Chapter Sixteen

Methods of Therapy
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What is Psychotherapy?

A systematic interaction between a therapist and a client that brings psychological principles to bear on influencing the client’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in order to help that client overcome abnormal behavior or adjust to problems in living. See page 540.
A basic distinction:
Insight oriented therapies - provide insight (self knowledge)
  Psychoanalysis & Client Centered Therapy are examples.


Non-insight oriented therapies - no insight required

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) - Treatment of disorders like major depression by passing an electric current through the head See page 569. Drug Therapy -
  • Antianxiety drugs - Minor tranquilizers
  • Antipsychotic drugs - Major tranquilizers
  • Antidepressants -
      • Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors
      Tricyclic antidepressants
      Selective serotonin-uptake inhibitors
  • Lithium
 Behavior Therapies (Perhaps)

Three Therapies to Emphasize
(for test purposes)
Psychoanalysis

Carl Rogers & Person-Centered Therapy (also called Client-Centered Therapy)

The Behavior Therapies (see p. 549)

(Actually a family of therapy methods based upon the principles of Learning.)


Psychoanalysis: Freud’s "Talking Cure"
See Page 542.
"Where id was, there shall ego be." - the goal of psychoanalysis.

To replace impulsive & defensive behavior with coping behavior.

Freud believed that psychological disorders stemmed from intrapsychic conflict deep in the unconscious and early childhood experiences.
 
 
Psychoanalytic Concepts:
"the popping of the psychic zit"

provides feelings of relief (hopefully)

 "slips of the tongue" - Freudian slips

dreams - "the royal road to the unconscious"

Manifest vs. latent content (e.g. phallic symbols)

also manifest "wish fulfillment"- see p. 545

 A milestone in psychoanalysis

defined as: the generalization onto the analyst of feelings held toward another person in the client’s life (can be positive or negative).
 

"There is no successful psychoanalysis without transference." - Freud the biggest obstacle to psychoanalysis.

Analyst remains "opaque."


 
 
Evaluating Psychoanalysis
(Does it work?)
In a 1982 survey of Clinical Psychologists & Counselors 14% claimed an analytical orientation.

There are modern variations (see p. 545).

In the Smith & Glass survey of 1977 people who received psychodynamic therapies showed greater well-being than 70-75% of those who remained untreated.

Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered or Client-Centered Therapy
Stems from humanistic psychology

See page 546.

Abnormal Behavior is viewed as arising from road-blocks in the self-actualization process.

Therapy is non-directive (unlike psychoanalysis).
 
 
Client-Centered Therapists show:
(Frame of reference - One’s unique patterning of perceptions and attitudes, according to which one evaluates events.)

By using the skillful, non-directive, paraphrase, the therapist becomes a "human mirror."  This allows the client to form his own insights.  Thus the therapy is non-directive.
Behavior Therapies
(Behavior Modification)
"Adjustment is what you do." See p. 549.

The systematic application of the principles of learning to the direct modification of a client’s problem behaviors.

Some behavioral therapists incorporate cognitive processes into the therapy.

Help clients quit self-defeating behaviors and acquire adaptive behaviors.
 
 
 
 
Some Behavior Therapies
Use principle of counterconditioning (Wolpe).

Use a hierarchy of fear inducing stimuli.

May use "modeling," and virtual reality (P. 558).

Freudians predicted "symptom substitution."

 Undesired responses are inhibited by pairing repugnant or offensive stimuli with them.

e.g., Rapid Smoking, a method for quitting smoking in which the smoker inhales every 6 seconds, thus rendering smoking aversive.

 use operant conditioning & shaping. Uses modeling. e.g. "the broken record technique."
Note: Assertiveness is frequently confused with aggressiveness.