Cognitive Approach

Techniques:

• cognitive restructuring (help make thoughts more rational/logical)

People

• Albert Ellis
• Aaron Beck

Advantages:

• testable
• appealing for clients
• good research
• goes hand-in-hand with field of cognitive psychology

Disadvantages:

• is the thought causing the behavior?

Behavioral Approach

• assumption-> learning

Techniques:

• Systematic Desensitization: expose the individual to the object they fear so that they will have a dulled reaction to it.
• Flooding: put the client in a room full of what they fear 

Advantages:

• scientifically based
• tested
• effective

Disadvantages:

• oversimplification (somtimes situations are very complex)
• cannot explain all disorders (ex. cant tell someone with schizophrenia to stop talking back to the voices they hear)

Psychodynamic Approach

• human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious between the different structures of the personality.

Techniques:

• looking for resistance (when client refuses to talk about a certain topic)
• providing opportunities for free associations
• interpretations
• dream analysis

Advantages:

• Projective Tests (TAT, Rorschach)
  
• Highlighted the importance of Childhood
  
• first time psychological problems are caused by unbiological problems
• theories explain normal and abnormal behavior

Disadvantages:

• Unscientific (lacks empirical support)
• does not help client with their problems, just figures out what they are 

People: FREUD

Humanistic Approach

• the human being is perfect as it is, innately good 
• therapist does not have the answer, client does and they will find it 
• discovering the self

Techniques:

• client-centered therapy
• empty chair ( imagine your mother)
• eye language
• gestalt (body is talking...bowels..anxiety)
• projection (think about someone you love while looking at something else. youll love that something)
• use of metaphors

Existentialist: (Fritz Perls)

• if we can focus on the present, we can find our answers
• gestal therapy (understand the whole)

Supportive: (Carl Rogers)

• humans are always motivated to improve

Advantages:

• appealing if you get a right answer
• can treat anything (not linked to symptoms, linked to process)
• brings awareness of the importance of studying the relationship between client and therapist

Disadvantage:

• might not work for everyone

Cognitive Approach

• thoughts and beliefs shape our behaviors and emotions we experience. 
• need to change those thoughts

Techniques:

• evaluations of people, events, etc, often within the context or circumstances of the situation
• evaluating one's self-efficacy

Id, Ego, Superego

Id-unconscious desires (hunger, thirst, sex)

Ego-morals, doing what you are supposed to do

Superego-conscious decision making, planning

Regression

Projection

put emotions towards someone else other than yourself

ex. you're mad about something and you say that your mom sounds angry instead of you

Displacement

displace emotion onto someone else

ex. kick dog because you're mad at your boyfriend

Reaction Formation

behave opposite way of what you want to do. 

ex. child cries, so instead of shaking them, you hug and kiss them more. 

Sublimation

transform energy/desire into something more acceptable

ex. painting sex instead of doing it in a strict household

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Symptoms:

• excessive and uncontrollable worry
• has to be 2 or more areas in the person's life (ex. grades and family )
• tension
• fatigue
• spiral--> the worry builds up gradually, one thing to another 

Prevalence: more prevalent in women
Onset: usually early adulthood

GAD Etiology

Psychodynamic: ego/id

Cognitive: avoidance of fears adds to the anxiety

Biological: GABA receptors

GAD Treatment

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Symptoms:

• sudden
• feels out of control
• re-experiencing (nightmares, flashbacks)
• avoidance: people avoid anything that is associated with the event
• increased arousal and anxiety

most common: 

• childhood maltreatment (sexual/physical abuse)
• car accidents
• natural disasters
• unexpected death of relatives
• terrorism 
• war

PTSD Prevalence/Etiology/Treatment

Prevalence:

• 8% of Americans have experienced ptsd in their life
• more common in women than in men

Psychodynamic: underlying problem

Cognitive/Behavioral: avoid powerful memories, however, it will help them if they are exposed to those memories in a safe place (like a therapists office)

Treatment:

-SSRIs