Clinical Psychology

Clinical Psychology

The specialty concerned with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological and behavioral disorders.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapies

A group of psychotherapies that assume 1) Human behavior is motivated largely by unconscious processes, 2) Early development has a profound effect on adult functioning, 3) Universal principles explain personality development and behavior, 4) Insight into unconscious processes is a key component of psychotherapy.

Psychoanalysis

Posits that human beings are determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivations, biological and instinctual needs and drives, and psychosexual events that occurred in the first five years of life.

Id

Present at birth. Consists of life and death instincts (source of all psychic energy). Operates on the pleasure principle. Seeks immediate gratification to avoid tension.

Birth

This is when the id forms

Pleasure

This id operates on this principle

Ego

Develops around 6 months of age. Result of id not being able to satisfy all needs. Operates on the reality principle. Defers gratification of id’s needs until appropriate object is available. Employs secondary process thinking (realistic and rational). Mediates demands of id and reality, and eventually, the superego.

6 months

This is when the ego develops

Reality

The ego operates on this principle.

Superego

Develops around age 4-5. Internalization of society’s values and standards via parents’ responses. Attempts to permanently block the id’s socially unacceptable impulses.

4-5 years

This is when does the superego develops

Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital

These are Freud’s 5 psychosexual stages

Anxiety

According to Freud, this alerts the ego to an impending internal or external threat (e.g., conflict between the id’s impulses and the superego or reality)

Rational processes or defense mechanisms

According to Freud, anxiety is alleviated through…

Defense Mechanisms

Serve to deny or distort reality. Operate on an unconscious level. Can be adaptive and/or maladaptive.

Repression

The most “basic” defense mechanism that underlies all others. Occurs when the id’s needs and drives are kept unconscious.

Reaction Formation

The defense mechanism characterized by avoiding anxiety-evoking impulses by doing the opposite

Projection

The defense mechanism characterized by attributing a threatening impulse to another person or source

Confrontation

A technique in psychoanalysis that involves making statements that help clients to see their behavior in a new way

Clarification

A technique in psychoanalysis that involves understanding the client’s feelings and restating them in clearer terms

Interpretation

A technique in psychoanalysis that involves explicitly connecting current behavior to unconscious processes; most successful when addressing what is close to conscious

Psychic determinism

The belief that all behaviors are meaningful and serve some psychological function (e.g., parapraxes or ‘slips of the tongue’)

Catharsis

In psychoanalysis, the emotional release resulting from the recall of unconscious material; it paves the way to insight into relationships between current behavior and unconscious processes

Working Through

The final and longest stage in psychoanalysis; allows clients to assimilate new insights into their personality

Brief Psychodynamic Therapies

These therapies are time-limited, target a specific problem, use interpretation early, emphasize a strong working alliance, and view positive countertransference as more important than negative

Inferiority Feelings

According to Adler, these develop in childhood as the result of real or perceived biological, psychological, or social weaknesses

Striving for Superiority

According to Adler, this is an inherent tendency toward “perfect completion”

Style of Life

According to Adler, this is the specific ways a person chooses to compensate for inferiority and achieve superiority. It unifies various aspects of personality and is affected by early experiences (e.g., being pampered or neglected), prior to age 4-5

Teleological Approach

A key feature of Adler’s Individual Psychology, which views behavior as motivated by a person’s future goals rather than past events.

Healthy Style of Life

According to Adler, this is characterized by optimism, confidence, and concern about the welfare of others

Mistaken Style of Life

According to Adler, this is characterized by self-centeredness, competition, and striving for personal power

Lifestyle Investigation

A technique in Adlerian therapy that involves exploring family constellation, fictional (hidden) goals, and “basic mistakes” (distorted beliefs and attitudes)

Basic Mistakes

According to Adler, these are distorted beliefs and attitudes

Systematic Training for Effective Teaching (STET)

This is based on Adlerian therapy; it assumes all of children’s behavior is goal-directed and purposeful for belonging, namely through attention, power, revenge, or to display deficiency

Libido

Jung defined this as general psychic energy

Carl Jung

This theorist believed that behavior is determined by both past events and future goals and aspirations

Conscious

According to Jung, this aspect of a person’s experience is oriented towards the external world; governed by the ego; and represents the individual’s thoughts, ideas, feelings, sensory perceptions, and memories

Personal Unconscious

According to Jung, this aspect of a person’s experience contains things that were unconsciously perceived or are now repressed or forgotten

Collective Unconscious

According to Jung, this is the repository of latent memory traces that have been passed down from previous generations

Archetypes

According to Jung, these are “primordial images” that cause people to experience and understand certain phenomena in a universal way

The Self

According to Jung, this archetype represents a striving for unity of the different parts of the personality

Persona

According to Jung, this archetype is the “public mask”

Shadow

According to Jung, this archetype is the “dark side” of the personality

Anima

According to Jung, this archetype is the feminine aspect of personality

Animus

According to Jung, this archetype is the masculine aspect of personality

Introversion and Extraversion

According to Jung, these are the two attitudes that make up personality

Thinking, Feeling, Sensing, and Intuiting

According to Jung, these are the four psychological functions of personality; they all operate unconsciously, with one often dominating the conscious

Individuation

According to Jung, this is an integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche that lead to the development of a unique identity

Mid-30s

Jung was interested in growth and development throughout the lifespan, particularly after this period

Wisdom

According to Jung, this is an important outcome of individuation; occurs in later years when a person’s interests turn spiritual and philosophical

Object-Seeking

Object Relations theorists consider this to be a basic inborn drive

Normal Infantile Autism

Mahler’s first stage of personality development; occurs in the first month of life; characterized by the child being self-absorbed and oblivious to the external environment

Normal Symbiotic

Mahler’s second stage of personality development; the child is unable to differentiate between “me” and “not me”

Separation-Individuation

Mahler’s third stage of personality development; occurs around age 4-5 months; involves four overlapping subphases (i.e., differentiation, practicing, rapprochement, and object constancy)

Differentiation

The first phase of Mahler’s separation-individuation; sometimes called “hatching”; characterized by “checking back” and comparing

Practicing

The second phase of Mahler’s separation-individuation; characterized by walking away to explore, then returning to secure base

Rapprochement

The third phase of Mahler’s separation-individuation; characterized by clinging, ambivalence, and separation anxiety

Object Constancy

The fourth phase of Mahler’s separation-individuation; characterized by security even when a caregiver is out of sight; typically by 2-3 years old

Object Relations

Melanie Klein, Ronald Fairburn, Margaret Mahler, and Otto Kernberg are all…

Splitting

According to Kernberg, Borderline Personality Disorder is due to inadequate resolution of ____ objects and object relations into “good” or “bad” components.

Humanistic Psychotherapies

A group of psychotherapies that 1) take a phenomenological approach, 2) focus on current behaviors, 3) believe in the individual’s inherent potential for self-determination and self-actualization, 4) emphasize an authentic, collaborative, and egalitarian relationship between therapist and client, and 5) reject traditional assessment techniques and diagnostic labels

Person-Centered Therapy

A type of therapy that originated with Carl Rogers

Unconditional Positive Regard, Genuineness (Congruence), and Accurate Empathic
Understanding

The three main techniques used in Person-Centered Therapy

Gestalt Therapy

This therapy originated with Fritz Perls

The self and the self-image

According to Fritz Perls, these are the two components of personality

Self-Image

According to Fritz Perls, this is the “darker side” of personality that hinders growth by imposing external standards

Self

According to Fritz Perls, this is the creative aspect of personality that promotes self-actualization (the ability to live as a fully integrated person)

Boundary Disturbances

According to Perls, these represent a disturbance between the self and the environment, interfering with a person’s ability to satisfy their needs and maintain homeostasis

Introjection

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person psychologically swallowing whole concepts and struggling to understand “me” and “not me”; they may be overly compliant

Projection

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person disowning aspects of the self by assigning them to others; paranoia is an extreme form of this

Retroflection

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person doing to oneself what one wants to do to another

Confluence

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person having no boundary between self and environment; may lead to intolerance of differences between oneself and others (creates guilt and resentment)

Logotherapy (An Existential Therapy)

This therapy originated with Viktor Frankl

Existential Therapies

This type of therapy has an emphasis on personal choice and responsibility for developing a meaningful life; it assumes we are in constant state of evolving and becoming

Ultimate Concerns of Existence

According to existential therapies, maladaptive behavior is the result of an inability to cope authentically with these (e.g., death, freedom, existential isolation, meaninglessness, etc.)

Existential Anxiety

According to existential therapies, this is normative and creates motivation to change and grow

Neurotic Anxiety

According to existential therapies, this is out of proportion to the context, can be out of conscious awareness and immobilizing, and is the result of trying to avoid existential realities

Paradoxical Intention

A technique in existential therapy that involves performing a feared outcome in a humorous and exaggerated way (e.g., stuttering as much as possible when speaking)

Reality Therapy

A type of therapy that originated with William Glasser

Choice Theory (Control Theory)

Assumes that people are responsible for the choices they make, emphasizes how choices affect the course of a person’s life; a key component of Reality Therapy

Survival, Love/ Belonging (most important), Power, Freedom, and Fun

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), these are the five basic innate needs

Success Identity

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), this occurs when a person fulfills their needs in a responsible way (realistic way that does not infringe on the rights of others)

Failure Identity

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), this occurs when a person’s needs are not met or are met in irresponsible ways; this underlies mental and emotional disturbance

Total Behavior

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), this is the sum of a person’s actions, thoughts, emotions, and physiology; however, emphasis is often placed on areas in which clients have the most control

Personal Construct Therapy

A type of therapy that originated with George Kelly

Construe

According to Kelly (Personal Construct Therapy), this is the process of perceiving, interpreting, and predicting events

Personal Constructs

According to Kelly (Personal Construct Therapy), these are bipolar dimensions of meaning (e.g., happy/sad, competent/incompetent, etc.) that are unique to each person, may operate on an unconscious level, begin developing in infancy, and influence how a person perceives themselves and the world

Fixed Role Therapy

A technique used in Personal Construct Therapy (Kelly) that encourages clients to try on and adopt alternative personal constructs by acting as a character that is different from themselves

Psychoanalysis

This therapy is often summarized as being pessimistic, deterministic, mechanistic, and reductionistic.

Psychoanalysis

This therapy consists of both a structural (drive) theory and a developmental theory

Libido

According to Freud, this is the id’s sexual energy

Psychoanalysis

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as stemming from an unconscious, unresolved conflict that occurred in childhood

Psychoanalysis

Techniques of this therapy include analysis of free associations, dreams, resistances, and transferences

Psychoanalysis

The goal of this therapy is to reduce or eliminate psychological symptoms by bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness and integrating previously repressed material into the personality

Adler’s Individual Psychology

This therapy views maladaptive behaviors as representative of a mistaken style of life (e.g., maladaptive attempts to compensate for feelings of inferiority, preoccupation with power, and lack of social interest)

Adler’s Individual Psychology

The goal of this therapy is to identify and understand a person’s style of life and its consequences, as well as reorient clients’ beliefs and goals to a healthier style of life

Adler’s Individual Psychology

Techniques of this therapy include “lifestyle investigation”

Jung’s Analytical Psychotherapy

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as unconscious messages to the individual that something is awry with them and that present a task that demands to be fulfilled

Jung’s Analytic Psychotherapy

Techniques of this therapy include interpretations, dreamwork, analysis of transference and countertransference, and emphasis on the here-and-now and optimism/ healthy aspects of the personality

Object Relations Theory

This theory views maladaptive behavior as the result of abnormalities in early relationships with significant others (e.g., caregivers)