Therapies

• Relieves suffering of individuals with psychological disorders

  • Psychological approach

    • Psychotherapies

    • Non-medical

    • Clinical/ counseling

  • Biological approach

    • Biomedical therapies

    • Psychiatrist (MD)

  • Sociocultural approach

    • Individual as part of a system- family therapy/ group therapy

    • AA

Goals of therapy

• Increase psychological functioning

• Reduce inappropriate/destructive behaviors

• Better understand self/others

Types of therapists

• Psychologist- holds PhD and is trained in psychological testing and diagnosis.

• Psychiatrist- holds MD and can prescribe meds. Diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

• Social Worker- assist people in difficult situations. Some have masters and can diagnose and treat, but a lot less testing.

• Counselor- holds masters degree and assess, counsel, and use therapy techniques. LPCs

Types of Therapy

• Psychotherapy- treatment of emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems through psych techniques.

  • Success factors:

    • therapeutic alliance- trust with patient and provider

    • Therapist expertise and personality

    • Client active engagement

  • Psychodynamic approach

    • Freud: Childhood experiences and unconscious conflicts

    • Modern: includes hidden feelings and memories, but more collaborative process and dialogue. Short-term based

  • Humanistic approach

    • Focus on present and emphasizes conscious

    • Stresses taking responsibility of feelings and actions

    • Self-fulfillment and growth

  • Behavioral approach

    • Overt behavior change rather than insights into self or underlying causes

    • Reduce or eliminate maladaptive behaviors

    • Classical and operant conditioning

    • Assume disordered behavior is learned

    • Exposure therapy-

      • systematic desensitization for phobias- muscle relaxation is progressively combined with fear-inducing stimuli eliminating the triggering of unwanted arousal

        • Counterconditioning

      • aversion therapy- pair undesirable behaviors with something bad

      • Operant conditioning- unlearning maladaptive behaviors (ex. OCD) through altered consequences

        • Positive reinforcement of adaptive behaviors and extinguish maladaptive behaviors

  • Cognitive Therapy- thoughts are the primary source of psychological problems

    • Especially in anxiety and depression

    • Focus on overt problems (unlike Freud)

    • Structured analysis and specific guidance (unlike Rogers)

    • Misattributing negative experiences to their own deficiencies

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

    • Aims to alter the way people think and act

    • Seeks to make people aware of irrational negative thinking and related behaviors

• Biomedical therapy- use of medication or other medical treatments to relieve symptoms.

  • drug therapy

  • Electroconvulsive therapy

  • Psychosurgery

• Anxiety meds- benzodiazepines: increases GABA

• Antidepressants- increases serotonin

• Mood-stabilizing- Lithium: regulates glutamate for BPD

• ECT- small current produce brief seizure to treat depression

• Psychosurgery- prefrontal lobotomies

  • Rarely used for OCD, depression, or BPD