Chapter 15 Terms and Study Questions

What is Ellis's ABCD Approach?

Activating event, irrational Beliefs, emotional Consequences, and Disputing irrational beliefs

Describe Beck's cognitive therapy.

Beck developed a form of cognitive therapy that is particularly effective for depression. He helps clients identify their distorted thinking patterns, followed by active testing of these thoughts and encouragement toward pleasurable activities.

What are the key successes and criticisms of behavior therapies?

Behavior therapies have been successful with a number of psychological disorders. But they are criticized for possible lack of generalizability and the questionable ethics of attempting to control behavior.

What is behavior therapy?

Behavior therapies use learning principles to change maladaptive behaviors.

What are the two key criticisms of behavior therapy?

Behavior therapy is criticized for possible lack of generalizability and questionable ethics.

Define biomedical therapy.

Biomedical therapies use biological techniques to relive psychological disorders.

Describe how shaping can be used to develop desired behaviors.

By rewarding successive approximations of a target behavior, the patient is shaped toward more adaptive behaviors.

Describe how classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning are used in behavior therapy.

Classical conditioning principles are used to change faulty associations. In systematic desensitization, the client replaces anxiety with relaxation, and in aversion therapy, an aversive stimulus is paired with a maladaptive behavior. Shaping, reinforcement, punishment and extinction are behavior therapy techniques based on operant conditioning principles. Observational learning techniques often include modeling therapy, which is based on acquisition of skills or behaviors through observation.

Identify the six key types of mental health professionals.

Clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychiatric social workers, and school psychologists are the most common types of mental health professionals.

What are the chief successes and criticisms of cognitive therapy?

Cognitive therapies have been successful in treating a wide variety of psychological problems (e.g., Beck's success with depression). They have been criticized for ignoring importance of unconscious processes, overemphasizing rationality, and minimizing the client's past. Some critics also attribute any successes with cognitive therapies to the use of behavioral techniques.

Discuss cognitive therapy, self-talk, cognitive restructuring, and cognitive-behavior therapy.

Cognitive therapy focuses on faulty thought processes and beliefs to treat problem behaviors. Through insight into negative self-talk (the unrealistic things people say to themselves), the therapist can use cognitive restructuring to challenge and change destructive thoughts or inappropriate behaviors. Cognitive-behavior therapy focuses on changing both self-destructive thoughts and self-defeating behaviors.

Differentiate between psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy.

Compared to traditional psychoanalysis, modern psychodynamic therapy is briefer, the patient is treated face to face (rather than reclining on a couch), the therapists takes a more directive approach (rather than waiting for unconscious memories and desired to slowly be uncovered, and the focus is on conscious processes and current problems (rather than unconscious problems of the past).

What are the major contributions and criticisms of biomedical therapies?

Drug therapy is enormously beneficial, but it also has several problems. For example, it offers symptom relief, but few "cures," patients often stop medications once symptoms are relieved, patients may become dependent, and little is known about the long-term effects and drug interactions. In addition, there are potentially dangerous side effects, and possible overuse. ECT and psychosurgery are both controversial and are generally used as a last resort.

rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

Ellis's cognitive therapy to eliminate emotional problems through rational examination of irrational beliefs

Define psychoanalysis and list its five major methods.

Freudian psychoanalysis works to bring unconscious conflicts into consciousness. The five major techniques of psychoanalysis are free association, dream analysis, analysis of resistance, analysis of transference, and interpretation.

psychoanalysis

Freudian therapy designed to bring unconscious conflicts into conscious awareness; also Freud's theoretical school of thought

Define humanistic therapy and describe Roger's client-centered therapy.

Humanistic therapy assumes problems develop from blocked personal growth, and therapists work alongside clients to remove these obstacles. Rogers client-centered therapy emphasizes empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and active listening.

Discuss group, self-help, family, and marital therapies.

In group therapy, a number of people come together to work toward therapeutic goals. A variation on group therapy is the self-help group, which is not guided by a professional. Although group members do not get the same level of attention as in individual therapy, group therapy has important advantages. First, it is less expensive. It also provides group support, insight and information, and opportunities for behavior and rehearsal. The primary aim of family and marital therapy is to change maladaptive interaction patterns. Because a family is a system of interdependent parts, the problem of any one member unavoidably affects all the others.

What are the two major criticisms of psychoanalysis?

Limited applicability, lack of scientific credibility

Which psychoanalytic concept best explains the following situations? a. Mary is extremely angry with her therapist, who seems unresponsive and uncaring about her personal needs. b. Although John is normally very punctual in his daily activities, he is frequently late for his therapy session.

Mary may be exhibiting transference, reacting to her therapist as she apparently did to someone earlier in her life. John is most likely exhibiting resistance, arriving late because he fears what his unconscious might reveal.

How does modern psychodynamic therapy differ from psychoanalysis?

Modern psychodynamic therapy is briefer, face-to-face, more directive, and emphasizes current problems and conscious processes.

Name the six features of therapy that are culturally universal.

Naming the problem, qualities of the therapist, therapist credibility, placing the problem in a familiar framework, applying techniques that bring relief, a special time and place

Discuss involuntary commitment and deinstitutionalization.

People believed to be mentally ill and dangerous to themselves or others can be involuntarily committed to mental hospitals for diagnosis and treatment. Abuses of involuntary commitments and other problems associated with state mental hospitals have led many states to practice deinstitutionalization - discharging as many patients as possible and discouraging admissions. Community services such as community mental health centers try to cope with the problems of deinstitutionalization.

Discuss psychopharmacology, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery.

Psychopharmacology, or treatment with drugs, is the most common biomedical therapy. Antianxiety drugs generally are used to treat anxiety disorders, antipsychotic drugs treat symptoms of schizophrenia, antidepressant drugs treat depression, and mood-stabilizer drugs can help patients with bipolar disorder. Drug therapy has been responsible for major improvements in many disorders. However, there are also problems with dosage levels, side effects, and patient cooperation. Electroconvulsive therapy is used primarily to relieve serious depression when medication has not worked. But it is risky and considered a treatment of last resort. Psychosurgeries, such as lobotomy, have been used in the past but are rarely used today.

Define psychotherapy and insight therapy.

Psychotherapy refers to techniques employed to improve psychological functioning and promote adjustment to life. Insight therapy seeks to improve psychological functioning by increasing awareness into underlying motives and improvement in thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors.

What are the five major concerns about women in therapy?

Rates of diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, stresses of poverty, stresses of aging, violence against women, stresses of multiple roles

Is therapy effective, and how can we find a good therapist?

Research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy has found that 40 to 80 percent of those who receive treatment are better off than those who do not receive treatment. When searching for a good therapist, it's good to "shop around," and to consult your psychology instructor or college counselors for referrals. If you're in a crisis, get immediate help through hospital emergency rooms or telephone hotlines.

unconditional positive regard

Rogers's term for love and acceptance with no contingencies attached

client-centered therapy

Rogers's therapy emphasizing the client's natural tendency to become healthy and productive; techniques include empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and active listening

Why do therapists often refer their patients to self-help groups?

Self-help groups are recommended as a supplement to individual therapy.

What are the key criticisms of humanistic therapy?

The basic tenets are difficult to evaluate scientifically, most outcome studies rely on self-reports, and research on their specific techniques has had mixed results.

What is the general goal of Ellis's rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)?

The general goal of REBT is to eliminate emotional problems through rational examination of irrational and self-defeating beliefs.

Describe the major similarities and differences in therapy across cultures.

Therapies in all cultures share six culturally universal features: naming a problem, qualities of the therapist, therapist credibility, familiar framework, techniques that bring relief, and a special time and place. Important cultural differences in therapies also exist. For example, therapies in individualistic cultures emphasize the self and control over one's life, whereas therapies in collectivist cultures emphasize interdependence. Japan's Naikan therapy is a good example of collectivist culture's therapy.

What are the unique concerns of women in therapy?

Therapists must take five considerations into account when treating women clients: higher rate of diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, stresses of poverty, stresses of multiple roles, stresses of aging, and violence against women.

Identify four common myths about therapy, and its three general approaches.

There are four common myths about therapy: there is one best therapy, therapists can read your mind, people who to to therapists are crazy or weak, and only the rich can afford therapy. There also are three general approaches to therapy - insight, behavior, and biomedical.

Identify the five most common goals of therapy, and discuss the eclectic approach.

There are numerous forms of therapy. But they all focus treatment on five basic areas of disturbance - thoughts, emotions, behaviors, interpersonal and life situations, and biomedical problems. Many therapists take an eclectic approach and combine techniques from various theories.

psychodynamic therapy

a briefer, more directive, and more modern form of psychoanalysis focusing more on conscious processes and current problems

group therapy

a number of people meet together to work toward therapeutic goals

interpretation

a psychoanalyst's explanation of a patient's free associations, dreams, resistance, and transference; more generally, any statement by a therapist that presents a patient's problem in a new way

Using Beck's four destructive thought patterns associated with depression, label the following thoughts: a. Mary left me, and I'll never fall in love again. I'll always be alone. b. My ex-spouse is an evil monster, and our entire marriage was a sham.

a. magnification b. all-or-nothing

What are the four major categories of psychiatric drugs?

antianxiety, antipsychotic, mood stabilizer, antidepressant

In electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), ______. a. current is never applied to the left hemisphere b. convulsions activate the central and peripheral nervous systems, stimulate hormone and neurotransmitter release, and change the blood-brain barrier c. convulsions are extremely painful long lasting d. most patient today receive hundreds of treatments because it is safer than in the past

b. convulsions activate the central and peripheral nervous systems, stimulate hormone and neurotransmitter release, and change the blood-brain barrier

The effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs is thought to result primarily from blockage of ____ receptors. a. serotonin b. dopamine c. epinephrine d. all of these options

b. dopamine

A group of techniques used to change maladaptive behaviors is known as ____.

behavior therapy

electroconvulsive therapy

biomedical therapy based on passing electrical current through the brain; used almost exclusively to treat serious depression when drug therapy fails

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

biomedical treatment involving repeated pulses of magnetic energy being passed through the brain

A Japanese therapy designed to help clients discover personal guilt for having been ungrateful and troublesome to others and to develop gratitude toward those who have helped them is known as ____. a. Kyoto therapy b. Okado therapy c. Naikan therapy d. Nissan therapy

c. Naikan therapy

In behavior therapy, ____ techniques use shaping and reinforcement to increase adaptive behaviors. a. classical conditioning b. modeling c. operant conditioning d. social learning

c. operant conditioning

The system of psychotherapy developed by Freud that seeks to bring unconscious conflicts into conscious awareness is known as _____. a. transference b. cognitive restructuring c. psychoanalysis d. the "hot seat" technique

c. psychoanalysis

ECT is used primarily to treat ____. a. phobias b. conduct disorders c. severe depression d. schizophrenia

c. schizophrenia

The figure o the right illustrates the process by which the therapist and client work to change destructive ways of thinking called _____. (one picture has negative thoughts and the other has positive thoughts)

cognitive restructuring

cognitive-behavior therapy

combines cognitive therapy (changing fault thinking) with behavior therapy (changing faulty behaviors)

eclectic approach

combining techniques from various theories to find the most appropriate treatment

The dramatic reduction in the number of hospitalized patients today compared to past decades is primarily attributable to ____. a. biomedical therapy b. psychoanalysis c. psychosurgery d. drug therapy

d. drug therapy

____ treats the family as a unit, and members work together to solve problems. a. aversion therapy b. an encounter group c. a self-help group d. family therapy

d. family therapy

What are the five most common goals (to attempt to change) of therapy?

disturbed thoughts, disturbed emotions, disturbed behaviors, interpersonal and life situation difficulties, biomedical disturbances

List the four major Rogerian therapy techniques.

empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and active listening

Cognitive therapists assume that problem behaviors and emotions are caused by ____.

faulty thought processes and beliefs

systematic desentization

gradual process of extinguishing a learned fear (or phobia) by working through a hierarchy of fear-evoking stimuli while staying deeply relaxed

behavior therapy

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

In ____, multiple people meet together to work toward therapeutic goals.

group therapy

empathy

in Rogerian terms, an insightful awareness and ability to share another's inner experience

genuineness

in Rogerian terms, authenticity or congruence; the awareness of one's true inner thoughts and feelings and being able to share them honestly with others

dream analysis

in psychoanalysis, interpreting the underlying true meaning of dreams to reveal unconscious processes

free assocation

in psychoanalysis, reporting whatever comes to mind without monitoring its contents

transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient may displace (or transfer) unconscious feelings about a significant person in his or her life onto the thereapist

resistance

in psychoanalysis, the person's inability or unwillingness to discuss or reveal certain memories, thoughts, motives, or experiences

self-talk

internal dialogue; the things people say to themselves when they interpret events

self-help group

leaderless or nonprofessionally guided groups in which members assist each other with a specific problem, as in Alcoholics Anonymous

What are the four major advantages of group therapy?

less expense, group support, insight and information, behavior rehearsal

active listening

listening with total attention to what another is saying; involves reflecting, paraphrasing, and clarifying what the person says and means

antipsychotic drugs

medications used to diminish or eliminate hallucinations, delusions, withdrawal, and other symptoms of psychosis; also known as neuroleptics or major tranquilizers

antianxiety drugs

medications used to produce relaxation, reduce anxiety, and decrease overarousal in the brain

antidepressant drugs

medications used to treat depression, some anxiety disorders, and certain eating disorders (such as bulimia)

mood-stabilizer drugs

medications used to treat the combination of manic episodes and depression characteristic of bipolar disorders

tardive duskinesia

movement disorder involving facial muscles, tongues, and limbs; a possible side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic medications

lobotomy

outmoded medical procedure for mental disorders, which involved cutting nerve pathways between the frontal lobes and the thalamus and hypothalamus

aversion therapy

pairing an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus with a maladaptive behavior

cognitive restructuring

process in cognitive therapy to change destructive thoughts or inappropriate interpretations

Match the following therapists with their primary emphasis: 1. psychoanalysts, 2. humanistic therapists, 3. biomedical therapists, 4. cognitive therapists, 5. behavior therapists a. faulty thinking and belief patterns b. unconscious thoughts c. biological disorders d. negative emotions e. maladaptive behaviors

psychoanalysts - unconscious thoughts humanistic therapists - negative emotions biomedical therapists - biological disorders cognitive therapists - faulty thinking and belief patterns behavior therapists - maladaptive behaviors

psychotherapy

techniques employed to improve psychological functioning and promote adjustment to life

psychopharmacology

the study of drug effects on brain and behavior

humanistic therapy

therapy that focuses on removing obstacles that block personal growth and potential

cognitive therapy

therapy that treats problem behaviors and mental processes by focusing on faulty thought processes and beliefs

biomedial therapy

using biological interventions (drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery) to treat psychological disorders

insight therapies

variety of therapies seeking to improve psychological functioning by increasing awareness into underlying motives and improvement in thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors

modeling therapy

watching and imitating models that demonstrate desirable behaviors