Chap 15: Psychotherapy

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 medication‘s or procedures that act differently on the persons physiology.

Eclectic approach

An approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud’s Therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patients free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the analyst interpretations of them—released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

Resistance

In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material.

Interpretation

In psychoanalysis, the analyst noting of supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight

Transference

In psychoanalysis, the patient’s transferred to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships such as love or hatred for 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.

Insight therapies

Therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a persons awareness of underlying motives and defenses.

Person-centered therapy

A humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth (also called client-centered therapy)

Active listening

Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and seeks clarification. A feature of Rogers’ person centered therapy.

Unconditional positive regard

A caring, accepting, non-judgmental attitude, which call Rogers believe would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

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 and virtual reality exposure therapy that treats anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear or avoid.

Systematic desensitization

A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat specific phobias.

Virtual reality exposure therapy

A counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronics simulations in which people can safely face their greatest fears, such as flying, spiders, or public speaking.

Aversive conditioning

Associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea)with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

Token economy

An operant conditioning procedure in which people can earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange tokens for privileges or treats.

Cognitive therapy

Therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

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, providing benefits from group interaction

Family therapy

Therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individuals unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at,other family members.

Confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Meta-analysis

A statistical procedure for analyzing the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion

Evidence based practice

Clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and client characteristics and preferences.

Therapeutic alliance

A bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the clients 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 disorders

Anti-anxiety drugs

Drugs used to control anxiety and agitation

Antidepressant drugs

Drugs used to treat depressive disorders, anxiety, disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders and post traumatic stress disorder.( Several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin, reuptake inhibitors SSRIs.)

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.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

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 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-controlling centers of the inner brain

Resilience

The personal strength that helps people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma.

Posttraumatic growth

Positive psychological changes following a struggle with extremely challenging circumstances, and life crises.