Detailed Notes on Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Daily Objectives

• Understand key principles of various therapeutic approaches:
  • Psychodynamic Therapy: Focus on psychoanalysis origins.
  • Humanistic and Existential Therapies: Differences from psychoanalytic therapy.
  • Cognitive and Behavioural Approaches: Overview of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and its methods.
  • ABC Model: Explanation of cognitive restructuring.

Overview of Treatment Types

• Psychological Treatment: Includes various psychotherapies categorized as orientations.
• Biological Treatment: Will be discussed in future sessions (week to come).

Psychodynamic Therapy

• Based on Freud’s psychoanalysis, focusing on:

  • Topics for Discussion:
  • Childhood events
  • Dream analysis
  • Subconscious thoughts and urges
  • Projective techniques

• Core Beliefs:

  • Psychological issues arise from:
  • Ineffective repression of childhood urges leading to fixations.
  • Problematic use of defense mechanisms.
  • Conflicts between differing subconscious parts (e.g., desires vs. societal expectations).
  • Aim of psychoanalysis: Gain insight into these conflicts.

• Evolution of Psychodynamic Therapy:

  • Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT): Updates Freud's approaches with a focus on:
  • Attachment across the lifespan.
  • Grief due to relationship loss.
  • Role disputes and transitions (e.g., job changes).
  • Addressing interpersonal deficits in relationship skills.

Humanistic and Existential Therapies

• Humanistic Psychology:
  • Emphasizes personal growth, free will, and positive human experiences.
• Person-Centered Therapy:
  • Based on the belief that clients can grow towards self-actualization.
  • Requires therapist's acceptance, congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard.

Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

• Commonality in Practice:
  • Most widely practiced therapy in Canada due to strong evidence of effectiveness.
• Focuses on:
  • Changing observable behaviours or unhelpful thought patterns to improve mental health.

Behavioural Therapy

• Centers on conditioning:
  • Operant Conditioning: Reinforces positive behavior and applies punishments to negative behavior.
  • Example: Token economy rewards positive behaviors with tokens/vouchers.
  • Classical Conditioning: Involves exposure techniques (e.g., exposure therapy) to reduce fear responses by repeated, harmless exposure to feared stimuli.

Cognitive Therapy

• Aims to restructure negative thought patterns:
  • Involves questioning automatic beliefs that lead to negative emotions.
  • Examples:
  • Addressing believing "I will never be able to make friends" by examining past friendships to challenge that belief.
  • Replacing irrational thoughts with rational alternatives to promote better emotional responses.

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

• Combines behavioral and cognitive approaches:
  • Primarily used for treating anxiety and depression.
  • Characteristics:
  • Problem-focused
  • Action-oriented
  • Transparent in approach compared to traditional psychoanalysis.

ABC Model of Cognitive Restructuring

• Components:

  • (A) Activating Event: The actual event and the client's immediate interpretations.
  • (B) Beliefs: Individual evaluations that can be rational or irrational.
  • (C) Consequences: Resulting emotions, behaviors, and thoughts.

• Pathways in ABC Model:

  • Reaction to a negative event can lead to:
  • Healthy or unhealthy negative emotions based on beliefs.

Conclusion

• Further discussion on biological treatments to continue next week.