AP Psychology Unit 5.5 - Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Evidence-based Practice

therapeutic treatments designed with the best available research that also consider patients' unique needs and preferences

Cultural Humility

a practice of therapists who honor a patient's beliefs, customs, and values while being aware of their own limitations and biases

Therapeutic alliance

the bond of trust between a patient and therapist and their agreement to work together for the patient's well-being

Psychotropic medication

a drug that treats mental illness by altering the brain and nervous system's chemical balance

Deinstitutionalization

The process, begun in the late twentieth century, of moving people with psychological disorders out of institutional facilities.

Nonmaleficence

the ethical principle of not causing intentional harm to a patient

Fidelity

a measure of how closely a psychotherapeutic treatment follows the intended method

Integrity

a characteristic of a therapist who is truthful, trustworthy, and upholds high standards of professionalism

Respect

protecting a patient's rights, dignity, and privacy and making them a partner in decision-making

Psychodynamic therapies

treatments that focus on unconscious mental processes (usually about past experiences) and how these influence current behavior

Free association

The act of speaking whatever comes to mind while facing away from your therapist in an attempt to gain understanding of unconscious beliefs/desires.

Interpretation

In psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting of supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in an effort to promote insight.

Cognitive therapies

treatments based on the theory that when a person changes their thoughts (as opposed to their behaviors), they can change how they feel and how they respond

Combating maladaptive thinking

the process of changing harmful thought patterns into more realistic ones

Applied behavior analysis

Uses principles of learning theory to increase positive behaviors and decrease unwanted behaviors

Exposure therapies

treatments for anxieties that safely expose people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid

Systematic desensitization

A type of behavioral therapy used to help effectively overcome phobias and other anxiety disorders by making an anxiety hierarchy of what is least feared to the most. It involves a patient learning relaxation skills and gradually being exposed to the situation causing anxiety.

Aversion therapies

Creating a negative response to the harmful stimulus to reduce or eliminate the behavior

Token economies

a behavioral management technique that uses tokens to reward desired behaviors

Biofeedback

a technique that uses external devices to monitor a person's physiological state with the goal of controlling bodily functions to improve health

Cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT)

a therapy based on the idea that thoughts and behaviors reinforce each other and that changing these can make a person feel better

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

a CBT treatment that helps people learn to accept reality and manage their emotions and relationship skills by teaching mindfulness.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

a CBT treatment that helps people identify self-defeating thoughts and feelings by using reasoning to disprove those beliefs.

Person-Centered Therapy

a treatment from the humanistic perspective that focuses on creating a supportive and non-judgmental environment for clients to help them develop self-acceptance and personal growth

Active Listening

a crucial part of person-centered therapy in which the therapist closely listens then demonstrates that they understand through clarifying questions and feedback

Group Therapy

treating several people with similar problems in regular meetings with a trained counselor or therapist

Hypnosis

a state of consciousness characterized by focused attention, increased suggestibility, and heightened mental relaxation used by therapists to treat pain and anxiety

Psychoactive Medication

drugs that interact with specific neurotransmitters in the central nervous system to address possible biochemical causes of mental disorders

Antidepressants

psychoactive medications that alter the brain's use of neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) to improve mood and behavior

Antianxiety drugs

psychoactive medications that slow down brain activity and increase serotonin levels to alleviate fear, dread, uneasiness, and muscle tightness

Lithium

a psychoactive medication used as a mood stabilizer (most commonly for bipolar disorder, mania, and depression)

Antipsychotic medications

psychoactive medications that are used to treat symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations and delusions

Tardive dyskinesia

a side effect of long-term use of traditional psychoactive medications in which people have uncontrollable movements, tremors, or spasms (related to the regulation of dopamine

in the nervous system)

Psychosurgery

surgical procedures on brain tissue that remove or disconnect nerve pathways to treat mental disorders

Lesioning

a form of psychosurgery involving the removal or destruction of part of the brain

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

a non-invasive intervention that uses magnetic fields to stimulate the brain (used for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other conditions)

Electroconvulsive therapy

a treatment that uses electric shock to induce a seizure in the brain most commonly for drug-resistant or severe disorders

Lobotomy

a now-rare psychosurgical procedure used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients by cutting the nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

Counterconditioning

Inducing a relaxed response to a fear-causing stimuli, and gradually introducing the feared stimuli until the trigger stimulus is paired with an incompatible emotion from fear.

Psychotherapy

Treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

Biomedical Therapy

Prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s phsyiology

Eclectic Approach

An approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences - and the analyst’s interpretations of them - released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

Resistance

In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material.

Transference

In psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships.

Shaping

The rewarding of close and closer approximations for a desired behavior.

Countertransference

When the therapist realizes that the client brings up a strong emotional reaction towards said client.