AP Psych Mod 70- 73

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 procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology

eclectic

an approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy

Sigmund Freud

psychanalysis

• free associations

psychoanalysis

Freud’s therapeutic technique used to treat psychological disorders, believed patients free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences and therapist’s interpretations of them-released previously repressed feelings, letting the patient gain self-insight

• bring repressed feelings into consciousness

resistance

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material

interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight

transferring

in psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships

• strong positive or negative emotions about therapist

psychodynamic therapy

views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight

• understand current symptoms by focusing on important relationships

  • face-to-face and explore defended-against thoughts and feelings

humanistic

potential for self-fulfillment

• give clients new insights to reduce inner conflict

• present and future more important than past

• conscious thoughts are more important

insight therapies

therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses

• psychodynamic and humanistic therapies

Carl Rogers

humanistic

• client-centered therapy

client-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth

• nondirective therapy: client leads discussion

• therapist listens, w/o judging or interpreting/direction to insights

active listening

empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies (a feature of Rogers’ client centered therapy)

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

behavior therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors

counterconditioning

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

Mary Cover Jones

behavioral psychologist, fear of rabbits paired with pleasure of eating (lessens fear over time)

• used counterconditioning

Joseph Wolpe

psychiatrist that refined Jones’ counterconditioning technique into exposure therapies

exposure therapies

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people to the things they fear and avoid

• pairs trigger stimulus with a new response that is incompatible with fear

• repeated exposure to unwanted stimuli to force adaption

systematic desensitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli

• used to treat phobias

• progressive relaxation: release tension in one muscle group after another, until complete relaxation is reached

virtual reality exposure therapy

a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronic simulations in which people can safely face their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

aversive conditioning

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior

• often paired with other treatment as cognition lessens it

B.F. Skinner

helped us understand the basic principle of operant conditioning

behavior modification

reinforce desired behaviors, punish/lack of reinforcement will reinforce undesirable ones

token economy

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange tokens for privileges or treats

cognitive therapies

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

• change mind with new constructive ways to interpret events

Albert Ellis

rational-emotive behavior therapy

• problems arise from irrational thinking

• confrontational cognitive therapy

rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

a confrontational cognitive therapy, developed by Ellis, that vigorously challenges people’s illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions

• reveal “absurdity” of ideas

Aaron Beck

Beck’s therapy for depression

• gentle questioning about irrational thinking

Beck’s therapy for Depression

cognitive therapy assumes that changing people’s thinking can change their functioning

• reverse clients’ negativity about themselves/situations/futures

• gentle questioning reveals irrational thinking and changes view

catastrophizing

relentless, overgeneralized, self-blaming behavior

stress innoculation training

teaching people to restructure their thinking in stressful situation

phases of cognitive therapy to change beliefs

reveal, test, change

cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

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

• awareness of thinking and replacement of it

• practice positive approach in everyday settings

group therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, providing benefits from group interaction

family therapy

therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influences by, or directed at, other family members

• assumes no person is an island and grow in relation to others

• views families as systems and that actions trigger reactions

effort justification

clients want to think therapy was worth the effort

Clinicians hear little from past clients with only temporary success and therefore are vulnerable to

confirmation bias and illusory correlation

Hans Eysenck

summaries 24 studies of psychotherapy outcomes

• 2/3 psychotherapy improved

• similar improvement among untreated people

randomized clinical trials are used for

effectiveness of psychotherapy today

• randomly assigned to therapy or not and later compare outcomes

meta-analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

• showed average client ends up better than 80% untreated on waiting list

the more specific the problem, the greater that

psychotherapy affects it

evidence-based practice

clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences

eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR)

trigger eye movements that allow unlocking/reprocessing past frozen memories

light exposure therapy

timed daily dose of intense light for lethargy

• sparks activity in region that influences body’s arousal and hormone levels

all psychotherapies share the 3 basic benefits of

• hope for demoralized people

• a new perspective

• and empathic, trusting caring relationship

therapeutic alliance

a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client’s problems

Types of therapists

• clinical

• psychiatrists (treat psych. disorders/can medicate)

• social workers (personal and family problems)

• counselors (marriage/family/abuse/mental health)

Biomedical treatments can change the brain’s

chemistry with drugs

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

therapeutic lifestyle change

• restore healthy biological state

• adequate exercise, sleep, nutrition, and other changes

• for stress and unhealthy lifestyle

antipsychotic drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder

• ex) Thorazine, Risperdal, and Zyprexa

• dampened responsiveness to irrelevant stimuli (positive symptoms)

• occupy dopamine receptor sites and block activity

• side effects: sluggishness, tremors, twitches

antianxiety drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation

• ex) Xanax, Ativan

• depress CNS activity

• can be addictive and has withdrawal symptoms

• use with additional therapy

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD

• ex) SSRIs/selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, Prozac

• increase the availability of nts/block reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin

• side effects: dry mouth, weight gain, hypertension, or dizzy spells

mood-stabilizing drugs

lithium

• prevent or ease manic episodes and lifts depression

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

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

• effectively treats severe depression

transcranial direct current stimulation (tDS)

weak current that many think doesnt work

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity (awake patients)

• through magnetic coil held close to the skull

deep-brain stimulation (DBS)

activates neurons that inhibit negative activity that connects frontal lobe to limbic system

• stimulates electrodes implanted in “sadness centers” to calm those areas

psychosurgery

surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior

lobotomy

a psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients

• cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

  • decreased misery/tension, produced lethargy, immature and uncreative people

community psychologists

focus on creating environments that support psychological health, aim to empower people and enhance competence, health and well-being

resilience

the personal strength that helps most people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma

posttraumatic growth

positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises