Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Comprehensive flashcards covering psychological and biological treatment methods for mental health disorders, including specific drug classes and therapeutic techniques.

Psychotherapy

Psychologically based treatments in which a trained professional—a therapist—uses psychological techniques to help someone overcome psychological difficulties and disorders.

Biomedical therapy

Biologically based treatment that relies on drugs and medical procedures to improve psychological functioning.

Psychoanalysis

A psychodynamic approach that seeks to bring unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into the conscious.

Repression

The most common defense mechanism which pushes threatening and unpleasant thoughts and impulses back into the unconscious.

Transference

The transfer of feelings to a psychoanalyst of love or anger that had been originally detected to a patient’s parents or other authoritative figures.

Behavioral Approaches

Treatments based on the assumption that both abnormal and normal behavior are learned, using principles such as reinforcement and extinction to reduce or eliminate maladaptive behavior.

Aversive conditioning

A classical conditioning approach aiming to reduce the frequency of undesired behavior by pairing an unpleasant stimulus with undesired behavior.

Systematic desensitization

A behavioral technique in which exposure to an anxiety producing stimulus is paired with deep relaxation in order to reduce an anxiety response.

Flooding

A treatment in which people are suddenly confronted with a stimulus that they fear without relaxation training, with the goal of allowing the maladaptive response of anxiety to become extinct.

Behavioral Activation

An operant conditioning application for depression involving scheduling and reinforcing activities that are positive in order to counter withdrawal and passivity.

Token Economies

Settings like psychiatric hospitals where patients can earn tokens for positive behaviors, which they can exchange for privileges or desired items.

Contingency contracting

A written contract stating behavioral goals for the client and specifying positive consequences for reaching them or negative consequences for failing to meet them.

Cognitive-behavioral approach

A treatment approach that incorporates basic principles of learning to change the way people think.

Rational-emotive behavior therapy

A cognitive therapy example that attempts to restructure a person’s belief system into a more realistic, rational, and logical set of views.

Humanistic therapy

An approach that assumes people have control of their behavior, can make choices about their lives, and are responsible for solving their own problems.

Person-centered therapy

A humanistic therapy aiming to enable people to reach their potential by providing a warm and accepting environment to motivate clients to air their problems and feelings.

Unconditional positive regard

Providing whole-hearted acceptance, support, and understanding, and no disapproval, no matter what the feelings and attitudes a client expresses.

Group therapy

Therapy in which unrelated people meet in a group with a therapist to discuss problems, often sharing a common difficulty like alcoholism.

Family therapy

An approach involving two or more family members where the family is treated as a unit to which each member contributes, focusing on rigid roles or patterns of behavior.

Drug therapy

The treatment of psychological disorders using medication, which works by altering the operation of neurons and neurotransmitters in the brain.

Antipsychotic drugs

Medications like Chlorpromazine ($Thorazine$) or Haloperidol ($Haldol$) that reduce loss of touch with reality and agitation by blocking dopamine receptors.

MAO inhibitors

Antidepressant drugs that prevent MAO from breaking down neurotransmitters to reduce depression.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s)

Antidepressant drugs such as Fluoxetine ($Prozac$) and Zoloft that inhibit the reuptake of serotonin to reduce depression.

Antianxiety drugs

Medications such as Benzodiazepines ($Valium$, $Xanax$) that reduce anxiety by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter GABA.

Lithium

A mood stabilizer ($Lithonate$) that can alter the transmission of impulses within neurons.

Lamotrigine

A mood stabilizer ($Lamictal$) that works by blocking glutamate release.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

A noninvasive procedure using powerful magnets to change brain activity by selectively inhibiting or exciting neurons or portions of the brain.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

A biomedical treatment involving electrical shocks to the brain to induce brief, localized seizures that can alter the functioning of neurons or brain regions.