PSYCH - THERAPY (EXCLUDING BIOMEDS)

Meta-analysis

a statistical procedure for analyzing the results of many different studies to reach an overall conclusion.

APA ethical principle for therapists

Nonmaleficence (refraining from actions that could cause harm or injury to others), Fidelity, Integrity, Respect for people’s rights and dignity

Insight therapies

designed to help clients understand the causes of their problems. This understanding or insight will then help clients gain greater control over their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic therapy

based on Freud’s premise that unconscious conflicts and repressed memories are the underlying cause of anxiety and abnormal behavior. During psychoanalysis, the analyst helps the patient gain insight into how childhood conditions during the psychosexual stages created unconscious conflicts. Insight does not occur easily or quickly. During psychoanalysis, the therapist is removed from view of the patient as the patient lies on a couch and partakes in free association.

Free association

the patient spontaneously reports thoughts, feelings, and mental images that come to mind. The psychoanalyst asks questions to encourage the flow of associations in order to provide clues as to what the patient’s unconscious wants to hide

Dream interpretation

Freud believed that dreams are symbolic representations of unconscious conflicts and repressed impulses. He also believed that dream interpretation is a means of interpreting their unconscious conflicts, motives, and desires. Psychoanalysts look at the latent (underlying) content as opposed to the manifest (storyline) content.

Psychodynamic therapy

less expensive and extensive therapy. The analyst is face-to-face with the patient, instead of being removed from the patient’s line of sight. Therapy focuses on childhood conflicts but not so much unconscious conflicts.

Cognitive therapy

believes that faulty thoughts, such as negative self-talk and irrational beliefs, cause psychological problems.

Rational emotive (Behavioral) therapy (RET/REBT)

developed by Albert Ellis who said that our feelings are actually produced by the irrational beliefs we use to interpret events. To help clients recognize and change their self-defeating thoughts

Ellis developed the ABCs or RET

Activating event - identify the event that affected your mental process or behavior, Belief systems - identify the irrational beliefs and negative self-talk, Consequence - irrational beliefs lead to self defeating behaviors, anxiety disorders, and depression.

Cognitive Triad therapy

developed by Aaron Beck to help clients come to grips with negative beliefs about the following - His/herself, His/her world, His/her future

Cognitive restructuring

helps individuals identify, challenge, and change negative thought patterns that contribute to emotional distress.

Dialectical behavior therapy

Aims to help improve the ability to manage emotions. Involves distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills

Fear hierarchy

a ranked list of the youth's fears and concerns, with the least feared at the bottom of the hierarchy and the most feared at the top.

Humanistic therapy

believing that people are innately good and motivated to achieve their highest potential instead of viewing human nature as irrational or self-destructive. Humanistic therapy believes that when people are raised in an accepting atmosphere, they will develop healthy self-concepts and strive to find meaning in life.

Insight therapy

attempting to reduce the inner conflicts that are impeding natural development by increasing the awareness of underlying motives. Focuses more on the present and future than on the past; and, focuses more on the conscious than the unconscious.

Client-centered (person-centered) therapy

one of the most widely used models in psychotherapy today. It involves creating a comfortable, non-judgmental environment by demonstrating empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard toward the patients. Rogers believed that the term patient implied that the individual was sick and seeking a cure from a therapist. By using the term client instead, Rogers emphasized the importance of the individual in seeking assistance, controlling their destiny and overcoming their difficulties. Client-centered therapy uses the following

Non-directive approach

clients are encouraged to freely find solutions to their problems instead of the therapist telling them what they should do.

Active listening

echoing, restating and seeking clarification of what the client is expressing. Genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and empathy

Behavior therapy

focuses on the problem of behavior itself, rather than on the insights into the behavior’s underlying cause.

Conditioning

a process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to associate a desired behavior

Counterconditioning

undoing a learned behavior.

Exposure therapy

exposing patients to things they fear and avoid. Through repeated exposures, anxiety lessens because the patients habituate (are no longer stimulated) to the things they feared.

Systematic desensitization

developed by Joseph Wolpe, an exposure technique that uses principles of classical conditioning to reduce anxiety by first exposing a client to a very low level of the anxiety-producing stimulus. Once anxiety is no longer present, the client is gradually exposed to stronger and stronger versions of the anxiety-producing stimulus. This continues until the client no longer feels any anxiety toward the stimulus.

Aversion therapy

uses principles of classical conditioning to create anxiety (opposite of systematic desensitization that uses conditioning to reduce anxiety). The therapist deliberately pairs an unpleasant (aversive) stimulus with maladaptive behavior.

Token economy

getting something for good behavior, such as tickets, that can be turned in at a later time for a reward.

Group, family, and marital therapies

working with small groups of clients.

Group therapy

a number of people meet and work toward therapeutic goals. Although group therapists can and do draw upon a variety of therapeutic approaches, they often base their sessions on the principles of humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers. Self-help groups offer a popular variation on group therapy. One of the best-known self-help groups is Alcoholics Anonymous.

Family and marital therapies

strive to identify and change maladaptive family interactions.