Therapies

What are barriers to seeking treatment?

Uncertainty whether you qualify, stigma, gender roles, expense, availability

What is a counselling psychologist?

Address common problems such as stress, coping and mild forms of anxiety and depression

What is a community psychologist?

Focus on how mental health is influenced by the neighbourhood, economies, social groups, and other community based variables

What is a clinical psychologist?

Mental health professional with doctoral degrees who diagnose and treat problems ranging from everyday to chronic and severe

What is a psychiatrist?

Physicians who specialize in mental health, and who diagnose and treat brain disorders primarily through prescribing medications that influence brain chemistry

What is the role of residential treatment centres?

Provide psychotherapy and life skills training so that the residents can reintegrate into society to the greatest extent possible

What are low level residential treatment centres?

Dorm style

What are high level residential treatment centres?

Hospital-prison style

Do most psychologists use empirically supported treatments?

Yes

What are the challenges to empirically investigating psychological treatment?

Can’t do double blind, ethical considerations for control, can’t standardize therapeutic alliance

Is bibliotherapy supported by evidence?

Self help books have minor effects and questionable source material

What is psychodynamic therapy?

Form of insight therapy that emphasizes the need to discover and resolve unconscious conflict

How does psychodynamic therapy differ from the humanistic/existential approach?

It has the idea that you need judgement/fixing while humanistic approaches don’t judge

What is the phenomenological approach?

Insight therapy where therapist listens empathically and addresses the clients’ subjective feelings and thoughts as the unfold in the present moment

What is unconditional positive regard?

Not judging in insight therapy and accepting people as they are

What is object relations therapy?

A variation of psychodynamic therapy that focuses on how childhood experiences and emotional attachments influence later psychology

What is emotion focused therapy?

A variation of humanistic-existential psychotherapy based on the belief that it is better to face and accept difficult emotions and thoughts rather than to ignore them

What is the best predictor of whether psychotherapy is effective?

Quality of therapeutic alliance?

What are the advantages to group/family therapy?

Cheaper, organized to fit needs, provides social support and practice, gives therapist a more realistic account of behaviour

What is behavioural therapies?

Address problem behaviour and thoughts, and the environmental factors that trigger them through conditioning

What is systemic desensitization?

Gradually exposing an individual to stressful stimuli such that the aversive response is extinguished

What is flooding?

Individual is immersed in stressful situations

What are the advantages of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy?

Generate immersive environments otherwise impossible to reproduce

What is cognitive behavioural therapy?

Therapy that addresses problematic behaviours and the distorted cognitions that cause them

What is mindfulness cognitive behavioural therapy?

Combines mindfulness meditation with standard CBT

What is cognitive restructuring?

Changing negative cognition into more realistic and rational thought patterns

What is stress inoculation training?

Helps clients put traumatic memories into perspective

What is decentering?

Occurs when one is able to ‘step back’ from one’s normal consciousness and observe one’s thoughts more objectively

Why is the blood brain barrier important?

Only allows specific substances to move from the bloodstream to the brain

Why is the blood brain barrier difficult for drugs?

Drug treatments can’t pass through

How do mood stabilizers affect behaviour?

Prevent or reduce manic sides, lithium and anti convulsive, for severity control not elimination

How do anti anxiety drugs affect behaviour?

Alleviate nervousness and tension, prevent/reduce panic attacks, promote GABA activity

How does MDMA effect behaviour?

Increase norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine, facilitates concentration and trust during therapies, facilitates oxytocin for social bonding

Is MDMA effective at treating PTSD?

Increased trust better situating traumatic memories

What effect do antipsychotic drugs have on behaviour?

Block/reduce dopamine receptors

What are first generation antipsychotics?

Block dopamine receptors with severe side effects

What are atypical antipsychotics?

Reduce dopamine and serotonin

How do antidepressants affect behaviour?

Block/reduce serotonin/dopamine/norepinephrine receptors

How do Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) work?

Deactivates an enzyme that breaks down monoamines, dangerous side effects

How do tricyclic antidepressants work?

Block serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake, affect more neurotransmitters than desirable

What are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)?

Block reuptake in a more selective way

How do antidepressants change the brain?

Remove receptors on presynaptic neuron so the presynaptic neuron doesn’t stop producing serotonin; neurogenesis in hippocampus

What is the most effective treatment?

Drugs therapies most effective when combined with other therapies, therapies best when tailored person by person

How do modern surgical methods differ from historical ones?

Modern ones are safer, more based in science, only used in very severe cases and on very small, precise areas

What is electroconvulsive therapy?

Treatment in which an electric current is passed through the brain to induce a temporary seizure

Is electroconvulsive therapy effective?

Promotes neurogenesis in hippocampus, promotes calming of nervous system, mild amnesia

What is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)?

Technique where a powerful magnetic field is used to either stimulate or inhibit brain activity

Is rTMS effective?

No anesthesia or surgery, reduces symptoms in resistant depression

What is Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)?

A technique that involves electrically stimulating highly specific regions of the brain

Is DBS effective?

Instantaneous results but risk of surgery

What conditions must be met to consider technological therapies?

Very severe cases, resistant to all other treatment