Psychological and Biological Treatments Notes

Psychotherapy

psychological intervention designed to help people resolve emotional, behavioural, and interpersonal problems and improve the quality of their lives

Psychoanalytic Therapies

is a type of talk therapy focused on exploring the unconscious mind to understand and resolve emotional and psychological difficulties. It delves into past experiences, particularly those from childhood, and how they might be influencing current behaviors and feelings.

Humanistic Therapies

emphasizes the development of human potential and the belief that human nature is basically positive. These therapies posit that problems originate from undue burdens and expectations, either from oneself or from others

Cognitive-behavioral Therapy

are treatments that aim to replace maladaptive or irrational cognitions and behaviours with more adaptive rational cognitions and behaviours

Behavioral therapies

focuses on specific problem behaviours and the current variables that maintain problematic thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. These therapies are fundamentally based on classical, operant, and observational learning principles. A key characteristic of behavioural therapies is their emphasis on current behaviours, rather than delving into past trauma or inherent personality traits

Free Association

Free Association is a key technique used in psychoanalysis, which was one of the earliest organized approaches to therapy created by Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis is highly focused on the unconscious, aiming to "make the unconscious conscious

Transference

involves clients projecting intense, unrealistic feelings and expectations from their past onto the therapist

Systematic Desensitization

type of Exposure Therapy used in Behavioural Therapies. Systematic Desensitization is a technique where patients are taught to relax as they are gradually exposed to what they fear in a stepwise manner

Carl Rogers’ Person-Centred Therapy

Specifically, Person-Centred Therapy centers on the client's goals and the ways they want to solve their problems. In this approach, the therapist's primary role is to provide a non-judgmental and comfortable environment in which the client can be helped to grow

Psychodynamic therapies

Psychodynamic therapies are a group of psychotherapies that fall under the category of insight therapies

Maladaptive

thoughts and behaviors that are not helpful and can lead to problems in a person's life

Psychopharmacotherapy

Psychopharmacotherapy is the use of medications to treat psychological problems

Electroconvulsive therapy

biomedical treatment used to treat serious psychological problems. During ECT, patients receive brief electrical pulses to the brain. These pulses produce a seizure in the patient. ECT is considered a treatment for serious psychological problems and is a radical, last-resort option in the context of psychosurgery. The side effects of ECT are usually brief, and can include memory and concentration issues

exposure therapy

Exposure Therapy is a type of behavioural therapyExposure Therapy confronts patients with what they fear with the goal of reducing that fear

Antidepressants

Antidepressants are prescription medicines to treat depression

Benzodiazepines

depressants that produce sedation and hypnosis, relieve anxiety and muscle spasms, and reduce seizures

Mood Stabilizers

medications used to treat mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorder, by helping to regulate extreme mood swings

Stimulants

 a substance that raises levels of physiological or nervous activity in the body.

Psychotic disorder

a mental illness characterized by a significant loss of contact with reality, marked by symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking or behavior