CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Clinical Psychology

The specialty concerned with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological and behavioral disorders.

Inferiority Feelings

According to Adler, these develop in childhood as the result of real or perceived biological, psychological, or social weaknesses

Striving for Superiority

According to Adler, this is an inherent tendency toward “perfect completion”

Style of Life

According to Adler, this is the specific ways a person chooses to compensate for inferiority and achieve superiority. It unifies various aspects of personality and is affected by early experiences (e.g., being pampered or neglected), prior to age 4-5

Teleological Approach

A key feature of Adler’s Individual Psychology, which views behavior as motivated by a person’s future goals rather than past events.

Healthy Style of Life

According to Adler, this is characterized by optimism, confidence, and concern about the welfare of others

Mistaken Style of Life

According to Adler, this is characterized by self-centeredness, competition, and striving for personal power

Lifestyle Investigation

A technique in Adlerian therapy that involves exploring family constellation, fictional (hidden) goals, and “basic mistakes” (distorted beliefs and attitudes)

Basic Mistakes

According to Adler, these are distorted beliefs and attitudes

Systematic Training for Effective Teaching (STET)

This is based on Adlerian therapy; it assumes all of children’s behavior is goal-directed and purposeful for belonging, namely through attention, power, revenge, or to display deficiency

Humanistic Psychotherapies

A group of psychotherapies that 1) take a phenomenological approach, 2) focus on current behaviors, 3) believe in the individual’s inherent potential for self-determination and self-actualization, 4) emphasize an authentic, collaborative, and egalitarian relationship between therapist and client, and 5) reject traditional assessment techniques and diagnostic labels

Person-Centered Therapy

A type of therapy that originated with Carl Rogers

Unconditional Positive Regard, Genuineness (Congruence), and Accurate Empathic
Understanding

The three main techniques used in Person-Centered Therapy

Gestalt Therapy

This therapy originated with Fritz Perls

The self and the self-image

According to Fritz Perls, these are the two components of personality

Self-Image

According to Fritz Perls, this is the “darker side” of personality that hinders growth by imposing external standards

Self

According to Fritz Perls, this is the creative aspect of personality that promotes self-actualization (the ability to live as a fully integrated person)

Boundary Disturbances

According to Perls, these represent a disturbance between the self and the environment, interfering with a person’s ability to satisfy their needs and maintain homeostasis

Introjection

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person psychologically swallowing whole concepts and struggling to understand “me” and “not me”; they may be overly compliant

Projection

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person disowning aspects of the self by assigning them to others; paranoia is an extreme form of this

Retroflection

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person doing to oneself what one wants to do to another

Confluence

According to Perls, this boundary disturbance is characterized by a person having no boundary between self and environment; may lead to intolerance of differences between oneself and others (creates guilt and resentment)

Logotherapy (An Existential Therapy)

This therapy originated with Viktor Frankl

Existential Therapies

This type of therapy has an emphasis on personal choice and responsibility for developing a meaningful life; it assumes we are in constant state of evolving and becoming

Ultimate Concerns of Existence

According to existential therapies, maladaptive behavior is the result of an inability to cope authentically with these (e.g., death, freedom, existential isolation, meaninglessness, etc.)

Existential Anxiety

According to existential therapies, this is normative and creates motivation to change and grow

Neurotic Anxiety

According to existential therapies, this is out of proportion to the context, can be out of conscious awareness and immobilizing, and is the result of trying to avoid existential realities

Paradoxical Intention

A technique in existential therapy that involves performing a feared outcome in a humorous and exaggerated way (e.g., stuttering as much as possible when speaking)

Reality Therapy

A type of therapy that originated with William Glasser

Choice Theory (Control Theory)

Assumes that people are responsible for the choices they make, emphasizes how choices affect the course of a person’s life; a key component of Reality Therapy

Survival, Love/ Belonging (most important), Power, Freedom, and Fun

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), these are the five basic innate needs

Success Identity

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), this occurs when a person fulfills their needs in a responsible way (realistic way that does not infringe on the rights of others)

Failure Identity

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), this occurs when a person’s needs are not met or are met in irresponsible ways; this underlies mental and emotional disturbance

Total Behavior

According to Glasser (Reality Therapy), this is the sum of a person’s actions, thoughts, emotions, and physiology; however, emphasis is often placed on areas in which clients have the most control

Personal Construct Therapy

A type of therapy that originated with George Kelly

Construe

According to Kelly (Personal Construct Therapy), this is the process of perceiving, interpreting, and predicting events

Personal Constructs

According to Kelly, these are bipolar dimensions of meaning (e.g., happy/sad, competent/incompetent, etc.) that are unique to each person, may operate on an unconscious level, begin developing in infancy, and influence how a person perceives themselves and the world

Fixed Role Therapy

A technique used in Personal Construct Therapy (Kelly) that encourages clients to try on and adopt alternative personal constructs by acting as a character that is different from themselves

Adler’s Individual Psychology

This therapy views maladaptive behaviors as representative of a mistaken style of life (e.g., maladaptive attempts to compensate for feelings of inferiority, preoccupation with power, and lack of social interest)

Adler’s Individual Psychology

The goal of this therapy is to identify and understand a person’s style of life and its consequences, as well as reorient clients’ beliefs and goals to a healthier style of life

Adler’s Individual Psychology

Techniques of this therapy include “lifestyle investigation”

Person-Centered Therapy

The goal of this therapy is to help the client to achieve congruence between the self and their experience

Person-Centered Therapy

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as the result of incongruence between the self and experience, which can be caused by conditions of worth

Person-Centered Therapy

Techniques of this therapy include unconditional positive regard, genuineness (congruence), and accurate empathic understanding

Gestalt Therapy

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as a “growth disorder” that involves abandonment of the self for the self-image, with a resulting lack of integration; often results from boundary disturbances

Gestalt Therapy

The goal of this therapy is to help the client become a unified whole by integrating various aspects of the self

Gestalt Therapy

Techniques of this therapy include recognizing the difference between “transference fantasies” and reality; increasing awareness in the here-and-now; empty chair, role-plays, and other “ready-made” exercises to deal with “unfinished business”; dreamwork

Existential Therapy

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as the result of an inability to cope authentically with the ultimate concerns of existence (e.g., death, freedom, existential isolation, meaninglessness, etc.)

Existential Therapy

The goal of this therapy is to help clients live in more committed, self-aware, authentic, and meaningful ways

Existential Therapy

Techniques used in this therapy include the therapy relationship, helping clients recognize own freedom to choose and accept responsibility, and use of paradoxical intention

Reality Therapy

This therapy views maladaptive behavior, including mental illnesses like depression, as the result of choices

Reality Therapy

The goal of this therapy is to help clients identify responsible and effective ways to satisfy their needs and develop a successful identity

Reality Therapy

Techniques used in this therapy include questioning, encouragement, and committing to a realistic plan of action; focus is on “total behavior” (actions, thoughts, emotions, and physiology), with primary emphasis on what is most easily controlled by client

Personal Construct Therapy

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as the result of inadequate personal constructs (e.g., anxiety as the recognition that events lie outside of one’s construct system)

Personal Construct Therapy

The goal of this therapy is to identify, revise, and replace maladaptive personal constructs so that the client can “make sense” of their experiences

Personal Construct Therapy

Techniques used in this therapy include a repertory grid, self-characterization sketch, and fixed-role therapy (trying on and adopting alternative personal constructs)

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This therapy originated with Klerman and Weissman

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This therapy was originally developed for depression but has since been expanded to include bipolar disorder, bulimia, and substance use disorders

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This therapy was influenced by Adolph Meyer’s psychobiological approach, Sullivan’s interpersonal theory, and Bowlby’s attachment theory

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This brief therapy combines elements of psychodynamic therapy and CBT

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This therapy views maladaptive behavior as related to problems in social roles and relationships that are traceable to a lack of strong attachments in early life

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

The primary goals of this therapy are symptom reduction and improved interpersonal functioning

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This brief therapy achieves symptom reduction mainly through psychoeducation, instillation of hope, and pharmacotherapy

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

This therapy targets one of four primary areas: Unresolved grief, interpersonal role disputes, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits

Unresolved grief, interpersonal role disputes, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits

These are the four primary problem areas targeted in Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Techniques used in this therapy include assessing diagnosis and problem areas; addressing problem areas (e.g., encouraging affect, communication analysis, modeling/ role-playing, etc.); and termination/ relapse prevention

Solution-Focused Therapy

This therapy originated with de Shazar and is based on the idea that “you get more of what you talk about”

Solution-Focused Therapy

This therapy does not seek to understand etiology of problematic behaviors—only on potential solutions to them

Solution-Focused Therapy

Techniques in this therapy include the miracle question, scaling questions, exception question, and tasks outside of sessions

The Miracle Question

“Suppose when you go to sleep tonight, a miracle happens and your problem is solved. When you wake up in the morning, how will you know that a miracle has occurred? What will be different?” This question is known as…

Scaling Questions

“On a scale from 1-10, how did you feel last week?” or “On a scale of 1-10, how motivated are you?” These questions are examples of…

The Exception Question

“Can you think of a time in the past week when you did not have the problem (or the problem was not as troublesome)?” This question is known as…

Transtheoretical Model

This therapy originated with Prochaska and DiClemente

Transtheoretical Model

This therapy analyzed 18 major approaches to therapy and was derived from recognition that change entails progress through a series of predictable stages

Transtheoretical Model

This therapy includes 10 empirically supported change processes (interventions): Consciousness raising, self-liberation, social liberation, dramatic relief, self-reevaluation, counterconditioning, environmental reevaluation, reinforcement management, stimulus control, and helping/ supportive relationships

Transtheoretical Model

This was originally developed for cigarette smoking and addictive behaviors – now expanded to weight control, treatment compliance, intimate partner violence, and financial management

Transtheoretical Model

This model does not focus on the etiology of maladaptive behavior but, instead, on factors that facilitate behavior change

Please cut potatoes at my table

This acronym can help to remember the six stages of change in the Transtheoretical Model

Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, termination

These are the stages of the Transtheoretical Model

Precontemplation

In this stage of change, the individual has little insight into the need for change and does not intend to change. People in this stage may be in denial about the problem, unaware of its consequences, or discouraged by previous unsuccessful attempts to change

Contemplation

In this stage of change, the individual is aware of the need to change, intends to take action within the next six months, but is not committed to change. This individual is aware of both the pros and cons of changing and, as a result, may be ambivalent about change/ remain in this stage for an extended period

Preparation

In this stage of change, the individual plans to take action in the immediate future (within one month) and has a realistic plan of action for modifying behavior

Action

In this stage of change, the individual takes concrete steps to change their behavior, often beginning with a public commitment to change

Maintenance

In this stage of change, the individual has established a change in behavior for at least six months and is taking steps to prevent relapse

Termination

In this stage of change, the individual feels that they can resist temptation and is confident that there is no risk for relapse

Match

Within the Transtheoretical Model, interventions are most effective when they __ a client’s stage of change

Decisional Balance

Within the Transtheoretical Model, this is the strength of perceived pros and cons of the problem behavior

Contemplation

Within the Transtheoretical Model, decisional balance is most important for motivation in the __ stage

Self-Efficacy

Within the Transtheoretical Model, this is the client’s confidence that they will be able to cope with high-risk situations without relapsing

Self-Efficacy

Within the Transtheoretical Model, this is important for transition from contemplation to preparation, as well as preparation to action

Temptation

Within the Transtheoretical Model, this is the intensity of urges to engage in the problem behavior; inversely related to self-efficacy

Temptation

Within the Transtheoretical Model, this is often highest during the initial stages of change

Motivational Interviewing

This approach originated with Miller and Rollnick

Motivational Interviewing

This approach was initially developed to help clients who are ambivalent about behavior change. It was first used to treat alcohol addiction – now covers cigarette smoking, eating disorders, diabetes, and pain management

Motivational Interviewing

This brief therapy approach draws on Rogerian therapy, as well as Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy

Motivational Interviewing

The goal of this approach is to enhance the client’s intrinsic motivation to alter behavior by helping the client to examine and resolve their ambivalence about changing

Motivational Interviewing

This approach uses “OAR” - Open-ended questions, affirmations that express empathy and understanding, reflective listening, and summarizing

Motivational Interviewing

This therapy uses techniques that include expressing empathy, developing discrepancies between behaviors and values/ goals, rolling with resistance, and supporting self-efficacy

Motivational Interviewing

This approach has no focus on etiology of maladaptive behaviors – only on understanding and resolving factors that impede an individual’s ability to change

Family Therapies

This group of therapies can be traced back to the 1950s; influenced by General Systems Theory and Cybernetics