4/24/24 genpsych

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 medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system

psychoanalytic therapy

Uses various methods to help a patient become aware of his/her unconscious motives, in order to help the patient be more able to choose behaviors consciously. Therapy sessions usually focus on patients talking about their lives and reducing anxiety through self insight through analysis and interpretation.

psychoanalytic therapy approaches

dream interpretation + free association

humanistic therapy

Focuses on removing obstacles that block personal growth and potential.

person centered therapy

a nondirective insight therapy based on the work of Carl Rogers in which the client does all the talking and the therapist listens

behavioral therapy

focuses on changing behavior by identifying problem behaviors, replacing them with appropriate behaviors, and using rewards or other consequences to make the changes

exposure therapy

An approach to treatment that involves confronting an emotion-arousing stimulus directly and repeatedly, ultimately leading to a decrease in the emotional response

flooding

a treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly and intensively to a feared object and made to see that it is actually harmless

systematic desensitization

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

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

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 therapy

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

aaron beck

pioneer in Cognitive Therapy. Suggested negative beliefs cause depression.

cognitive behavioral therapy

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

drug therapies

`Treatment of psychological disorders with medication.

antidepressants

a class of psychotropic medications used for the treatment of depression

mood stabilizers

drugs used to control mood swings in patients with bipolar mood disorders

electroconvulsive therapy

a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient