Psychological Therapies

PsychotherapyPsychotherapy• Interaction between a trained therapist and

someone suffering from psychological difficulties.3 Types of Treatment Categories3 Types of Treatment Categories

Insight TherapiesInsight Therapies

– – gives insight and understanding into persons gives insight and understanding into persons conditioncondition

• client drivenclient driven

Behavior TherapiesBehavior Therapies

– – therapist directedtherapist directed

• tries to influence and correct maladaptive tries to influence and correct maladaptive (disruptive) (disruptive) behaviorbehavior

Biomedical TherapiesBiomedical Therapies

– – therapy though medication or surgerytherapy though medication or surgery

Eclectic ApproachEclectic Approach• it is basically a smorgasbord • therapist combines techniques from

different schools of psychology depending on the problem

Different Therapy Techniques Correspond to Different

Psychological approaches

• ExampleExample

• Psychodynamic Psychodynamic

• HumanisticHumanistic

• CognitiveCognitive

• BehavioristBehaviorist

Psychoanalysis• Freud's therapy.• Main goal is to dig up the past to clarify

the present• Uses free association, hypnosis and dream interpretation to gain insight into the client’s

unconscious.

Psychoanalytic MethodsPsychoanalytic Methods• To help someone therapists must

overcome resistanceresistance – blocking from consciousness and the

therapist anxiety causing material – Often will use a defense mechanism

TransferenceTransference• Clients relate to their therapist as they would to

important figures in their past– They literally “transfer” their feelings and emotions

from someone they have unconscious feelings toward onto their therapist

Example: A client Example: A client who is resentful who is resentful about her mother’s about her mother’s authority over her authority over her might show angry, might show angry, rebellious behavior rebellious behavior toward the toward the therapisttherapist

Humanistic Therapy

• Main goals…

• Personal responsibility

• Potential for self-actualization

•The present and future

•And conscious thoughts

Client Centered TherapyClient Centered Therapy• Developed by Carl Rogers

Most widely used Humanistic technique is:

• Is nondirectivenondirective

• the therapist does not direct the course and pace of therapy – the client does

•How Does Client Centered Therapy Work??

• creates and environment of UPR

• provides a supportive emotional environment through AGE

WHY?WHY?

What is Active What is Active Listening??Listening??

• Central to Roger’s client-centered therapy

•Empathetic listening where the listener echoes, restates and clarifies.

Behavior TherapiesBehavior Therapies• Applies learning principles to eliminate

unwanted behaviors.

• Believes that behaviors are the problems– so we must change the behaviors.

Uses both classical and operant conditioning techniques

Classical Conditioning Classical Conditioning TechniquesTechniques

Counterconditioning: • conditions new responses to stimuli that

previously triggered unwanted behaviors (responses)– i.e. tries to undo conditioning with new conditioning

Two Types:

Systematic Desensitization

and

Aversion Therapy

Systematic Systematic DesensitizationDesensitization

• Gradually reduces anxiety through a step by step process – Associates a pleasant relaxed state with

gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli.

How would I use systematic

desensitization to reduce my fear of old

women?

Systematic Desensitization

Progressive Relaxation

Exposure Therapy

Flooding

Virtual Technology Exposure Therapy

Aversion TherapyAversion Therapy• associates an unpleasant state with an

unwanted behavior.

How would putting an unappetizing substance on the fingernails of a nail

biter effect their behavior?

Aversive Conditioning

Operant Conditioning Operant Conditioning TechniquesTechniques

Token EconomyToken Economyan operant conditioning procedure that rewards or reinforcesrewards or reinforces a desired behavior.

A patient exchanges a token of some sort, earned for exhibiting the desired behavior, for various privileges or treats.

Cognitive Therapy

““Our thinking Our thinking colors our feelings”colors our feelings”

Almost half of all psychologists who conduct therapy

say they use some sort of cognitive

type

Cognitive TherapiesCognitive Therapies• teaches people new, ways of thinking,

acting and viewing their world• Correct distorted thinking

– Try to change your schemaTry to change your schema

• Clients learn how to identify negative negative thoughts thoughts they make about the world and how to consider other interpretations of events

Cognitive Therapy

Have toChange this

Albert Ellis• Another big dog in cognitive therapy• Created Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

(REBT)(REBT)– If you think rationally about your fears you can If you think rationally about your fears you can

overcome themovercome them

• Say that you have a social phobia that might cause you embarrassment (speaking in class (speaking in class for example and everyone laughing)for example and everyone laughing)– By using REBTREBT, a therapist would question both the

likelihood of such embarrassment occurring and the impact that would result

– the goal would be to show you that it is unlikely to occur and if it did, it would be no big deal

Aaron Beck

• The most famous Cognitive Therapist

• Noticed that depressed people were similar in the way they viewed the world.

• Would often say…”we have to …”we have to take the dark sunglasses of take the dark sunglasses of depression off and see the world depression off and see the world for the bright, wonderful place it for the bright, wonderful place it is.”is.”

• Explained depression using the Cognitive TriadCognitive Triad– People with depression often have

irrationally negative beliefs about three areas of their lives

– People’s beliefs about themselves– Their worlds– And their futures

Group and Family Therapies

Group and Family TherapiesGroup and Family Therapies

• Clients may benefit from knowing others with similar problems and from getting feedback and reassurance – AA

• Therapy that treats the family as a system – no person is an island, that we live and grow in

relation to others, especially our family

• Often views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by or directed at other family members

• Attempts to guide families toward positive relationships and improved communication

• Quiz!!!!!!