Lecture Overview Insight Therapies Behavior Therapies Biomedical Therapies Therapy & Critical Thinking ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Lecture Overview

• Insight Therapies• Behavior Therapies• Biomedical Therapies• Therapy & Critical Thinking

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Introductory Definitions

• Psychotherapy: techniques employed to improve psychological functioning & promote adjustment to life

• Three major approaches to therapy:– Insight (personal understanding)– Behavior (maladaptive behaviors)– Biomedical (mental illness & medical

treatments, such as drugs)


Four Major Forms of Insight Therapy

• Psychoanalysis/psychodynamic

• Cognitive

• Humanistic


Insight Therapies: Psychoanalysis/Psychodynamic

• Psychoanalysis: Freudian therapy designed to bring unconscious conflicts into consciousness


Insight Therapies: Psychoanalyis/Psychodynamic

• Five major techniques of psychoanalysis:


Insight Therapies: Psychoanalysis/Psychodynamic

Evaluation of psychoanalysis: limited applicability: expensive, difficult with psychotic individuals

• Psychodynamic Therapy: briefer, more directive, yet still dealing with unconscious


Insight Therapies: Cognitive

• Cognitive Therapy: focuses on faulty thinking & beliefs

– Improvement comes from insight into negative self-talk (internal dialogue)

– Cognitive Restructuring: process of changing destructive thoughts or inappropriate interpretations


Insight Therapies: Cognitive (Continued)

• Albert Ellis’s Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT): eliminates emotional problems through rational examination of irrational beliefs

• Aaron Beck’s form of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy works to change both thoughts & behaviors


Ellis’s Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)


Cognitive Behavior Therapy

• First change way of thinking• Then slowly change behavior• Reward changed behavior

• Feedback from new behavior helps to change thoughts


Beck’s Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

• Depressive thought patterns: – selective perception– overgeneralization– magnification– all-or-nothing thinking


Insight Therapies: Cognitive (Continued)

• Evaluation of cognitive therapy • Pro: Considerable success with a range

of problems• Con: Criticized for overemphasizing

rationality, ignoring unconscious dynamics, minimizing importance of the past, etc.


• Humanistic therapy: Rogers emphasizes client’s natural tendency to become healthy & productive

• Techniques include:– empathy– unconditional positive regard– genuineness– active listening


Client-Centered Therapy:

Insight Therapies: Humanistic (Continued)

• Evaluation of humanistic therapy

• Pro: Evidence for success

• Con: Basic tenets, such as self-actualization, difficult to test scientifically


Behavior Therapies• Behavior Therapy: group of techniques based

on learning principles used to change maladaptive behaviors

• Three foundations of behavior therapy:– classical conditioning– operant conditioning– observational learning


Behavior Therapies: Classical Conditioning

• Systematic Desensitization: gradual process of extinguishing a learned fear (or phobia) by working through a hierarchy of fearful stimuli while remaining relaxed


Behavior Therapies: Classical Conditioning

– Aversion Therapy: pairing an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus with a maladaptive behavior


Behavior Therapies: Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning techniques used to INCREASE adaptive behaviors:

• Shaping: successive approximations of target behavior are rewarded; includes role-playing, behavior rehearsal, assertiveness training

• Tokens: symbolic rewards used to immediately reinforce desired behavior


Behavior Therapies: Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning techniques used to DECREASE maladaptive behaviors:

• Extinction: withdrawal of attention • Punishment: adding or taking away

something (e.g., time-out)


Behavior Therapies: Observational Learning

• Modeling: watching & imitating models that demonstrate desirable behaviors

• Participant Modeling: combining live modeling with direct & gradual practice


Behavior Therapies (Continued)

• Evaluation of behavior therapies:

• Pro: Strong evidence for success with a wide range of problems

• Con: Questioned & criticized for generalizability. What about thoughts and feelings?


Biomedical Therapies

• Biomedical Therapy: uses physiological interventions, such as drugs, to treat psychological disorders

– Psychopharmacology


1. Antianxiety (increases relaxation, reduces anxiety & muscle tension)

2. Antipsychotic (treats hallucinations & other symptoms of psychosis)

3. Mood Stabilizer (treats manic episodes & depression)

4. Antidepressant (treats symptoms of depression) 5. Stimulants (used to treat attention deficits)


Major categories of drugs:


Therapy & Critical ThinkingTherapy Essentials--Five Common Goals


Therapy & Critical Thinking


Therapy & Critical Thinking: Gender & Cultural Diversity

• Cultural differences:

– Therapies in individualistic cultures emphasize independence, the self, & control over one’s life.

– Therapies in collectivist cultures emphasize interdependence.


Therapy & Critical Thinking: Evaluating & Finding Therapy

• Forty to 80 % who receive therapy are better off than people who do not.

• Guidelines for Finding a Therapist: • take time to “shop around.”• if in a crisis, call 24-hour hotlines or college

counseling centers.


Documents

Lecture Overview Insight Therapies Behavior Therapies Biomedical Therapies Therapy & Critical Thinking ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010