Psychoanalysis/Psychodynamic

Therapy

An insight therapy.

PSYCHOANALYSIS: Freudian therapy designed to bring unconscious conflicts into consciousness.

Five major techniques:

Interpretation, Free Association, Dream Analysis, Analyzing Resistance, Analyzing Transference

PSYCHODYNAMIC: Briefer, more directive, contemporary form of psychoanalysis focusing on conscious processes and current problems

Focuses on changing faulty thought processes and beliefs

An insight therapy.

Deals with negative self-talk
Cognitive restructuring: process of challenging and changing destructive thoughts and maladaptive behaviors

Albert Ellis. 

Therapy seeks to eliminate emotional problems through rational examination of irrational beliefs.

Aaron Beck.

Works to change destructive thoughts and behaviors.

Depressive thought patterns:

Selective perception

Overgeneralization

Magnification

All-or-nothing thinking

Pro:  considerable success with a range of problems.

Con: criticized for overemphasizing rationality, ignoring unconscious dynamics, minimizing importance of the client's past

Seeks to maximize personal growth through affective restructuring (emotional readjustment)

An insight therapy

Key assumption of humanistic therapy:

Problems = blockage or disruption of normal growth potential, which leads to a defective self-concept

Carl Rogers.

Provides accepting atmosphere and encourages healthy emotional experiences.

Techniques: empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, active listening

Pro: Empirical evidence of efficacy

Con: Outcomes such as self-actualization and self- awareness are difficult to test scientifically; research on specific techniques has had mixed results.

A type of insight therapy.

Group therapy: A number of people meet together to work toward therapeutic goals

Family and Marital Therapies: work to change maladaptive family patterns

Group of techniques based on learning principles used to change maladaptive behaviors

Three foundations:

1. Classical conditioning

2. Operant conditioning

3. Observational learning

Classical Conditioning Therapy

(A Behavior Therapy)

Aversion therapy: Pairs an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus with a maladaptive behavior.

Ex: Pairing a nausea-producing drug with alcohol for an alcoholic.

Systemic Desensitization: Gradual process of extinguishing a learned fear by working through a hierarchy of fearful stimuli while remaining relaxed

Operant Conditioning

(A Behavior Therapy)

Uses techniques to increase ADAPTIVE BEHAVIORS:

1. Shaping: rewards successive approximations of target behavior through role-playing, behavior rehearsal, etc.

2. Tokens: symbolic rewards used to immediately reinforce desired behavior

Observational Learning

(A Behavior Therapy)

Pro: Strong evidence for success with a wide range of problems

Con: Questioned and criticized for generalizability and questionable ethics

Uses physiological interventions, such as drugs, to reduce or alleviate symptoms of psychological disorders

3 forms:

Psychopharmacology

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

Psychosurgery

Four major categories of drugs:

ANTIANXIETY: increases relaxation, reduces anxiety and muscle tension

ANTIPSYCHOTIC: treats hallucinations and other symptoms of psychosis

MOOD STABILIZER: treats manic episodes and depression

ANTIDEPRESSANT: treats symptoms of depression

Psychopharmacology is enormously beneficial but has several problems (side effects and dependency, etc.)

Electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery are very controversial and generally used as a last resort

1. Expectation

2. Motivation

3. Patient Fit

4. Therapist Alliance

Dodo bird effect: they all work with the same level of effectiveness.

Individualist cultures emphasize independence, the self, and control over one's life.

Collectivist cultures emphasize interdependence (more group/family therapy)

• Dangerous to self/others
• Believed to be in serious need of treatment
• No reasonable alternatives

patterns of emotion, thought and action considered pathological for one or more of four reasons:

statistical infrequency

disability or disfunction

personal distress

violations of norms

very loose definition: basically includes everything that could be wrong with one's thoughts or behavior, or even biology!

Can be defined based on social influences.

Anxiety Disorders

(5)

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Panic Disorder

Neurotransmitters not working properly, hormonal imbalance.  Disorders are like diseases because they have a biological basis, can be classified into categories, and have causes, symptoms, and treatments.

TREATED WITH: drugs

Cons: doesn't account for social factors

Modeling and social learning, as well as getting into bad thought patters can be the causes.

TREATED WITH: cognitive behavioral therapy

Cons: doesn't account for bio or social factors

Influences such as unemployment, underemployment, education, ethnicity, social support, age, rural/urban...

TREATED WITH: changing those community influences

Cons: Doesn't account for individual difference

Mood Disorders

(2)

Extreme disturbances in emotional states

Major Depressive Disorder: long-lasting depressed mood that interferes with the ability to function, feel pleasure, or maintain interest in life.

Bipolar Disorder: repeated episodes of mania and depression

group of psychotic disorders characterized by a general loss of contact with reality

Five areas of major disturbance:

1. Perception (hallucinations)

2. Language (word salad, nologisms)

3. Thoughts (psychosis, delusions)

4. Emotion (exaggerated, or flat)

5. Behavior (catalepsy, waxy)

Positive: additions to or exaggerations of normal thought processes and behaviors (delusions, hallucinations)

Negative: loss of or absence of normal thought processes and behaviors (Impaired attention, flattened personality, social withdrawal)

General intelligence: g factor--underlies all mental abilities

IQ Test used for this

Two types of general intelligence:

Crystallized intelligence: knowledge acquired through experience; acquisition of facts and the ability to use and combine them

Fluid intelligence: mental capacity to learn or invent new strategies for solving problems

Multiple Intelligences:

Linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal

Triarchic Theory:

Analytical Intelligence: required to solve familiar problems, judge quality of ideas

Creative Intelligence: required to develop new ways of solving problems

Practical Intelligence: required to apply, utilize, and implement ideas in everyday situations

ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure

IQ: intelligence

 establishes norms & uniform procedures for giving & scoring tests

measure of the consistency & stability of test scores when test is readministered.