Psych Test 3

How does cognitive behavior therapy combine the behavioral/cognitive approaches?

A widely practiced integrative therapy. aims not only to alter the way people think but also how they act. Seeks to make people aware of irrational negative thinking, to replace with new ways of thinking, and to practice this in a daily setting. Behavior change is usually first, followed by cognitive, and finished with focus on maintaining.

What are the lifestyle changes that have been found to be effective in alleviating depression?

Aerobic exercise, adequate sleep, light exposure, social connections, anti-rumination, nutrition supplements

What is the goal of behavior therapy? How does this differ from goals of insight therapy?

Behavior therapy applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. They doubt the power of self-awareness, assume behavior is the problem, and applying those principles can eliminate it. View bad symptoms as learned behaviors that can be replace with good ones, rather than deeply delving into inner causes.

What is Roger's client-centered therapy? What qualities should a Humanistic therapist have and why? What is Active-Listening?

Client-Centered Therapy is humanistic, where the therapist uses techniques like active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate the clients growth (also called person centered therapy)-focuses on persons conscious self-perceptions/ It is a non-directive therapy they listen without judging, interpreting, and refrain from directing to certain insights. Therapist should be genuine, accepting, empathetic, when they express true feelings, they enable clients to feel unconditionally accepting, allowing them to deepen self-understanding/acceptance. Active Listening is echoing, restating, and seeking clarification of what people express, and awknowledging the expressed feelings (empathetic listening)

Why are opinions of clients/clinicians unreliable sources of evidence for helpfulness of therapy? What is the role of the placebo effect and regression to the mean?

Clients often enter therapy in crisis, may need to believe therapy was worth the effort, generally speak kindly of therapists. People justify entering psychotherapy by emphasizing unhappiness/leaving by emphasizing well-being. The placebo effect: power of belief in a treatment, if you think it will work, more likely too Regression to the mean: tendency for unusual events/feelings to "regress" back to average state.

What approach is taken in Cognitive Therapies? How does Beck's work? What is stress-innoculation?

Cognitive Therapy teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking, based on assumption that thoughts intervene between events and emotional reactions. Try to teach people more constructive ways of thinking. Beck analyzed depressed people's dreams and through cognitive therapy sought to reverse through gentle questioning to reveal their irrational thoughts and persuade people to remove them. Stress Innoculation therapy came from Meichenbaum, and teaches people to restructure thinking in stressful situations

What is ECT? What is it used for and why?

ECT is a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through brain of anesthetized patient. Used on people who haven't responded to drug therapy with sever depression, been called the most positive treatment in all medicine.

What is group therapy? Its advantages? Family therapy's use? How does group therapy vary from a support group?

Group therapy is therapy conducted in a group rather than individually, permitting benefits from group interaction. Advantages are: save therapist's time and client's money/ social lab for exploring social behavior and dev. social skills/enables people to see others' share their problems/provides feedback as clients try out new ways of behaving. Support groups focus on stigmatized or hard to discuss illnesses. Family therapy treats family as a system. It views people's unwanted behaviors as influenced/directed at other members, work to heal relationships and mobilize family resources, discover role in family social system. Emphasis on changing relationship/interactions not individual.

What are 3 benefits all forms of psychotherapy have? Why are they effective?

Hope for demoralized people, A new perspective, A empathetic, trusting, caring relationship/ They are effective because they establish a bond of trust with client, allowing them to be more open

What are the goals of Humanistic Therapy? How are they similar/different from Psychoanalysis goals?

Humanistic therapy aims to boost self-fulfillment by helping people grow in their self-awareness/acceptance. They differ by their goals/promoting growth, not curing the illness/path to growth is taking immediate responsibility for feelings and actions, rather than uncovering hidden detriments/conscious thoughts are more important than unconscious/present and future are more important than past, explore feelings as they occur rather than a childhood origin/call patient client not patient

What are the characteristics of insight therapy? What major forms of therapy fall into this category?

Insight Therapies are a variety of therapies aimed to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defense. Humanistic and psycho-dynamic therapies are often referred to as Insight Therapies.

What is Light Exposure Therapy and how effective is it?

It is exposing people to daily, intense, light. It helped to relieve some SAD symptoms. It stimulates brain.

How are operant conditioning techniques used in behavior modification? What is a token economy, and its therapy use?

Operant conditioning is voluntary behaviors are strongly influenced by consequences, knowing this behavior modification can reinforce good/bad. A token economy is a operant conditioning procedure where people earn a token for good behavior, and can later exchange for various privileges.

What is the goal of psycho-dynamic therapy? How is it related to psychoanalysis? What is interpersonal psychotherapy?

Psycho-dynamic therapy is derived from psychoanalytic tradition of viewing people as responding to unconscious forces/childhood experiences, that seeks to enhance their self-insight. Tries to help people understand current symptoms, focus on themes across important relationships. Meets face to face with therapist 1-2 times a week for a few weeks/months. Explores defended against thoughts and feelings. Interpersonal psychotherapy is a brief 12-16 session variation of psycho-dynamic therapy, has effectively treated Depression, aims to help gain insight into the root of difficulties, main goal is symptom relief in the present, concentrates on current relationships, and improving relationship skills.

What is the major goal of psychoanalysis? What are these techniques and how are they used in it?

Psychoanalysis is Freud's therapy technique, believed the patients free associations, resistance, dreams, transferences, and therapists interpretation of them, release a previously repressed feeling, allowing the patient to gain self insight, it reduced growth of impeding conflicts. Resistance: The blocking from conciousness of anxiety-laden material Interpretation: Analysts noting supposed dreams meanings, resistance, and other important behaviors/events in order to promote insight, if offered at the right moment may illuminate underlying wishes your avoiding Transference: Patients transfer to the analysts their emotions liked with other relationships. Relationship patterns surface in your interactions with the therapist

Overall how effective has research found psychotherapy to be? What therapies work with which disorders the best? What is evidence-based practice?

Those not undergoing therapy often improve, but those in therapy are more likely to improve quickly and with less risk of a relapse. Behavioral conditioning worth with specific behavior problems (phobias, compulsions, marital problems, sex disorders, bed wetting) Psycho-dynamic works well with depression and anxiety. Cognitive/Cognitive-behavioral work with coping with anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Evidence-Based practice are clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient charecteristics/preferances. Be mindful of unique situations

How is classical conditioning used in behavior therapy? Particularly what techniques are used and why?

We learn behaviors/emotions through classical conditioning so if we learn bad ones, counter conditioning can rid us of them. Exposure: expose people to what they normally avoid and teach them slowly to overcome fear. Face you fear. Systematic Desensitization: associates a pleasent, relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety triggering stimuli. (common with phobias) Virtual Reality: progressively exposes people to electronic simulations of greatest fears. Aversive: associates an un-pleasent state with the unwanted behavior, reverse of systematic, it seeks to get rid of the behavior rather than to encourage it