Psychodynamic Therapies

1		The goal of psychoanalysis is to help clients achieve , the conscious awareness of the psychodynamics that underlie their problems. Freud asked his clients to recline on a couch and to verbally report their thoughts, a technique called . Through this technique, as well as , Freud believed that the therapist could help the client understand the unconscious motivations of their behavior. Clients were expected to engage in defensive maneuvers called that hinder the process of therapy. If therapy is successful, should occur. In a brief psychodynamic therapy called therapy, the therapist focuses on the client’s current interpersonal problems.

Humanistic Psychotherapies

2		In client-centered therapy, is communicated when therapists show clients that they genuinely care about and accept them. A second vital factor in therapy is called , the willingness and bility of a therapist to see the world through the client’s eyes. The third important therapist characteristic is , which refers to consistency between a therapist’s feelings and his or her behaviors.

Cognitive Therapies

3		Ellis’ rational emotive therapy is embodied in his model. cognitive therapy revolves around pointing out logical errors in thinking that underlie emotional disturbance.

Behavior Therapies

4		Classical conditioning approaches are often used in treatment of psychological disorders. In the extinction approach called , the feared CS is presented without the UCS while using to prevent the response from occurring. is a technique developed by Joseph Wolpe to treat anxiety disorders, particularly phobias. In this procedure, the client is first trained in relaxation techniques and is then helped to construct a of low-anxiety to high-anxiety scenes relating to the fear. The client then practices the relaxation techniques while progressing through the stimulus hierarchy. In therapy, the therapist pairs a stimulus that is attractive to a person with a noxious UCS in an attempt to condition an aversion to the CS. techniques are operant conditioning treatments that involve trying to increase or decrease a specific behavior. In training, clients learn new skills by observing and then imitating a model who performs a behavior.

Integrating and Combining Therapies

5		Today, therapists use a wide variety of techniques and approaches in treatment, which is called the approach. For example, therapy involves an integration of psychoanalysis and behavior therapy.

Cultural and Gender Issues in Psychotherapy

6		Stanley Sue (1998) suggests that therapists are able to use their knowledge about the client’s culture to achieve a broad understanding of the client while at the same time being attentive to how the client might be different from the cultural stereotype.

Evaluating Psychotherapies

7		Good research designs to evaluate the effectiveness of psychotherapy involve both trials and groups. The statistical technique of - allows researchers to combine the results of many studies to arrive at an overall conclusion. Several factors have been found to affect the outcome of therapy. involves client’s willingness to invest themselves in therapy, while - refers to ability to experience and understand internal states, to be attuned to relational processes with therapists, and ability to apply what is learned in therapy to life outside treatment. Hostile interchanges between therapists and clients can lead to a effect in therapy. Various therapies tend to enjoy similar success rates, suggesting that there are shared by these therapies.

Biological Approaches to Treatment

8		Valium, Xanax, and BuSpar are examples of drugs. Antidepressant drugs fall into three major categories: , , and . drugs are used to treat schizophrenia. These drugs can produce a severe movement disorder called . therapy, or ECT, is used to treat severe major depression. refers to procedures to remove or destroy brain tissue in an attempt to change disordered behavior.

Psychological Disorders and Society

9		Concerns about the inadequacies of mental hospitals and the ability of antipsychotic drugs to "normalize" patients’ behavior led to a movement to transfer the primary focus of treatment to the community from the hospital. Preventive mental health programs have become increasingly important. In - prevention, the focus is on reducing or eliminating the environmental causes of behavior disorders or on enhancing situational factors that help to prevent the development of disorders. - prevention programs are designed to increase personal resources and coping skills.