Unit 13: Treatment of Abnormal Behavior

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 approach

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

psychoanalysis

(1) Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. (2) Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique used in treating psychological disorders. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the therapist's interpretations of them—released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight

resistance

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxietyladen material

interpretation

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

transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

psychodynamic therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight

insight therapies

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

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

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 Carl 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; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

exposure therapies

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid

systematic desensitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias

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 (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

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 therapy

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

rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

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

cognitive-behavioral therapy

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

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 influenced by, or directed at, other family members

meta-analysis

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

evidence-based practice

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

therapeutic alliance

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

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

antipsychotic drugs

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

antianxiety drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder

electroconclusive therapy (ECT)

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

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity

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. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

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