Treatment for Psychological Disorders

1. Treatment for Psychological Disorders Chapter 16 5-7% of the AP Exam

2. Psychological Treatment • When a psychological disorder becomes serious enough to cause problems in everyday functioning, the client may seek to have the disorder treated.

3. Psychotherapy – An Overview • The treatment of psychological disorders through psychological methods • Clients • Inpatients • Outpatients • Treatment from • Psychiatrists • Psychologists • Counselor • Medical Doctor • Basic goal = to help people change their way of thinking, feeling, or behavior

4. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy • Psychoanalysis – understanding unconscious conflicts • Freud’s one-on-one method • Aims to help clients gain insight into and work through problems

5. Other psychoanalytic therapies • All seek to understand the patient’s past to help understand the future • “Talk” therapy • Help client function in everyday life • Carl Jung • Karen Horney

6. Contemporary Psychoanalysis = less emphasis on Freud’s “unconscious impulses” • Object-Relations Therapy • most problems stem from the need for human contact and support • focus on relationships, interpersonal life events • Psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy • more flexibility and conversation between patient and therapist • patient focuses on more concrete goals • Supportive-expressive therapy • short-term treatment • therapist looks for a core conflict that occurs repeatedly in a variety of relationships

7. Humanistic Psychotherapy • Emphasize the way in which people interpret the events in their lives • behavior = motivated by an innate drive toward growth • Clients (not patient) will improve on their own, given the right conditions • Patients must feel equal, accepted, and supported • Emphasis on free-will of client

8. Humanistic Client-Centered Therapy • Carl Rogers – nondirective therapy • allowed clients to decide what to talk about and when, without judgment or direction – now referred to as client-centered therapy • Genuineness- completely honest and open • Unconditional Positive Regard- fully accepting the worth of the client • Empathy- emotional understanding

9. Gestalt Therapy “You cannot achieve happiness. Happiness happens and is a transitory stage. Imagine how happy I felt when I got relief from bladder pressure. How long did that happiness last?” (Fritz Perls) • Fritz and Laura Perls • Developed therapy from the perspective that people create their own understanding of the world and continue to grow as long as they have insight into their feelings • Help clients see inconsistencies between how clients see themselves and how they act in the world “Lose your mind and come to your senses.” (Fritz Perls)

10. Other humanistic therapies • Group and Family therapies • emphasis placed on growth of the individual • Group Therapy – simultaneous treatment of several clients – no single theoretical approach used • allows interaction • clients feel less alone • boost each other’s confidence • more willing to share • Family & Couples Therapy – treatment of two or more from same family system – goal is to create harmony and balance • disorders are rooted in family conflicts

11. Behavior Therapy • Clients see their problems as learned behaviors that can be changed(without searching for hidden meanings or unconscious causes) • Based on the work of Watson, Pavlov, & Skinner • Features: • Development of a productive therapist-client relationship • Careful listing of the behaviors and thoughts to be changed – assessment and establishment of goals • Learning-based treatments – giving “homework” • Continuous monitoring and evaluation of treatment

12. Behavior Therapy (con’t) • Behavior Therapy – classical conditioning • Behavior Modification – operant conditioning • Cognitive-behavior therapy – altering both thinking patterns and behavior

13. Techniques for Modifying Behavior • Systematic Desensitization (John Wolpe) • Visualization then progressive relaxation • Modeling • Assertiveness and social skills training • Positive reinforcement • Token economy—desirable behaviors are positively reinforced • Extinction • Flooding-continuous exposure to feared stimuli • Aversive Conditioning • associate behavior with negative experience

14. Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) • Albert Ellis • People engage in self-talk that is false • If they can change their beliefs, this will produce a change in emotion • Therapist confront irrational (illogical, maladaptive) beliefs and teaches client to create a realistic perspective

15. Beck’s Cognitive Therapy (for depression) • Aaron Beck • Widely used for depression • Cognitive schemas, methods for organizing the way we view the world, have evolved into a distorted perception • Therapist draws attention to faulty reasoning, challenges validity of statements • Helps change way of thinking using assignments to see cognitive schema

16. Biological Treatments • Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) – “shock treatment” • Early use – physicians passed electric currents through brains of people with schizophrenia • Modern use – shock is applied to one side of the brain at a time – used to treat patients with severe depression, who do not respond well to medication • Still controversial • Psychosurgery – destruction of brain tissue for treating mental disorders • Prefrontal lobotomy—cut connections from prefrontal cortex to rest of brain

17. Biological TreatmentsPsychoactive Drugs • Neuroleptics (Antipsychotics)– reduce psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, & disordered thinking

18. Biological TreatmentsPsychoactive Drugs (con’t) • Antidepressants – help relieve symptoms of depression – immediate effect on neurotransmitters (usually increasing serotonin or norepinephrine) • Lithium – mineral salt found to reduce frequency and intensity of manic and depressive phases of bipolar patients • Anxiolytics(tranquilizers) – treats anxiety – most widely prescribed and used of all legal drugs

19. Evaluating Psychoactive Drug Treatments • Limitations – • Drugs may cover up the problem without permanently curing it • Relieve symptoms without addressing underlying causes • Drug abuse – physical and psychological dependence • Side effects

20. Effectiveness of Treatment • http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/treatment-effectiveness.html#lesson