Psychology Chapter 15

Some maladaptive behaviors are learned. What hope does this fact provide?

If a behavior can be learned, it can unlearned and replaced by other more adaptive responses

insight therapies

a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses

unconditional positive regard

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

A therapist who restates and clarifies the client's statements is practicing the technique of _______________________ _____________________

active listening

antipsychotic drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder (Thorazine)

psychosurgery

surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior (lobotomy)

The technique of ____________- ___________________ teaches people to relax in the presence of progressively more anxiety-provoking stimuli.

systematic desensitization

In psychoanalysis, when patients experience strong feelings for their therapist, this is called ________________ . Patients are said to demonstrate anxiety when they put up mental blocks around sensitive memories, indicating ______________ . The therapist will attempt to provide insight into the underlying anxiety by offering a(n) ____________ of the mental blocks.

transference/resistance/interpretation

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

A simple salt that often brings relief to patients suffering the highs and lows of bipolar disorder is

Lithium

Reflect feelings

"It sounds frustrating" might mirror what you're sensing from the person's body language and intensity.

Invite clarification

"What might be an example of that?" may encourage the person to say more.

exposure therapy

An approach to treatment that involves confronting an emotion-arousing stimulus directly and repeatedly, ultimately leading to a decrease in the emotional response

How does the basic assumption of behavior therapy differ from the assumptions of psychodynamic and humanistic therapies? What techniques are used in exposure therapies and aversive conditioning?

Behavior therapies are not insight therapies, and instead assume that problem behaviors are the problem. Their goal is to apply learning principles to modify these problem behaviors. Classical conditioning techniques, including exposure therapies and aversive conditioning, attempt to change behaviors through counter conditioning, evoking new responses to old stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors.

After a near-fatal car accident, Rico developed such an intense fear of driving on the freeway that he takes lengthy alternative routes to work each day. Which psychological therapy might best help Rico overcome his phobia, and why?

Behavior therapies are often the best choice for treating phobias. Viewing Rico's fear of the freeway as a learned response, a behavior therapist might help Rico learn to place his anxious response to freeway driving with a relaxation response.

What are the basic themes of humanistic therapy? What are the specific goals and techniques of Rogers' client-centered approach?

Both psychodynamic and humanistic therapies are insight therapies, they attempt to improve functioning by increasing clients' awareness of motives and defenses. Humanistic therapy's goals include helping clients grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance; promoting personal growth rather than curing conscious thoughts rather that unconscious motivations; and seeing the present and future as more important than the past. Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy proposed that therapists' most important contributions are to function as a psychological mirror through active listening and to provide a growth-fostering environment of unconditional postive regard.

What does the evidence suggest about the effectiveness of EMDR and light therapy?

EMDR has shown some effectiveness with trauma survivors and people with major depressive disorder. Skeptics acknowledge that EMDR works better than doing nothing, though they believe exposure therapy and the placebo effect, and not eye movements, are responsible for the treatment's successes. Light exposure therapy, while still somewhat controversial, has been shown to benefit those with a seasonal pattern in depression symptoms, as well as those with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

active learning

Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client-centered therapy.

What are some examples of lifestyle changes people can make to enhance their mental health?

Exercise regularly, get enough sleep, get more exposure to light, nurture important relationships, redirect negative thinking, and eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

What is the main premise of therapy based on operant conditioning principles, and what are the views of its proponents and critics?

Operant conditioning operates under the premise that voluntary behaviors are strongly influenced by their consequences. Therapy based on operant conditioning principles therefore uses behavior modification techniques to change unwanted behaviors by positively reinforcing desired behaviors and ignoring or punishing undesirable behaviors. Critics maintain that 1.) techniques such as those used in token economies may produce behaviors changes that disappear when rewards end and deciding which behaviors should change is authoritarian and unethical. Proponents argue that treatment with positive rewards is more humane than punishing people or institutionalizing them for undesired behaviors.

What is the difference between preventive mental health and the psychological and biomedical therapies?

Psychological and biomedical therapies attempt to relieve people's suffering from psycholgical disorders. Preventive mental health attempts to prevent suffering by identifying and eliminating the conditions that cause disorders, as well as by building resilience.

How do researchers determine if particular drug therapies are effective?

Researchers assign people to treatment and no-treatment conditions to see if those who receive the drug therapy imporove more than those who don't. Double-blind controlled studies are most effective. If neither the therapist nor the client knows which participants have received the drug treatment, then any difference between the treated and untreated groups will reflect the drug treatment's actual effect.

At a treatment center, people who display a desired behavior receive coins that they can later exchange for other rewards. This is an example of a(n) __________ ________________

TOken economy

What are the insight therapies, and how do they differ from behavior therapies?

The insight therapies-psychodynamic and humanistic therapies-seek to relieve problems by providing an understanding of their origins. Behavior therapies assume the problem behavior is the problem and treat it directly, paying less attention to its origins.

How might the placebo effect bias clients' and clinicians' appraisals of the effectiveness of psychotherapies?

The placebo effect is the healing power of belief in a treatment. Patients and therapists who expect a treatment to be effective may believe it was.

How does the placebo effect bias patients' attitudes about the effectiveness of various therapies?

The placebo effect is the healing power of belief in a treatment. When patients expect a treatment to be effective, they may believe it was.

How do culture and values influence the therapist-client relationship?

Therapists differ int he values that influence their goals in therapy and their views of progress. These differences may create problems if therapists and clients differ in their cultural or religious perspectives.

What is cognitive-behavioral therapy, and what sorts of problems does this therapy best address?

This integrative therapy helps people change self-defeating thinking and behavior. It has been shown to be effective for those with anxiety disorders, OCD, depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, and eat disorders

What are the goals and techniques of psychoanalysis, and how have they been adapted in psychodynamic therapy?

Through psychoanalysis, Freud tried to give people self-insight and relief from their disorders, by bringing anxiety-laden feelings and thoughts into conscious awareness psychoanalytic techniques included using free association and interpretation of instances of resistance and transference. Psychodynamic therapy has been influenced by traditional psychoanalysis but differes from it in many ways, including the lack of belief in ID, ego, and superego. This contemporary therapy is briefer, less expensive, and more focused on helping the client find relief from current symptoms. Psychodynamic therapists help clients understand how past relationships create themes that may be acted out in present relationships.

counterconditioning

a behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

client-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy.)

cognitive behavioral therapy

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

meta-analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

aversive conditioning

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

virtual reality exposure therapy

an anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

token economy

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats

Drugs such as Xanax and Ativan, which depress central nervous system activity, can become addictive when used as ongoing treatment. These drugs are referred to as ___________ drugs.

antianxiety

psychotherepy

any treatment used by therapists to help troubled individuals overcome their problems

Therapy is most likely to be helpful for those with problems that (are/are not) well-defined

are

How do the humanistic and cognitive therapies differ?

by reflecting clients' feelings in a nondirective setting, the humanistic therapies attempt to foster personal growth by helping clients become more self-aware and self-accepting. By making clients aware of self-defeating patterns of thinking, cognitive therapies guide people toward more adaptive ways of thinking about themselves and their world.

Exposure therapies and aversive conditioning are applications of ___________conditioning. Token economies are an application of ____________ conditioning.

classical/operant

evidence-based practice

clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences

___________- _____________ therapy helps people to change their self-defeating ways of thinking and to act out those changes in their daily behavior.

cognitive behavioral

A critical attribute of the _______________ ______________________ developed by Aaron Beck focuses on the belief that changing people's thinking can change their functioning.

cognitive therapy

Behavior therapies often use __________________ techniques, such as systematic desensitization and aversive conditioning to encourage clients to produce new responses to old stimuli.

counterconditioning

Cognitive therapy has been especially effective in treating ______________

depression

antianxiety drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation (Xanax or Ativan)

antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety. Different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters

In family therapy, the therapist assumes that

each person's actions trigger reactions from other family members

Severe depression that has not responded to other therapy may be treated with ___________ _______________ , which can cause brain seizures and memory loss. More moderate neural stimulation techniques designed to help alleviate depression include ______________ direct current stimulation, ___________ ____________ magnetic stimulation, and _______________ stimulation.

electroconvulsive therapy/transcranial/ repetitive trans-cranial/ deep brain

The goal of behavior therapy is to ______________

eliminate the unwanted behavior

interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight

Resistance

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material

transferring

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

___________ therapies are designed to help individuals discover the thoughts and feelings that guide their motivation and behavior.

insight

eclectic

made up of a variety of sources or styles

Those who undergo psychotherapy are (more/less) likely to show improvement than those who do not undergo psychotherapy.

more

Studies show that __________________ therapy is the most effective treatment for most psychological disorders.

no one type of

biomedical therapy

prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system

An approach that seeks to identify and alleviate conditions that put people at high risk for developing psychological disorders is called

preventive mental health

A therapist who helps patients search for the unconscious roots of their problem and offers interpretations of their behaviors, feelings, and dreams is drawing from

psychoanalysis

How do psychotherapy and the biomedical therapies differ?

psychotherapy is treatment involving psychological techniques that consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological diffculties or achieve personal growth. The major psychothereapies derive from psychology's psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives. Biomedical therapy treats psychological disorders with medications or procedures that act directly on a patient's physiology. An eclectic approach combines techniques from various forms of therapy.

The most enthusiastic or optimistic view of the effectiveness of psychotherapy comes from:

reports of clinicians and clients.

What are the three components of evidence-based practice?

research evidence, clinical expertise, and knowledge of the patient

SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)

selectively inhibits serotonin reuptake from synaptic gap and results in potentiation of serotonergic neurotransmissions. Examples: Luvox, Paxilo, Prozac, Zoloft

Compared with psychoanalysts, humanistic therapists are more likely to emphasize

self-fulfillment and growth

When drug therapies have not been effective, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be used as treatment, largely for people with ________

severe depression

Some antipsychotic drugs, used to calm people with schizophrenia, can have unpleasant side effects, most notably

sluggishness, tremors, and twitches.

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity.

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

behavior therapists

therapist who focuses on specific problem behaviors and current variables that maintain problematic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

group therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, permitting therapeutic benefits from group interaction

psychodynamic therapists

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight

cognitive therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

family therapy

therapy that treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

paraphrase

to restate in other words

What might a psychodynamic therapist say about Mowrer's therapy for bed-wetting? How might a behavior therapist defend it?

A psychodynamic therapist might be more interested in helping the child develop insight about the underlying problems that have caused the bed-wetting response. A behavior therapist would be more likely to agree with Mowrer that the bed-wetting symptom is the problem, and that counter conditioning the unwanted behavior would indeed bring emotional relief.

systematic desensitization

A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.