Treatment of Disorders

Eclectic Approach

a type of psychotherapy tailored to fit the exact needs of the individual seeking treatment.

Psychotherapy

a variety of treatments that aim to help a person identify and change troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.

Psychoanalysis

a treatment based on studies of the conscious and unconscious human mind.

Free Association

the practice of allowing the patient to discuss thoughts, dreams, memories, or words, regardless of coherency.

Dream Analysis

the interpretation of dreams to determine their underlying meanings.

Resistance

the opposition of the therapy process in which a client refuses or rejects suggestions made by a psychologist.

Interpretation

efforts by the therapist to connect conscious or preconscious feelings, thoughts, and behaviors to the unconscious materials that gave rise to them.

Transference

when someone redirects their feelings about one person onto someone else.

Insight (Abreaction)

a specific technique that involves the reliving of traumatic events under hypnosis for the treatment of trauma victims.

Working Through

the dynamic processes and techniques of resolving intrapsychic conflict through psychoanalytic treatment.

Cognitive Therapy

type of psychotherapy which is problem-oriented.

Cognitive-behavioral Therapy

a type of psychotherapy in which negative patterns of thought about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behavior patterns or treat mood disorders such as depression.

Assertion Training

a type of behavioral therapy or skills development program that teaches individuals how to behave more boldly and self-confidently.

Copers VS Catastrophizers

one who manages internal and external stressful situations versus those who jump to the worst possible conclusion, usually with very limited information or objective reason to despair.

Behavior Therapy

a range of treatments and techniques which are used to change an individual's maladaptive responses to specific situations.

Counterconditioning

associating public speaking with positive experiences or rewards to alleviate the fear response.

Exposure Therapies

psychologists create a safe environment in which to “expose” individuals to the things they fear and avoid.

Systematic Desensitization

a behavioral technique whereby a person is gradually exposed to an anxiety-producing object, event, or place while being engaged in some type of relaxation at the same time in order to reduce the symptoms of anxiety.

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

is a form of exposure therapy that uses technology. Exposure therapy seeks to help decrease the intensity of the stress responses you might have to situations, thoughts, or memories which provoke anxiety or fear.

Aversive Conditioning

a type of classical conditioning in which an unwanted behavior is targeted by pairing it with a negative stimulus in an attempt to reduce the unwanted behavior.

Token Economies

a system of operant conditioning used for behavior therapy that involves rewarding desirable behaviors with tokens which can be exchanged for items or privileges and taking away tokens with undesirable behavior.

Behavior Modification

a psychotherapeutic intervention primarily used to eliminate or reduce maladaptive behavior in children or adults.

Humanistic Therapies

a range of different types of therapy that focus on a person as an individual with unique potential and abilities.

Insight Therapies

a type of therapy that helps clients understand how events in their past are negatively influencing their current thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Client-Centered Therapy

a non-directive approach to talk therapy that requires the client to actively take the reins during each therapy session, while the therapist acts mainly as a guide or a source of support for the client.

Unconditional Positive Regard

showing complete support and acceptance of a person no matter what that person says or does.

Empathy

a complex capability enabling individuals to understand and feel the emotional states of others, resulting in compassionate behavior.

Active Listening

a communication skill that involves going beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks.

Reflection

the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings.

Therapeutic Groups

the treatment of multiple patients at once by one or more healthcare providers.

Family Therapy

a type of psychotherapy that helps family members better understand each other, support one another and work through difficult situations.

Support Groups

a group similar in some ways to a self-help group in that members who share a problem come together to provide help, comfort, and guidance.

Regression towards the mean

the tendency of results that are extreme by chance on first measurement—i.e. extremely higher or lower than average—to move closer to the average when measured a second time.

Meta-Analysis

an objective examination of published data from many studies of the same research topic identified through a literature search.

Evidence-based practice

the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture and preferences.

Biomedical Therapy

a type of therapy that uses a physiologically based treatment to address a mental illness.

Psychopharmacology

a field, which analyses the impact of different drugs on the mental health of patients.

Antipsychotic Drugs

a type of psychiatric medication which are available on prescription to treat psychosis.

Tardive Dyskinesia

a condition where your face, body or both make sudden, irregular movements which you cannot control.

Anti-Anxiety Drugs

A drug used to treat symptoms of anxiety, such as feelings of fear, dread, uneasiness, and muscle tightness, that may occur as a reaction to stress.

Antidepressant Drugs

psychiatric drugs which are licensed to treat depression.

Placebo

a treatment that appears real, but is designed to have no therapeutic benefit.

ECT-Electroconvulsive Therapy

a treatment that involves sending an electric current through your brain.

Repetitive Transcranial Therapy

This coil delivers magnetic pulses that stimulate nerve cells in the region of your brain involved in mood control and depression.

Lobotomy

a surgical procedure that involves severing the nerve pathways in the prefrontal cortex.

Resilience

the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress