AP Unit 8B Abnormal (Textbook Unit 13 Treatment of Disorders)

Psychotherapy

Refers to all forms of talk therapy

Psychoanalysis

Theorists view the cause of disorders as unconscious conflicts.

Free Association

Involves saying whatever comes to mind without thinking. Based on the idea that we all constantly censor what we say, thereby allowing us to hide some of our thoughts from ourselves.

Manifest Content

The actual dream itself. What one sees in the dream.

Resistance

A term used by psychoanalysts to describe a patient disagreeing with his or her therapist's interpretations.

Psychodynamic Theorists

Psychologists who have been influenced by Freud's work but have significantly modified his original theory.

Humanistic Therapists

Focus on helping people to understand and accept themselves and strive to self-actualize.

Counterconditioning

A kind of classical conditioning developed by Mary Cover Jones in which an unpleasant conditioned response is replaced with a pleasant one.

Systematic Desensitization

Involves teaching the client to replace the feelings of anxiety with relaxation.

Flooding

Unlike the gradual process of systematic desensitization, it involves having the client address the most frightening scenario first.

Aversive Conditioning

Pairs a habit a person wishes to break (e.g., smoking or bed-wetting) with an unpleasant stimulus (e.g., electric shock or nausea).

Token Economy

Desired behaviors are identified and rewarded with tokens. The tokens can then be exchanged for various objects or privileges.

Cognitive Therapies

Locate the cause of psychological problems in the way people think. Concentrate on changing unhealthy thought patterns. Involves challenging the irrational thinking patterns of patients.

Group Therapy

Therapy involves meeting with a number of people experiencing similar difficulties (e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous).

Psychopharmacology

Using drugs to treat psychological disorders.

Antipsychotic Drugs

Type of somatic therapy used to treat schizophrenia (e.g., Thorazine or Haldol).Function by blocking the receptor sites for dopamine.

Antidepressant Drugs

Type of somatic therapy used to treat mood disorders. All tend to increase the activity of serotonin, although tricyclics and MAO inhibitors seem to have wider effects.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Electric current is passed through both hemispheres of the brain. Can involve significant negative side effects, most notably loss of memory.

Psychosurgery

Involves the purposeful destruction of part of the brain to alter a person's behavior. Used only as a last resort and only on people suffering to a great extent.

Latent Content

The hidden meaning of the dream

Transference

Psychoanalysts believe that, in the process of therapy, patients often redirect strong emotions felt toward people with whom they have had troubling relationships (often their parents) onto their therapists.

Client-Centered Therapy (or Person-Centered Therapy)

Created by therapist Carl Rogers. Hinges on the therapist providing the client with unconditional positive regard.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Blanket acceptance and support of a person regardless of what the person says or does.

Gestalt Therapy

Developed by Fritz Perls. Emphasize the importance of the whole and encourage their clients to get in touch with their whole selves.

Anxiety Hierarchy

The therapist and client work together to construct a rank-ordered list of what the client fears, starting with the least frightening and ending with the most frightening.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Combines the ideas and techniques of cognitive and behavioral psychologists. Developed by Arron Beck

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT or RET)

A type of cognitive behavioral therapy developed by Albert Ellis. Therapists look to expose and confront the dysfunctional thoughts of their clients.

Antianxiety Drugs

Act by depressing the activity of the central nervous system, thus making people feel more relaxed. Two main types of are barbiturates (e.g., Miltown) and benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax and Valium).

Therapeutic alliance

How a patient and a therapist connect, behave, and engage with each other. ... Nowadays it is seen by most forms of counselling and psychotherapy as one of the main tools for achieving positive change in the lives of clients.