A criticism of this is that it takes forever and therefore is too expensive.