15: Therapies

Mood stabilizers

________: Medications that combat bipolar disorder by leveling mood swings.

Psychotherapy

Any psychological technique used to facilitate positive changes in a persons personality, behavior, or adjustment

Psychoanalysis

Freudian approach to psychotherapy emphasizing exploration of the unconscious using free association, dream interpretation, resistances, and transference to uncover unconscious conflicts

Free association

The psychoanalytic technique of encouraging a patient to say whatever comes to mind without censoring

Resistance

Blockage in the flow of free association around topics the client avoids thinking or talking about

Transference

The tendency of patients to transfer to a therapist feelings that correspond to those the patient had for important persons in his or her past

Insight therapy

Any therapy that stresses the importance of understanding the origins of a psychological disorder, usually unresolved unconscious conflicts

Action therapy

Any therapy that stresses directly changing troublesome thoughts and/or behaviors without regard for their origins, unconscious or otherwise

Directive therapy

Any therapy that stresses the need for the therapist to lead the patient toward a resolution of his or her psychological distress

Nondirective therapy

Any therapy in which the therapist supports the client while the client gains insight into his or her own problems and their resolution

Group therapy

Psychological treatment involving several unrelated clients

Psychodrama

A therapy in which clients act out personal conflicts and feelings in the presence of others who play supporting roles

Role rehearsal

Taking the role of another person to learn how ones own behavior appears from the other persons perspective

Mirror technique

Observing another person reenact ones own behavior appears from the other persons perspective

Family therapy

Treatment of a group of related individuals that focuses on interpersonal dynamics and communication

Therapeutic alliance

A caring relationship that unites a therapist and a client in working to solve the clients problems

Culturally skilled therapist

A therapist who has the awareness, knowledge, and skills necessary to treat clients from diverse cultural backgrounds

Spontaneous Remission

Improvement of symptoms due to the mere passage of time

Therapy Placebo Effect

Improvement caused not by the actual process of therapy but by a clients expectation that therapy will help

Behavior therapy

Any therapy designed to actively change behavior

Behavior modification (applied behavior analysis)

The application of learning principles to change human behavior, especially maladaptive behavior

Aversion therapy

Treatment to reduce unwanted behavior by pairing it with an unpleasant stimulus

Exposure therapy

Alleviating fears and phobias (conditioned emotional responses) by using classical conditioning extinction

Flooding

A form of exposure therapy in which clients are exposed to the object of their fears beginning with examples that provoke the most extreme responses

Systematic desensitization

A reduction in fear, anxiety, or aversion brought about by planned exposure that provoke the most extreme responses

Reciprocal inhibition

The presence of one emotional state can inhibit the occurrence of another, such as joy preventing fear or anxiety inhibiting pleasure

Tension-release method

A procedure for systematically achieving deep relaxation of the body

Fear hierarchy

A list of fears, arranged from least fearful to most fearful, for use in systematic desensitization

Virtual reality exposure

Use of computer-generated images to present fear stimuli while responding to a viewers head movements and other input

Modeling

A form of exposure therapy in which clients observe models displaying adaptive behavior toward their feared object

Token economy

Behavior modification in which desired behaviors earn objects that can be exchanged for positive reinforcers

Cognitive therapy

Treatment of emotional and behavioral problems by changing maladaptive thoughts, beliefs, and feeling

Selective perception

Perceiving only certain stimuli among a larger array of possibilities

Overgeneralization

Blowing a single event out of proportion by extending it to a large number of unrelated situations

All-or-nothing thinking

Classifying objects or events as absolutely right or wrong, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, and so forth

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)

Any therapy that combines elements of cognitive therapy and behavior therapy

Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

Type of treatment designed to identify and change self-defeating thoughts

Thought stopping

The use of aversive stimuli to interrupt or prevent upsetting thoughts

Humanistic therapies

Insight-oriented therapies that help clients better understand themselves with the goal of maximizing their potential

Client-centered (person-centered) therapy

Individual being treated talks without direction, judgement, or interpretation from the therapist

Unconditional positive regard

Complete, unqualified acceptance of another person as he or she is

Empathy

A capacity for taking anothers point of view; the ability to feel what another is feeling

Authenticity

In Carl Rogerss terms, the ability of a therapist to be genuine and honest about his or her own feelings

Reflection

In client-centered therapy, the process of rephrasing or repeating thoughts and feelings expressed by clients so that they can become aware of what they are saying

Existential therapy

An insight therapy that focuses on the elemental problems of existence, such as death, meaning, choice, and responsibility; emphasizes making courageous life choices

Gestalt therapy

An approach that focuses on immediate experience and awareness to help clients rebuild thinking, feeling, and acting into connected wholes; emphasizes the integration of fragmented experiences

Pharmacotherapy

The use of drugs to treat psychopathology

Antipsychotic drugs (major tranquilizers)

Medications that may alleviate hallucinations and delusional thinking associated with mental disorders

Antianxiety drugs (anxiolytics or minor tranquilizers)

Medications that produce relaxation or reduce anxiety

Antidepressant drugs

Medications that combat depression by affecting the levels or activity of neurotransmitters

Mood stabilizers

Medications that combat bipolar disorder by leveling mood swings

Stimulants (as drugs to treat ADHD)

Medications used to calm attention deficit hyperactivity disorder even though they arouse the nervous system

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

Treatment for severe depression in which electrical current is applied to the brain, causing a seizure

Deep brain stimulation (DBS)

Electrical stimulation of precisely targeted brain regions; a surgical procedure is necessary to implant electrodes in the brain that allow for the stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

A device that uses magnetic pulses to temporarily block activity in specific parts of the brain

Psychosurgery

Any surgical alteration of the brain designed to bring about desirable behavioral or emotional changes

Psychiatric hospitalization

Placing a person in a protected, therapeutic environment staffed by mental health professionals

Deinstitutionalization

The reduced use of full-time commitment to mental institutions to treat mental disorders

Halfway house

A community-based facility for individuals making the transition from an institution (mental hospital, prison, and so forth) to independent living

Community mental health center

A facility offering a wide range of mental health services, such as prevention, counseling, consultation, and crisis intervention

Crisis intervention

The skilled management of a psychological emergency

Paraprofessional

An individual who works in a near-professional capacity under the supervision of a more highly trained person

Somatic therapy

Any bodily therapy, such as drug therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, or psychosurgery

Peer counselor

A nonprofessional person who has learned basic counseling skills

Self-help group

A group of people who share a particular type of problem and provide mutual support to one another

For example, Aaron Becks cognitive therapy focuses on changing several major distortions in thinking

selective perception, overgeneralization, and all-or-nothing thinking

These include

being an active listener, reflecting the persons thoughts and feelings, welcoming silence, asking open-ended questions clarifying problems, focusing on feelings, avoiding advice, accepting their frame of reference, and maintaining their confidence