Treatments of Psychological Disorders

Flashcards reviewing treatments for psychological disorders, covering psychotherapy, medication, and various therapeutic approaches.

Psychotherapy

A treatment used to help individuals address and manage emotional, psychological, and behavioral challenges through structured conversations with a trained mental health professional.

Meta-analysis

A research method that combines and analyzes the results of multiple independent studies on the same topic to identify overall trends, patterns, or effects.

Effect Size

Quantifies how effective a treatment or intervention is; a large effect size means a substantial difference between groups, while a small effect size indicates a minor difference.

Cultural Humility

A therapist being respectful and open to a client's cultural background, beliefs, and values, acknowledging differences between themselves and the client.

Therapeutic Alliance

The trusting, collaborative relationship established between the therapist and the client, built on open communication, mutual respect, and collaboration on therapy goals.

Psychotropic Medications

Medications and drugs used to treat mental health conditions, affecting brain function and altering mood, behavior, emotions, or cognitive processes.

Deinstitutionalization Movement

The closing down or scaling back of psychiatric hospitals and moving patients back into their communities, allowing clients increased freedom and reintegration into society.

Group Therapy

Involves several individuals meeting together with a therapist, sharing experiences and providing support under the therapist's guidance.

Individual Therapy

One individual meets with a therapist in private to solely focus on the client's personal concerns, goals, and treatment plan.

Nonmaleficence

An ethical principle that therapists must act in a way that avoids causing harm, whether physical, emotional, or psychological, to the people they're trying to help.

Fidelity

An ethical principle where a therapist is trustworthy and honors their professional commitments, keeping shared information confidential unless legally or ethically obligated to disclose.

Integrity

An ethical principle that therapists must be fair, honest, and truthful in all professional activities, providing accurate information about their qualifications and treatment methods.

Respect for People's Rights and Dignity

An ethical principle requiring psychologists to obtain informed consent, respect cultural differences, and allow clients to make their own decisions about treatment and life.

Hypnosis

A state of focused attention, heightened suggestibility, and deep relaxation, effective in treating pain and anxiety but not at accurately retrieving past events.

Free Association

A psychodynamic technique that encourages patients to speak freely about any thoughts, words, or images that come to mind to reveal underlying themes or conflicts.

Dream Interpretation

A psychodynamic technique where therapists analyze the content of dreams, distinguishing between manifest content (actual storyline) and latent content (deeper symbolic meaning).

Cognitive Restructuring

A technique where therapists help a client recognize, challenge, and replace maladaptive thoughts with more realistic and positive thoughts.

Fear Hierarchy

A list of anxiety-inducing situations arranged from least to most frightening, used in cognitive therapies to gradually expose clients to their fears.

Cognitive Triad

Consists of three components—the self, the world, and the future—forming a self-reinforcing loop of negative thoughts addressed in cognitive therapy.

Exposure Therapies

Involve a client slowly being exposed to a feared stimulus while practicing relaxation techniques, utilizing classical conditioning to pair the anxious stimulus with calm.

Systematic Desensitization

A type of exposure therapy for phobias where the client is exposed to increasingly intense versions of the stimuli they fear while practicing relaxation techniques.

Aversion Therapy

Involves pairing unwanted behaviors with an unpleasant stimulus to reduce the behavior by creating a new negative association.

Token Economy

A system where clients earn tokens for displaying desired behaviors, using operant conditioning with positive reinforcement for targeted behaviors.

Biofeedback

Uses electronic monitoring to convey information about physiological processes, helping clients learn to control bodily functions by receiving real-time data.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

A cognitive behavioral therapy focusing on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

A cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses on disrupting irrational beliefs that lead to negative emotions or self-defeating behaviors, using the ABCDE model.

Active Listening

A communication technique where the therapist fully concentrates on what the client shares, often paraphrasing to validate feelings and clarify confusion.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Complete acceptance and support of a person regardless of what they think, feel, or do, allowing the client to feel safe and open up.

Self-Actualization

A goal of humanistic therapy that helps clients achieve their full potential and personal growth.

Congruence

A goal of humanistic therapy where an individual's ideal self and actual experiences are consistent with each other, reducing the gap between real and ideal self.

Psychoactive Medications

Substances designed to alter brain chemistry in a way to help manage symptoms of psychological disorders.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A movement disorder characterized by involuntary repetitive body movements, often stemming from long-term use of certain antipsychotic medications.

Psychosurgery

Involves performing a surgical procedure on the brain, such as lesioning or removing small areas of tissue, to alleviate severe psychiatric symptoms.

Lobotomy

A surgical procedure that involves severing connections in the brain's frontal lobe; no longer common due to significant risk

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

A noninvasive treatment that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in specific regions of the brain associated with mood regulation.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

A medical treatment where small electrical currents are passed through the brain to trigger a brief seizure, often used for severe depression after other treatments have failed.