Therapy and Treatment

Flashcards reviewing different forms of therapy and treatment.

What percentage of U.S. adults experience mental illness in a given year?

Approximately 19%

What percentage of U.S. adolescents (ages 8-15) experience mental illness in a given year?

Approximately 13%

What was the belief about the cause of mental illness throughout most of history?

Supernatural forces such as witchcraft or demonic possession

What were some treatments aimed at supernatural forces?

Exorcism and trephining

What is trephining?

A hole made in the skull to release spirits from the body

What was the purpose of asylums in the 18th century?

To ostracize people with psychological disorders from society

Who was Philippe Pinel and what did he advocate for?

A French physician who argued for more humane treatment of the mentally ill

Who was Dorothea Dix and what did she do?

A social reformer who advocated for the indigent insane and helped create the first American mental asylum

What were conditions like in American asylums in the 19th century?

Usually filthy with little treatment offered, and individuals were often institutionalized for decades

What treatments were common in American asylums in the 19th century?

Submersion into cold baths for long periods of time and electroshock treatment

When were antipsychotic medications introduced and what did they treat?

1954; they treated symptoms of psychosis

What was the Mental Retardation Facilities & Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1975?

It provided federal support and funding for community mental health centers and started the process of deinstitutionalization

What is deinstitutionalization?

The closing of large asylums, by providing for people to stay in their communities and be treated locally

What percentage of homeless individuals in U.S. shelters have a severe mental illness?

About one-quarter

What is the emphasis on short-term stays in psychiatric and community hospitals today?

Less than two weeks

What is involuntary treatment?

Therapy that is not the individual's choice

What is voluntary treatment?

The person chooses to attend therapy to obtain relief from symptoms

What is psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Talk therapy based on belief that the unconscious and childhood conflicts impact behavior

What is play therapy?

Psychoanalytical therapy wherein interaction with toys is used instead of talk; used in child therapy

What is behavior therapy?

Principles of learning applied to change undesirable behaviors

What is cognitive therapy?

Awareness of cognitive process helps patients eliminate thought patterns that lead to distress

What is cognitive-behavioral therapy?

Work to change cognitive distortions and self-defeating behaviors

What is humanistic therapy?

Increase self-awareness and acceptance through focus on conscious thoughts

Who developed psychoanalysis?

Sigmund Freud

What is free association?

Patient relaxes and then says whatever comes to mind at the moment

What is dream analysis?

Therapist interprets the underlying meaning of dreams

What is transference?

Patient transfers all the positive or negative emotions associated with their other relationships to the psychoanalyst

What is sandplay therapy?

Children can set up a three-dimensional world using various figures and objects that correspond to their inner state

What is nondirective play therapy?

Children are encouraged to work through problems by playing freely while therapist observes

What is directive play therapy?

Therapist provides structure/guidance by suggesting topics, asking questions, and playing with the child

What is counterconditioning?

Client learns a new response to a stimulus that has previously elicited an undesirable behavior

What is aversive conditioning?

Uses an unpleasant stimulus to stop an undesirable behavior

What is exposure therapy?

Seeks to change the response to a conditioned stimulus

Who developed the first type of exposure therapy?

Mary Cover Jones

What is systematic desensitization?

A type of exposure therapy wherein a calm and pleasant state is gradually associated with increasing levels of anxiety-inducing stimuli

Who refined Jones’s techniques and developed the version of exposure therapy used today?

Joseph Wolpe

What is virtual reality exposure therapy?

Uses a stimulation to help conquer fears when it is too impractical, expensive, or embarrassing to recreate anxiety-inducing situations

What is applied behavior analysis?

Operant conditioning technique designed to reinforce positive behaviors and punish unwanted behaviors

What is a token economy?

Individuals are reinforced for desired behaviors with tokens that can be exchanged for items or privileges

Who developed cognitive therapy?

Aaron Beck

What is the focus of cognitive therapy?

How thoughts lead to feelings of distress

What is overgeneralizing?

Taking a small situation and making it huge

What is polarized ('black and white') thinking?

Seeing things in absolutes, 'I am either perfect, or a failure'

What is 'jumping to conclusions'?

Assuming that people are thinking negatively about you or reacting negatively to you, without evidence

What does cognitive-behavioral therapy focus on?

Present issues rather than on a patient’s past

What is rational-Emotive Therapy (RET)?

One of the first forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy, founded by Albert Ellis

What is the ABC model in cognitive-behavioral therapy?

Action (activating event), Belief about the event, Consequences of the belief

What is the goal of humanistic therapy?

To increase self-awareness and acceptance through focus on conscious thoughts

Who developed Rogerian/Client-centered Therapy?

Carl Rogers

What is non-directive therapy?

Therapist does not give advice or provide interpretations but helps client identify conflicts and understand feelings

What is active listening?

Therapist acknowledges, restates, and clarifies what the client expresses

What is unconditional positive regard?

Therapist does not judge clients and simply accepts them for who they are

What are psychotropic medications used for?

To treat psychological disorders

What do antipsychotics treat?

Positive psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia by blocking dopamine

What do atypical antipsychotics treat?

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia such as withdrawal and apathy, by targeting both dopamine and serotonin receptors

What do anti-depressants alter?

Levels of serotonin and norepinephrine

What do anti-anxiety agents do?

Depress central nervous system activation

What do mood stabilizers treat?

Episodes of mania as well as depression (Bipolar disorder)

What do stimulants improve?

Ability to focus on a task and maintain attention (ADHD)

What is the purpose of electroconvulsive therapy?

Induces seizures to help alleviate severe depression

What is the purpose of transcranial magnetic stimulation?

Magnetic fields stimulate nerve cells to improve depression symptoms

What is an intake by a therapist?

An initial meeting to assess the client's clinical needs

What is confidentiality in therapy?

The therapist cannot disclose confidential communications to any third party unless mandated or permitted to do so by law

What is the duration of individual therapy sessions?

Usually lasts 45 minutes – 1 hour

What does group therapy discuss?

A common issue such as divorce, grief, an eating disorder, substance abuse, or anger management

What is the purpose of couples therapy?

Aims to help them resolve problems and implement strategies that will lead to a healthier and happier relationship

What is systems approach?

Family is viewed as an organized system, and each individual is a contributing member who creates and maintains processes within the system that shape behavior

What does structural family therapy examine and discuss?

The boundaries and structure of the family

What does strategic family therapy aim to address?

Specific problems within the family that can be dealt with in a short amount of time

What happens, neurologically, with chronic substance use?

It can permanently alter the neural structure in the prefrontal cortex (associated with decision-making and judgement)

What is relapse in the context of addiction?

Individual returns to abusing a substance after a period of improvement

What is a comorbid disorder?

Individuals addicted to drugs and/or alcohol frequently have an additional psychological disorder

What is the sociocultural model?

This perspective looks at you, your behaviors, and symptoms in the context of your culture and background

What is cultural competence in mental health?

Mental health professionals must understand and address issues of race, culture, and ethnicity and use strategies to effectively address needs of various populations

What does multicultural counseling and therapy integrate?

The impact of cultural and social norms