AP Psych Ch 16: Therapy

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 physiology

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 therapist'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

interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight

transferring

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

psychodynamic therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight

insight therapies

therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses (humanistic and psychodynamic therapies)

How do humanistic therapies differ from psychodynamic

1. Humanistic therapies value conscious thoughts more than unconscious
2. Humanistic therapies focus more on the present and future rather than achieving insights into the childhood origins of those feelings
3. Humanistic therapies focus on self-growth, not curing illness
4. Humanistic therapy's path to growth is taking immediate responsibility for one's feelings and actions rather than uncovering hidden determinants.

Person-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist creates an accepting, empathic, and geniune environment and uses techniques such as active listening to facilitate the client's growth.

Active listening

Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy

Unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Behavior therapists

therapy that applies learning principles (classical and operant conditioning) to the elimination of unwanted behaviors and replace them with new constructive behaviors

Counterconditioning

a behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

exposure therapies

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid

Systematic desensitization

A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

virtual reality exposure therapy

a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety by creative electronic simulations in which people can safely face their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

Aversive conditioning

associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

token economy

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats.

cognitive therapies

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

T/F Beck came up with cognitive therapies after a woman left a party upset and came to him for assistance

true

catastrophizing

Dramatically exaggerating the negative consequences of any minor event

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

Dialectical

A form of treatment in which the focus is on getting people to accept who they are regardless of whether it matches their ideal.

Group therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, permitting therapeutic benefits from group interaction

What are the benefits of group therapy

1) Saves therapists' time and clients' money
2) Explores social behaviors and develop social skill
3) Enables people to see that others share their problems
4) Provides feedback as clients try out new ways of behaving

Family therapy

therapy that treats people within the context of their family system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

T/F the more meetings an AA member attends the greater their alcohol abstinence

true

T/F AIDS patents were 250 times more likely than hypertension(High blood pressure) patients to be in support groups

true

What type of problems do self-help groups tend to focus on

stigmatized and hard-to-discuss problems, Ex. People with migraines don't seek support groups because their issue isn't stigmatized or hard to discuss while anorexics and addicts will seek support due to stigma.

T/F roughly half of clients of mental health professionals reported that they were at least fairly well satisfied

false, roughly 90%

Why client testimonials aren't the best way of measuring the effectiveness of therapy

1) people often enter therapy in a crisis, when the crisis passes they might falsely attribute their improvement to therapy.
2) Clients believe that the therapy will help them (placebo effect)
3)Therapists generally speak kindly to their clients so their clients feel obligated to talk nicely about them regardless if they helped them.
4) Clients want to believe that the time and effort they spent in therapy must have been worth it and find ways to justify therapy even if it didn't help them (sunk cost fallacy)

Confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

meta-analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

T/F those not undergoing therapy often improve, but those undergoing therapy are more likely to improve- and improve more quickly with less risk of relapse

true

T/F clients benefit from psychotherapy regardless of their clinician's experience, training, supervision, and liscensing

true

t/f people with more specific problems rather than general ones such as anxiety tend to respond better to psychotherapy

true

What issues are best addressed by Cognitive and Cognitive-behavioral therapies

anxiety, PTSD, insomnia, and depression

What issues are best addressed by Behavioral conditioning therapies

behavioral problems, Ex: Bed wetting, specific phobias, compulsions, marital difficulties, and sexual dysfunctions

What issues are best addressed by psychodynamic therapy

depression and anxiety (equally as good as cognitive-behavioral therapy at reducing depression)

What issues are best addressed by nondirective counseling

mild to moderate depression

T/F The Scared Straight program, D.A.R.E (the anti-drug program), numerous weight reduction, and pedo rehab have been found to be very effective.

False, ineffective and sometimes harmful

evidence-based practice

clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences

3 reasons why studies have found little correlation with therapists' training and client outcomes

1. Any psychotherapy offers hope for demoralized people
2. Every therapy offers a new perspective
3. All therapists are empathetic, trusting, and caring

T/F therapists with similar values as the patients tend to be more effective

true

According to the American psychological association, your therapist should...

1. Seek to benefit you and do you no harm
2. establish a feeling of trust and a defined role as your therapist
3. be honest, truthful, and accurate
4. Be fair and promote justice for you and others
5. respect the dignity and worth of you and others, recognizing the right to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

antipsychotic drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder (less effective at treating negative sypmtoms such as withdrawal)

examples of antipsychotic drugs

thorazine, risperdal, zyprexa

antianxiety drugs

Drugs used to control anxiety and agitation
Ex. Xanax and Ativan

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. (Several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors—SSRIs.)