Chapter 15: Psychotherapy

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Chapter 15 on Psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy

A helping relationship between a therapist and a client aimed at improving mental health.

Insight therapies

Therapies that involve verbal interactions intended to enhance clients’ self-knowledge and promote healthful changes in personality and behavior.

Behavior therapies

Therapies that focus on changing maladaptive behaviors through the application of learning principles.

Biomedical therapies

Physiological interventions intended to reduce symptoms of psychological disorders.

Cognitive therapy

A treatment approach that uses specific strategies to correct habitual thinking errors underlying various types of disorders.

Systematic desensitization

A behavior therapy used to reduce anxiety responses through counterconditioning.

Transference

A phenomenon where clients relate to their therapists in ways that mimic critical relationships in their lives.

Resistance

Unconscious defensive maneuvers intended to hinder the progress of therapy.

Client-centered therapy

An insight therapy emphasizing a supportive emotional climate for clients, as developed by Carl Rogers.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

A blend of cognitive and behavioral therapies aimed at changing thought patterns and behaviors.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

A biomedical treatment where electric shock is used to produce a cortical seizure to treat severe depression.

Antianxiety drugs

Medications that relieve tension and anxiety, often used for short-term treatment.

Mood stabilizers

Medications used to control mood swings in patients with bipolar disorder.

Psychiatrists

Physicians who specialize in the treatment of psychological disorders, often using drug therapies.

Psychologists

Mental health professionals trained to diagnose and treat psychological disorders, usually through therapy.

Cultural barriers

Obstacles that prevent individuals, especially minority groups, from seeking therapy due to cultural differences.

Psychoanalysis

An insight therapy developed by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes the recovery of unconscious conflicts, motives, and defenses.

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, focusing on unconscious conflicts and early experiences.

Free association (Freud)

A psychoanalytic technique where clients spontaneously express all thoughts and feelings without censorship.

Dream analysis (Freud)

A psychoanalytic technique involving the interpretation of clients' dreams to uncover unconscious thoughts or impulses.

Psychodynamic therapy

A modern insight therapy derived from psychoanalysis, often briefer and more focused on current issues and patterns.

Carl Rogers

American psychologist who developed client-centered therapy, emphasizing human potential for growth.

Unconditional Positive Regard (Rogers)

A complete acceptance and non-judgmental stance toward the client, a core condition in client-centered therapy.

Empathy (Rogers)

The therapist's ability to accurately understand and reflect the client's feelings and experiences, a core condition in client-centered therapy.

Genuineness/Congruence (Rogers)

The therapist's honest and authentic self-expression in the therapeutic relationship, a core condition in client-centered therapy.

Humanistic therapy

A broad category of insight therapies, like client-centered therapy, that emphasize inherent self-worth and the potential for self-actualization.

Abraham Maslow

American humanistic psychologist known for developing the hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to evoke a response after being repeatedly paired with a stimulus that naturally evokes the response (discovered by Pavlov).

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist famous for his pioneering work on classical conditioning with dogs.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher (studied by Skinner).

B.F. Skinner

American psychologist, a leading proponent of behaviorism, who extensively researched operant conditioning and reinforcement schedules.

Aversion therapy

A behavioral technique that pairs an undesirable behavior with an unpleasant stimulus to reduce the frequency of the behavior.

Exposure therapy

A behavioral therapy technique used to treat anxiety disorders by gradually exposing clients to the feared object or situation in a safe environment until anxiety subsides.

Social learning theory

A theory developed by Albert Bandura emphasizing that people learn through observing others' behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors.

Albert Bandura

Canadian-American psychologist known for his social learning theory and the Bobo doll experiment on observational learning.

Aaron Beck

American psychiatrist who developed cognitive therapy, focusing on identifying and challenging core beliefs and distorted thought patterns.

Cognitive Triad (Beck)

In cognitive therapy, Beck's concept that depression stems from negative views about oneself, the world, and the future.

Automatic thoughts (Beck)

Spontaneous, often negative and unhelpful, thoughts that pop into an individual's mind and influence their mood and behavior, a focus of cognitive therapy.

Albert Ellis

American psychologist who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), a cognitive-behavioral approach to therapy.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

A comprehensive, active-directive cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by Albert Ellis that helps clients challenge irrational beliefs.

Gestalt therapy

An insight therapy developed by Fritz Perls that emphasizes personal responsibility and focuses on individuals' experiences in the present moment ('here and now').

Fritz Perls

German psychiatrist and psychotherapist, instrumental in developing Gestalt therapy.

Group therapy

A form of psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people at the same time, often sharing common issues.

Family therapy

A type of psychotherapy that addresses the behaviors of all family members and the way these behaviors affect not only individual members but also the family unit as a whole.

Antidepressant drugs

Medications primarily used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and some other conditions by balancing neurochemicals in the brain.

Antipsychotic drugs

Medications primarily used to manage psychosis, particularly in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, by blocking dopamine receptors.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A severe, irreversible neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements, often a side effect of long-term antipsychotic medication use.

Deinstitutionalization

A movement in mental healthcare that advocated for closing large psychiatric hospitals and shifting care to community-based treatment centers.

Eclectic approach

In psychotherapy, an approach that combines and integrates different therapeutic techniques and theories to fit the needs of the individual client.

Therapeutic Alliance

The strong collaborative bond and relationship between a client and their therapist, considered a crucial factor in the effectiveness of psychotherapy.