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
Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences
Resistance
in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety
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 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 a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy.)
Active listening
Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client
Unconditional positive regard
a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self
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, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid
Systematic desensitization
A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety
Virtual reality exposure therapy
a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety by 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 of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats
Cognitive therapy
therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; 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 (CBT)
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, permitting therapeutic 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
Electroconvulsive 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
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