George Kelly

first in cognitive psych: psychological problems

Albert Ellis

-Very shy around women; made a vow to himself to ask out and approach one hindered women

-Atheist

-Own thoughts about the world

Turing

The computer metaphor: limitation test

Anderson

transference

Wagner

-Hyper- Sensitivity of unwanted thoughts

Focus of cognitive approach

Thought processes

Information processing model

-The computer metaphor

                        -limitation

            -Great metaphor for cognitive functions

Personal constructs

-General beliefs about the world

Personal constructs & attraction link

-what is more important: similar constructs or past.

Fundamental postulate

-thesis most important to you, experience the world through the lens of our personal constructs

Psychological problems according to Kelly

-people went through life as detectives (trying to predict the world), didn’t do a good job, this can create psychological problems when constructs are inflexible

Primary goal of Kelly’s therapy

-Get patients to see world in a different way

-Replace faulty constructs with ones that better match reality

ABC

-Activating experience and irrational belief= consequential emotion

Psychological problems according to Ellis

-Result of irrational beliefs no one will ever love me again, if we love each other then   we would agree on everything

Primary goal of Ellis’ therapy

-Bring out how irrational beliefs are

            -compare beliefs with logic

Ellis’ contribution to the musical scene

-Rational humorous songs that confront irrational beliefs

Ellis style in therapy

-Confrontational style

-led other therapists to come up with the style of flooding

Flooding

-Came from Ellis’ confrontation style of therapy

Overall goal of cognitive therapies

-cognitive restructuring: changing thought processes

Fixed-Role Therapy

-Kelly

-The rep test: identify personal constructs, which ones are faulty

-The moccasin technique: role playing

-be someone else who sees the world rationally

            -“What would ‘sam’ do?”

            -“What would ‘sam’ think?”

Rational-Emotive Therapy

-Ellis

            -Activating experience

            -belief (irrational)

            -Consequential emotion (effect)

Self-instructional training

-internal monologues

Transference research in cognitive approach

-Déjà vu effect

-Three people you like, bring in someone similar, strong feelings transferred

Unwanted thoughts

-Wagner

            -Hyper-sensitivity of unwanted thoughts

-famous study: lab, little bell, sit here think about anything except for white bears, if you do, ring the bell. Second group think about anything including white bears, ring the bell if you do

-Found: when told not to think about something, you will think about it, must have substitute thoughts.

Priming studies

-Studies that prime schemas

Schemas

-affect many cognitive processes

                        -attention

                        -interpretation

                        -memory

-generalized knowledge structure, cognitive networks, thoughts close together, spreading activation

-Ex: weddings in the U.S.: cake, white, vows, rings

Depressive schema research

-Selective attention (negative information)

-negative interpretation (ambiguous information)

-Enhanced memory for negative experiences

-effect of cognitive therapy: give word list, half positive, remember negative, at end of therapy scores represent general population

Cognitive therapy techniques for addictions

-r between executive( complex decisions) functioning and addictions

            -executive functions involved

            -working memory efficiency training

            -planning, decision making, impulse control

-higher addiction, lower executive function

Facial feedback research

-thoughts-pers/ behavior, but reverse?

            -pen study: rate jokes on funniness

-head set study: listen to arguments, what extent agree, “trouble with headset”, shake head yes, shake head no, agree more when shake head yes

Personality variations versus disorders

-variations vs. disorders

Disorders criteria

-4(Ds)

                        -deviant

                        -dysfunctional

                        -demand or danger

-demand: if the court or demands it

-threat to themselves or others

-more of a threat to themselves

Axis of DSM involving personality disorders

-5 axis:

-1: clinical syndromes-all known to date

                        -2: personality disorders

                        -3: medical history

                        -4: measure psycho social issues

                        -5: overall global functioning

Personality disorders as maladaptive variations

-traits: trait dimensions: extremely high or low trait dimension

-biology: maladaptive genes, neurochemicals, hormones

-psychodynamic: extreme fixations, extreme emotions

-humanistic: extreme motive and needs

-behaviors: odd behavior, lack of social skills

-cognitive: maladaptive thought processes

Cluster A

   Characteristics

            -odd and eccentric

   Disorders under this cluster

-paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder

Cluster B

Characteristics

            -dramatic and erratic

   Disorders under this cluster

-Antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder

Cluster C

   Characteristics

            -fear and anxious

   Disorders under this cluster

-avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Paranoid personality disorder

-distrust and suspiciousness of others (everybody)

-people are out to get them, expect to be mistreated

-defensive, pathological jealousy of partner

-distrust forms, new technology (cameras, gps)

Schizoid personality disorder

-social isolation (no interest in others) and restricted emotion

-lack of interest in others; overly independent

-detached from social relationships

-flat afact, no close friends, no interest in sex

-do things you can do alone; indifferent to criticism or praise

Schizotypal personality disorder

-lack of social skills, social anxiety, mild schizophrenia (cognitive distortions), eccentric behavior

-lack of capacity for close relationships

-odd beliefs (magical thinking), think they have special powers, unclear speech, lack of personal grooming

Antisocial personality disorder

-disregard for rights of others and conduct behavior

-higher occurrences of dancer to others

-don’t care about consequences

-conduct behaviors: lying, vandalism, running away, hitting, kicking, biting, arson

-easily irritated, easily exhibit anger

-likely to default, engage in destructive behaviors

-deceitful, dishonest, exploit others, serial killers

Borderline personality disorder

-instability and impulsivity in relationships and mood

-very erratic sense of self (can’t decide who they are)

-dramatic and abrupt mood swings, relationships change dramatically

-can feel horrible after change occurs, can be addicts in some way, huge abandonment issues, demand a lot of attention (will go to extremes)

-Suicide risk a lot higher than general population

Histrionic personality disorder

-dramatic, excessive emotionality and attention seeking

-use physical appearance to draw attention, self- centered, overly concerned with appearance

-not happy when not center of attention, sexually provocative (way they dress, or what they say)

-say something smart, but can’t back it up

-hysterical crying over minor things, temper tantrums

-think they’re interesting and people like to be around them (people find them irritating)

Narcissistic personality disorder

-grandiose self concept, need for admiration, self-centered and lack of empathy for others

-come across as charming until run into problems

-ruthless, successful in business, series of partners, not successful with long term meaningful relationships

-life of the party, high self concept, but can be unstable

-very high need for respect and power, can change quickly for things that don’t disrespect them

-take advantage and use others, sense of entitlement, highly sensitive to criticism

-vindictive, friends less popular and less attractive

-seek high status partners (attractive, young) (wealthy and powerful) idealize partners

-use I, my, me more

Avoidant personality disorder

-social inhibition (intense fear of criticism), feelings of inadequacy

-recognize symptoms when nervous

-avoid social situations (end up living at home, to afraid to get a job)

-avoid relationships, inferiority complex (high)

-reluctant to try new things

Dependent personality disorder

-over-reliance on others, lack of self confidence and fear of separation

-abandonment issues, fear of making own decisions

-will stay in abusive relationships, great need for being take care of

-find new partners quickly and frantically

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

-preoccupation with order, rules, perfection and control

-cognitive, not irrational, no rituals

-false sense of security when things are in order

-control to point can’s finish a project, work oriented

-difficulty in making decisions for fear of making the wrong one

-lack of time management skulls due to perfection

-stubborn, want to do thing their way, rigid, formal, don’t get humor (take it literally)

-inflexible (cognitive)

-cant change thoughts, feelings, morals, religion

-extremely frugal, accumulate, won’t throw things away

            -hoarding not typical, but higher tendency

Prevalence

-highest ocd

            -lowest: narcissistic

Comorbidity

-having more than one disorder

            -antisocial and narcissistic

            -ocd, tourettes

Psychodynamic Approach

focus on unconscious influences

Trait Approach

-early typologies

-humorism (how to combine body and mind)

-morphology

-phrenology

Biological Approach

-genetics: inherited components of personality

Humanistic Approach

-the positive side of human nature

            -free will

            -personal responsibility

            -the here and now

Behavioral Approach

-observable behavior

            -how do we learn our personalities

Cognitive Approach

-thought processes

Sarah constantly accuses her boyfriend, Rick, of cheating on her, although he has never done this in the past and shows no signs of it.  At work, Sarah is fairly certain that all of her coworkers are conspiring to get her fired, mostly because everyone seems “too nice.”  Sarah believes that her two roommates are cheating her when it comes to the rent and utilities and rarely trusts anything they say.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Cluster A

Bob lives alone, has no close friends and prefers it that way.  If his family comes to visit, Bob never starts conversations and seems to dislike it when they try talking to him.  Bob attends a local community college and sits by himself in every one of his classes.  His classmates rarely try to talk to him, because when they do, they are met with blank stares or a flat rejection.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Cluster A

Tracy is a 20 year old woman who hardly ever leaves her house except to go to work.  She spends most of her time attempting to communicate telepathically with the president of the United States.  Tracy has worked for the past several months at a grocery store, but is having trouble with the managers because of her belief that she has the power to stock the shelves without actually touching any of the items.  In addition, she often doesn’t maintain a professional appearance, leaving the house with her hair disheveled and unwashed.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Cluster A

Justin is a 15 year old boy who is having immense trouble getting along with his parents.  They are extremely angry with him, because he constantly runs away and is always in trouble with the police.  Justin is also in trouble with his high school.  The school is holding Justin responsible for a number of bullying and stealing issues.  When asked why he behaves in such a way, he very calmly explains that he “just wanted to” and that he doesn’t feel badly about it.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Cluster B

Stephanie is a young girl who just graduated from high school.  As soon as she turned 18, she immediately moved out of the house, telling her parents that she hated them.  The next day, she came back telling them that they meant the world to her and that she wanted to move back.  From one day to the next, Stephanie’s friends never know whether she will be angry or sweet to them, but they continue to be friends because Stephanie constantly threatens suicide if they don’t hang around her any more.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Cluster B

Ashley is a young college student who dyes her hair a different primary color almost weekly and often wears extremely bright, flashy clothing with a lot of cleavage exposure.  She spends much of her free time going to parties where she pouts dramatically if people don’t notice her.  During the election, Ashley would always spout off very strong opinions about the candidates, but when people would debate with her, she didn't seem to have based her opinions on anything.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Cluster B

Laura is a 40 year old woman who has been through five different marriages and five times that many relationships.  She is always extremely charming until something unpleasant comes up, such as lack of money, or until her partner no longer admires her like she thinks they should.  Although Laura is very attractive, all of her friends are less so, and Laura’s self-esteem is greatly dependent on them.  At work, if she is criticized by a coworker, she does anything she can do get that person fired.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Cluster B

Ryan is a 25 year old man who hardly ever leaves his house.  He is still supported by his parents and refuses to find a job, because he is so scared that he won’t interview well.  When Ryan needs to go into public to buy groceries, he sweats profusely.  Ryan avoids relationships in general, and he even avoids his parents because he doesn’t want to be criticized by them.  He has a lot of free time and enjoys gardening.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Cluster C

Mindie is a young woman in her twenties who has been dating the same dead-beat guy for five years.  He is both physically and verbally abusive, but Mindie is convinced that she can’t live without him and his advice.  Mindie’s family tries to get her to support herself, but Mindie’s self-confidence is so low that she doesn’t believe she can do it.  Mindie's mom always has to clean out her mailbox or her e-mail gets clogged from all the e-mails Mindie sends her when her boyfriend is working.

 Dependent Personality Disorder

 Cluster C

Josh is a freshman in high school who is failing the majority of his classes.  He is very smart and his work tends to be excellent when he turns it in, but he spends so much time on one assignment at any given time, that he doesn’t have time for the rest.  Josh’s closet is color-coded and every section has labels.  If his Mom hangs clothes in the wrong place, he cannot relax until he reorganizes them. 

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Cluster C