AP Psychology - Vocabulary 15

psychotherapy

treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

evidence-based practice

clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences

group therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, permitting therapeutic benefits from group interaction

insight therapies

therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses

therapeutic alliance

a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem

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

(1) Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts (2) Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique used in treating psychological disorders. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences - and the therapist's 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'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)

client-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 person-centered therapy)

active listening

empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy

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 treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid

systematic desensitization

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

virtual reality exposure therapy

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

averse 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 earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the 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-behavior therapy

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeated thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

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

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

tardive dyskinesia

a side effect of antipsychotic medications. a condition affecting the nervous system

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

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-controlling centers of the inner brain

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity

Jungian psychoanalysis

an occult reinterpretation of Freud; the collective unconscious; there is a biological drive to unite with the divine

Adlerian psychoanalysis

sibling rivalry; inferiority complex; striving for perfection a major cause of problems; power is the key to relationships

Lacanian psychoanalysis

most famous interpreter of Freud today; to be happy we must limit our desires

primal therapy

Arthur Janov, pop psychology at its worst; a primal scream heals the trauma of childbirth

logotherapy

Victor Frankl; focus all attention on what gives meaning and problems become less significant; Existential in nature

reality therapy

William Glasser; face problems from a 'realistic' point of view; responsibility; contracts

transactional analysis

have clear lines of communication; parent, adult and child taken from Freud's understanding of personality

rational-emotive therapy

Albert Ellis; in the cognitive tradition, but Ellis presents himself as a know-it-all guru with nihilistic tendencies

free association

clients verbally report without censorship any thoughts that enter their awareness

genuineness

refers to consistency between the way the therapist feel and the way he or she behaves

openness

involves the clients' willingness to invest themselves in therapy and take risks required to change themselves

self-relatedness

refers to the clients ability to experience and understand internal states, relate to the process of therapy, and apply what they have learned

dialectical behavior therapy

developed by Marsha Linehan; eclectic treatment designed for borderline personality disorder

dodo bird verdict

the finding for similar efficacy for widely different therapies