Humanistic, group/family, biological therapies

Front: What is the focus of humanistic therapies?

Back: Humanistic therapies emphasize conscious experience of the self, relationships, and the world, helping people connect with their feelings, true selves, and life meaning.

Front: What is Gestalt therapy?

Back: Gestalt therapy helps people acknowledge and integrate their feelings so they can act in accordance with them.

Front: What is client-centred therapy (Rogers)?

Back: Problems arise when self-concept is incongruent with actual experience; change occurs through therapist empathy and unconditional positive regard.

Front: What is group therapy?

Back: Multiple people meet together to work towards therapeutic goals.

Front: What are self-help groups?

Back: Groups similar to group therapy but not guided by a professional.

Front: What is the aim of family therapy?

Back: To change maladaptive family interaction patterns, often using a genogram to map recurring patterns over generations.

Front: What is relationship or couples therapy?

Back: Therapy focusing on the relationship between members of a couple, using psychodynamic, systemic, cognitive, or behavioural principles.

Front: What are psychotropic medications?

Back: Medications that act on the brain to affect mental processes.

Front: How do most psychotropic medications work?

Back: They act at neurotransmitter sites, either by:

• Binding to postsynaptic receptors to prevent neural transmission,

• Increasing action of underactive neurotransmitters (blocking reuptake or storage),

• Acting at the intracellular level.

Front: What are antipsychotic medications used for?

Back: To treat schizophrenia and other acute psychotic states.

Front: What are antidepressant medications used for?

Back: Treat multiple disorders, particularly depression and anxiety disorders.

Front: What is the treatment of choice for bipolar disorder?

Back: Lithium.

Front: Which medications can be useful for treating anxiety?

Back: Both benzodiazepines and antidepressants.

Front: What is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) used for?

Back: Treating major depression.

Front: What is psychosurgery and when is it used?

Back: A neurosurgical procedure, primarily a last resort for severe obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Front: For which disorders is pharmacotherapy essential or helpful?

Back: Essential for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; helpful for major depression and anxiety disorders.

Front: What is a limitation of pharmacotherapy?

Back: High relapse rates when medication is discontinued; complete cures are uncommon for most disorders.

Front: What type of psychotherapy has shown the most success for anxiety disorders?

Back: Cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT).

Front: What is the difference between efficacy and effectiveness studies?

• Efficacy studies: Assess treatment outcomes under controlled experimental conditions.

• Effectiveness studies: Assess treatment outcomes as practised by clinicians in the community.