Unit Thirteen: Treatment of Psychological Disorders

1. Unit Thirteen: Treatment of Psychological Disorders Chapter 17: Therapy

2. What is therapy? • the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating or curative process • a curative power or quality • any act, hobby, task, program, etc. that relieves tension

3. Treatment then…

4. Treatment now…

5. Categories of Mental Health Therapies:

6. psychological- used to treat learned disorders psychotherapy: emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers from psychological difficulties

7. biomedical- used to treat biologically rooted disorders biomedical therapy: prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient’s nervous system

8. The Psychological Therapies Psychoanalysis

9. according to Freud, the patient‘s free associations, resistances, dreams and transferences—and the therapist’s interpretations of them—release previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight • therapists try to bring the patient’s repressed feelings to conscious awareness so the patients can “deal” with them

10. Key parts of psychoanalysis: • resistance- blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material • interpretation- analyst’s noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight • transference- patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships

11. Today, psychodynamic therapy has replaced traditional psychoanalysis. • try to understand current symptoms by focusing on themes across relationships interpersonal psychotherapy • goal is relief of present symptoms

12. The Psychological Therapies Humanistic Therapies

13. focuses on self-fulfillment… • client-centered therapy (Carl Rogers)-focuses on the person’s self-perceptions; therapist uses techniques like active listening in an accepting environment • active listening- empathic listening in which the therapist echoes, restates, and clarifies

14. The Psychological Therapies Behavior Therapies

15. behavior therapy: • applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted/troubling behaviors

16. Classical Conditioning Techniques • counterconditioning- procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors • exposure therapies: behavioral techniques (like systematic desensitization) that treat anxieties by exposing people to the things they fear and avoid • systematic desensitization • aversive conditioning: associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior

17. Operant Conditioning Techniques • behavior modification: reinforce desired behaviors and withhold reinforcement for undesired behaviors Criticisms: • What happens when the reinforcement stops? • Is it right for one human to control another’s behaviors?

18. The Psychological Therapies Cognitive Therapies

19. teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting • cognitive-behavior therapy: integrated therapy that combines cognitive therapy with behavior therapy

20. The Psychological Therapies Group and Family Therapies

21. saves time and money • allows patient to recognize he/she is not alone • allows patient to receive feedback on new strategies or behaviors tried as a part of therapy

22. The Biomedical Therapies Drug Therapies

23. psychopharmacology- study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior • Progress in this area has enabled many to leave hospitals and live on their own.

24. antipsychotic drugs • chlorpromazine (Thorazine), clozapine (Clozaril) • “dampen responsiveness to irrelevant stimuli” • can produce severe side effects • dosage levels vary from person to person

25. antianxiety drugs • Xanax; Ativan • depress central nervous system activity • criticisms: • don‘t resolve underlying problems • can produce dependence

26. antidepressant drugs • fluoxetine (Prozac); Zoloft; Paxil • increases the availability of norepinephrine or serotonin and sometimes block the reuptake process • pairing drugs with exercise or drugs with cognitive therapy can be effective

27. Mood-stabilizing medications are also an option, particularly for leveling out bipolar mood swings.

28. The Biomedical Therapies Brain Stimulation

29. electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) • brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

30. The Biomedical Therapies Psychosurgery

31. psychosurgery- surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior lobotomy- cut the nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

32. preventing psychological disorders? • The goal is to prevent psychological disorders by identifying and addressing their causes: • poverty • meaningless work • constant criticism • unemployment • racism • sexism