Unit 5.5 Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Therapeutic Alliance

The collaborative relationship between a therapist and a client, essential for effective treatment, fostering trust and communication to facilitate healing and progress.

Cultural Humility

An approach in healthcare that emphasizes an understanding of and respect for different cultural backgrounds, recognizing power imbalances, and promoting lifelong learning and self-reflection.

Deinstitutionalization

the process of reducing the population of mental health institutions by promoting community-based care.

Decentralized Treatment

a movement away from institutional care towards community-based mental health services, emphasizing individual empowerment and societal integration.

APA Ethical principles for therapists

guidelines that ensure ethical practices in therapy, promoting client welfare, confidentiality, and professional integrity.

Nonmaleficence

The ethical principle that obligates therapists to avoid causing harm to their clients. It emphasizes the importance of safeguarding clients' well-being.

Fidelity

The principle of being trustworthy and keeping commitments in the therapeutic relationship. It emphasizes the ethical obligation of therapists to protect client confidentiality and act in their best interests.

Integrity

The ethical principle requiring therapists to maintain honesty and transparency in their professional relationships, ensuring trust and respect with clients.

Respect for People's Rights and Dignity

The ethical principle that recognizes and respects individual rights and dignity, ensuring that therapists treat clients fairly and honor their autonomy.

Psychodynamic Therapies

A group of therapies that focus on unconscious processes and how they influence behavior, emphasizing the importance of childhood experiences and interpersonal relationships.

Free Association

A therapeutic technique used in psychodynamic therapy where a client speaks freely about their thoughts, feelings, and memories to uncover unconscious processes.

Dream interpretation

A technique used in psychodynamic therapy where the therapist analyzes a client's dreams to uncover underlying thoughts and emotions, revealing unconscious conflicts.

Cognitive Therapies

A type of therapy aimed at changing negative thought patterns and behaviors by focusing on the connections between thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Gognitive Restructuring

A cognitive therapy technique that involves identifying and challenging negative thought patterns to replace them with more positive and realistic ones.

Fear Hierarchies

A therapeutic tool used in exposure therapy that involves creating a ranked list of fears or anxiety-provoking situations to help clients gradually face and overcome their fears.

Focus on the Cognitve Triad

This therapeutic approach emphasizes changing negative thought patterns about oneself, the world, and the future, which are central to cognitive behavioral therapy.

Applied Behavior Analysis

A therapeutic technique that uses principles of behaviorism to modify behavior through reinforcement and punishment, often used in treating autism spectrum disorders.

Exposure Therapies

A group of behavioral treatment methods that aim to reduce anxiety and fear by gradually exposing patients to the feared object or context without any danger to help them overcome their anxiety.

Systematic Desensitization

A type of exposure therapy that aims to reduce anxiety by gradually exposing the patient to the feared stimulus while teaching relaxation techniques to help manage anxiety.

Aversion Therapies

Therapeutic techniques that use the principle of punishment to reduce undesirable behaviors by associating them with unpleasant stimuli.

Token Economies

a behavior modification system that uses tokens as rewards for desired behaviors, which can be exchanged for other reinforcements.

Biofeedback

a technique that teaches individuals to control physiological processes by providing real-time feedback about bodily functions, often used to manage stress and anxiety.

Cognitive-Behavioral therapies

psychological treatments that aim to improve mental health by changing negative thought patterns and behaviors.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy designed to help individuals with emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness, often used in treating borderline personality disorder.

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

a cognitive-behavioral approach that focuses on identifying and changing irrational beliefs to improve emotional well-being and resolve psychological issues.

Humanistic Therapies

therapeutic approaches that emphasize personal growth, self-actualization, and the individual's capacity for self-healing and reflection.

Person-Centered Therapy

a humanistic approach developed by Carl Rogers that emphasizes creating a supportive environment for clients to explore their feelings and personal growth.

Active Listening

a communication technique used in person-centered therapy where the therapist fully engages with the client by reflecting back what they hear, validating the client's feelings, and encouraging exploration of thoughts and emotions.

Unconditional Positive Regard

A key concept in humanistic therapy where the therapist provides complete acceptance and support of the client without any conditions or judgments.

Group Therapy

A form of psychotherapy in which a small group of people meet to discuss their issues and support each other, guided by a therapist.

Individual Therapy

A type of psychotherapy where a therapist works one-on-one with a patient to address mental health issues and personal challenges.

Hypnosis in Therapy

A therapeutic technique where a trained professional guides a patient into a trance-like state to address psychological issues, often enhancing suggestibility and emotional awareness.

Biological Therapies

Treatments that focus on the physiological aspects of psychological disorders, often involving medication or medical procedures to alleviate symptoms.

Antidepressants

Medications used to treat depressive disorders by balancing chemicals in the brain.

Antianxiety

medications used to treat anxiety disorders, often by increasing the levels of neurotransmitters that promote relaxation.

Lithium

A mood stabilizer commonly used to treat bipolar disorder and can help reduce the frequency and severity of mood swings.

Antipsycotics

Medications used to manage symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations and delusions, often prescribed for conditions like schizophrenia.

Psychosurgeries

surgical interventions used to treat severe mental disorders, often involving the removal or alteration of brain tissue to alleviate symptoms.

Lesioning

is a surgical procedure involving the removal or destruction of brain tissue to alleviate severe psychological symptoms, often used as a last resort in treating mental disorders.

Lobotomy

A form of psychosurgery that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal lobe, historically used to treat severe mental disorders.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

A non-invasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. It is often used to treat depression and other neurological disorders.

Electroconvulsive Therapy

A medical treatment that involves electrically inducing seizures in patients to alleviate severe depression and other mental disorders.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements, primarily in the face and tongue, often caused by long-term use of antipsychotic medications.