Principles and Applications of Psychotherapy

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering historical perspectives, behavior and cognitive therapies, ethics, research designs, and principles of behavior modification from the lecture notes.

Moral Treatment

An early treatment tradition where mentally ill patients were placed in a warmer, familial environment so they could feel like they were contributing to society in a way.

Transference

A psychoanalytic phenomenon where the client feels a certain way about their therapist.

Counter-transference

A psychoanalytic phenomenon where a therapist develops feelings about their client.

G. Stanley Hall

Psychologist who established the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892.

Lightner Witmer

Psychologist who coined the term clinical psychology and opened the first psychological training clinic at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896.

Eysenck's Critique (1952)

A meta-analysis evaluating 19 studies on neurotic patients finding recovery rates of $44\%$ from psychoanalysis, $64\%$ from eclectic psychotherapy, and $72\%$ from general practitioners.

Client-Centered Therapy

A therapeutic approach published by Carl Rogers in 1951 that values the therapeutic process over technique and focuses on the person and their relationship with the therapist.

Core Therapist Qualities (Rogers)

The three essential qualities identified by Carl Rogers to mobilize self-actualizing tendency: genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard.

First Wave of Behavior Therapy

The phase of behavior therapy focused on observable behavior and the objective environment.

Second Wave of Behavior Therapy

The phase of behavior therapy focused on cognitive representations of the environment.

Third Wave of Behavior Therapy

The phase of behavior therapy focused on how internal processes are functionally related to the objective environment.

British Empiricism

The philosophical tradition holding that knowledge comes from experience and humans are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa).

Systematic Desensitisation

A technique developed by Joseph Wolpe (1959) involving getting patients into a relaxed state and presenting them with a feared object to condition them to no longer be afraid.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura's theory stating that behavior is influenced by stimulus events, reinforcement, and cognitive processes, demonstrating that learning can occur through modeling without direct reinforcement.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

An approach developed by Albert Ellis viewing beliefs as irrational and illogical, using the ABCDE model to describe the sequence of irrational beliefs and their treatment.

Respect for the Dignity of Persons

A CPA ethical principle encompassing informed consent, privacy, and confidentiality.

Responsible Caring

A CPA ethical principle encompassing competence, self-knowledge, maximizing benefit, and minimizing harm.

Integrity of Relationships

A CPA ethical principle encompassing accuracy/honesty, straightforwardness/openness, and avoidance of conflict of interest.

Responsibility to Society

A CPA ethical principle encompassing respect for society and the development of society.

Meta-Analysis

The process of pooling together effect sizes from multiple studies, producing standardized results that are not dependent on sample size.

Efficacy

The strength of evidence pertaining to the causal relationship between an intervention and a disorder, determined from rigorously designed studies in research settings.

Effectiveness

How well a therapy works in real-world clinical settings, considering factors like generalizability, feasibility, and cost-benefit ratios.

Clinical Expertise

The competence attained by psychologists through education, training, and experience that results in effective treatment across various practice areas.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process involving reflexive responses that are elicited by a new stimulus.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process in which behaviors are influenced by their consequences.

Observational Learning

A mode of learning that occurs through the observation of another individual's behavior.

Rational Behaviorism

The learning and performance of novel responses that have not been directly trained, linked to evolutionary behaviors.

Positive Reinforcement

Adding something to the environment to increase the frequency of a behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

Removing an aversive stimulus from the environment to increase the frequency of a behavior.

Positive Punishment

Adding an aversive stimulus to the environment to decrease the frequency of a behavior.

Negative Punishment

Removing a stimulus from the environment to decrease the frequency of a behavior.

Escape Conditioning

A type of negative reinforcement where an immediate response is contingent on the removal of an existing aversive condition, increasing the frequency of future behavior.

Avoidance Conditioning

A type of negative reinforcement where an immediate response is contingent on the prevention of an aversive condition, increasing the frequency of future behavior.

Triggers

Factors that make a psychological problem more or less likely to occur.

Modifiers

Contextual factors that impact the strength of a psychological problem when it occurs.

Maintaining Processes

The vicious cycles (such as safety behaviors or compulsions) that keep a psychological problem going.

Vulnerability Factors

Historical or developmental factors that set the stage for a problem to develop, but are neither necessary nor sufficient for the disorder to develop.

Precipitants

Specific situations or life events that provoke the onset of psychological symptoms.

Cognitive Distortions

Exaggerated or irrational thought patterns that cause individuals to perceive reality or themselves inaccurately.

Behavioral Experiments

Planned experiential activities undertaken in CBT to test the validity of a patient's beliefs and construct more adaptive beliefs.

Interoceptive Exposure

A mode of exposure therapy involving deliberate exposure to physical sensations, useful in treating panic disorder and addressing the fear of fear.

based on evolving conceptualization

principal of CBT

requires sound therapeutic allience

principal of CBT

continually monitors client progress

principal of CBT

individually tailored, culturally adapted treatment

principal of CBT

emphasize the positive

principal of CBT

emphasize collaboration and active participation

principal of CBT

aspirational, values-based, and goal oriented

principal of CBT

emphasis on the present and maintenance factors initially

principal of CBT

aims to be educative

principal of CBT

aims to be time limited

principal of CBT

consists of structured sessions

principal of CBT

teaches patients guided discovery and response to dysfunctional beliefs

principal of CBT

includes action plans

principal of CBT

uses a variety of techniques to change thinking, mood, and behavior

principal of CBT

basic cognitive model

event, automatic thought, reaction

intermediate beliefs

rule, attitude, assumption

core beliefs

rigid, enduring cognitive phenomena caused by mental filter

examples of core beliefs

incompetent, unlovable, worthless

automatic thoughts

Reflexive mental images or sentences that immediately pop into your head following an internal or external trigger; worst case scenario

distorted thought

automatic thought that occurs despite evidence on the contrary

accurate with distorted conclusion

automatic thought that perceives information correctly but comes to the worst case conclusion

accurate but not helpful

automatic thought that perceives information correctly but does not help the patient feel better

automatic thought question good for GAD

worst case, best case, most realistic scenarios

common cognitive distortions

all or nothing thinking; mental filter

making decisions

pro/con analysis

refocusing

label automatic thoughts and deliberately refocus attention to task at hand

graded task assignments

break the goal down into smaller pieces; success encourages further action

pie technique

PTSD; useful for goal setting and determining relative responsibility

self comparisons and credit lists

is it fair to compare depressed you to the best you?

developed systematic desensitization/ basis for exposure therapy

Joseph Wolpe

reciprocal inhibition

the experience of fear is incompatible with experiences of pleasure or relaxation

how fear develops

neural stimuli evoke fear response and maintain it by avoidance/safety behaviors

generalized fear

benign stimuli associated with an event begin to evoke fear response (locations, animals, etc)

exposure therapy

clients approach feared stimuli with relaxation techniques or prevention of compulsions/safety behaviors

mechanisms of change

habituation, extinction, learning corrective info, increased self-efficacy

habituation

physical sensations naturally reduce over time

extinction

fear stimulus is no longer paired with escape/avoidance behavior

extinction in OCD

separation of obsessive thought and compulsion

learning corrective info

the more times you experience something, you learn that the fear outcome is unlikely/not real

type of exposure used for phobias

one extended session

graded exposure

slowly exposed to increasingly difficult stimuli

systematic desensitization

same as graded, with the addition of relaxation techniques

prolonged exposure

repeated revisiting of a traumatic event

exposure for PTSD

prolonged exposure

CBT modes of delivery

in vivo, imaginal, virtual reality, interoceptive, modeling

in vivo

exposure to actual feared stimulus

imaginal

client imagines feared event when it is not possible to recreate

CBT mode of delivery for PTSD and GAD

imaginal

CBT mode of delivery that requires good visual skills

imaginal

virtual reality

used when in vivo isn’t feasible, or for clients with poor visualization skills

interoceptive

exposure to physical symptoms to learn they are not dangerous

CBT mode of delivery for Panic Disorder

interoceptive

modeling

clinician shows client a feared outcome is unlikely

differential reinforcement

reinforce some behaviors and not others; reinforce behaviors under certain conditions

shaping

reinforcement of successive approximation of final response

chaining

create a series of behaviors from distinct behaviors to form larger actions

discrimination

different responses under different stimulus conditions

generalization

abstraction of a stimulus or response to other slightly related things

stimulus generalization

same response to different stimuli