AP PSYCH: Mental and Physical Health (5.5a-5.5b)

Psychotherapy

Treatment involving psychological techniques to help a person overcome difficulties or achieve personal growth.

Biomedical therapy

Treatment that involves medication or medical procedures to treat psychological disorders.

Deinstitutionalization

The process of releasing patients from mental hospitals and integrating them into the community.

Psychodynamic therapy

Therapy that focuses on unconscious processes and childhood experiences to understand current behavior.

Free association

A psychoanalytic technique in which a person says whatever comes to mind without censorship.

Dream interpretation

Analyzing the content of dreams to uncover unconscious desires or conflicts.

Transference

The redirection of feelings from one person to another, often from a patient to a therapist.

Resistance

A patient’s unconscious defense mechanisms that hinder progress in therapy.

Psychoanalysis

Freud’s therapeutic technique for analyzing unconscious conflicts through free association, dreams, and transference.

Humanistic therapy

Therapy focused on personal growth, self-actualization, and helping people reach their full potential.

Person-centered therapy

A humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers emphasizing empathy, acceptance, and genuine understanding.

Active listening

Fully concentrating, understanding, responding, and remembering what a person says in therapy.

Role of unconditional positive regard during therapy

Providing nonjudgmental support and acceptance to help clients feel safe and valued.

Behavior therapists

Therapists who apply learning principles to change maladaptive behaviors.

Counterconditioning

A behavior therapy technique that pairs a new, positive response with a previously negative stimulus.

Exposure therapies

Behavioral techniques that treat anxiety by exposing patients to the things they fear.

Systematic desensitization

Gradually exposing a person to anxiety-producing stimuli while teaching relaxation techniques.

Aversion therapies

Behavioral therapies that associate unwanted behaviors with unpleasant experiences.

Token economies

A system in which desirable behaviors are reinforced with tokens that can be exchanged for rewards.

Biofeedback

A technique that teaches people to control bodily processes, such as heart rate, using real-time feedback.

Rational emotive behavior therapy

Cognitive therapy that challenges irrational beliefs to change emotional and behavioral outcomes.

Cognitive restructuring

Identifying and changing maladaptive thought patterns to improve emotions and behavior.

Beck’s Cognitive triad

Aaron Beck’s concept that depression is linked to negative views of the self, the world, and the future.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A therapy combining cognitive and behavioral techniques to change thoughts and behaviors.

Dialectical behavior therapy

A type of cognitive-behavioral therapy focused on regulating emotions, tolerating distress, and improving relationships.

Family therapy

Therapy that treats the family as a system and addresses communication and relational issues.

Self-help groups

Peer-led support groups where members share experiences and coping strategies.

Couples therapy

Therapy that helps romantic partners resolve conflicts and improve their relationship.