Psychology2016

Psychological Therapies 625

Action Therapies: Behavior Therapies and
Cognitive Therapies

15. 4 Explain how behavior therapists use classical and
    operant conditioning to treat disordered behavior.

• Behavior therapies are action therapies that do not look at
  thought processes but instead focus on changing the abnor-
  mal or disordered behavior itself through classical or operant
  conditioning.


• Classical conditioning techniques for changing behavior include
  systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, and various exposure
  therapies.


• Therapies based on operant conditioning include modeling,
  reinforcement and the use of token economies, extinction, and
  behavioral activation.


• Behavior therapies can be effective in treating specific problems,
  such as bed wetting, drug addictions, and phobias, and can help
  improve some of the more troubling behavioral symptoms asso-
  ciated with more severe disorders.

15. 5 Summarize the goals and basic elements of
    cognitive and cognitive-behavioral therapies.

• Cognitive therapy is oriented toward teaching clients how their
  thinking may be distorted and helping clients see how inaccu-
  rate some of their beliefs may be.


• Some of the cognitive distortions in thinking include arbitrary
  inference, selective thinking, overgeneralization, magnification
  and minimization, and personalization.


• Cognitive-behavioral therapies are action therapies that work at
  changing a person’s illogical or distorted thinking.


• The three goals of cognitive-behavioral therapies are to relieve
  the symptoms and solve the problems, to develop strategies for
  solving future problems, and to help change irrational, distorted
  thinking.


• Rational emotive behavior therapy is a directive therapy in
  which the therapist challenges clients’ irrational beliefs, often
  arguing with clients and even assigning them homework.


• Although CBT has seemed successful in treating depression,
  stress disorders, and anxiety, it is criticized for focusing on the
  symptoms and not the causes of disordered behavior.

Group Therapies: Not Just for the Shy

15. 6 Compare and contrast different forms of group
    therapy.

• Group therapy can be accomplished using many styles of psy-
  chotherapy and may involve treating people who are all part of
  the same family, as in family counseling.


• Group therapy can also be accomplished without the aid of a
  trained therapist in the form of self-help or support groups com-
  posed of other people who have the same or similar problems.


• Group therapy is most useful to persons who cannot afford indi-
  vidual therapy and who may obtain a great deal of social and
  emotional support from other group members.
  15. 7 Identify the advantages and disadvantages
  of group therapy.
  
  
  • Group therapy has the advantages of low cost, exposure to other
    people with similar problems, social interaction with others, and
    social and emotional support from people with similar disorders
    or problems. It has also been demonstrated to be very effective
    for people with social anxiety.
  
  
  • Disadvantages of group therapy can include the need to share
    the therapist’s time with others in the group, the lack of a pri-
    vate setting in which to reveal concerns, and the inability of peo-
    ple with severe disorders to tolerate being in a group.
  
  
  
  

Does Psychotherapy Really Work?

15. 8 Summarize the research on the effectiveness of
    psychotherapy.

• Eysenck’s early survey of client improvement seemed to sug-
  gest that clients would improve as time passed, with or without
  therapy.


• Surveys of people who have received therapy suggest that psy-
  chotherapy is more effective than no treatment at all.


• Surveys reveal that 75 to 90 percent of people who receive ther-
  apy report improvement, the longer a person stays in therapy
  the better the improvement, and psychotherapy works as well
  alone as with drugs.


• Some types of psychotherapy are more effective for certain types
  of problems, and no one psychotherapy method is effective for
  all problems.


• Effective therapy should be matched to the particular client and
  the particular problem, there should exist a therapeutic alliance
  between therapist and client, and a protected setting in which
  clients can release emotions and reveal private thoughts is
  essential.


• When the culture, ethnic group, or gender of the therapist and
  the client differs, misunderstandings and misinterpretations
  can occur due to differences in cultural/ethnic values, socioeco-
  nomic differences, gender roles, and beliefs.


• Barriers to effective psychotherapy exist when the backgrounds
  of client and therapist differ and include language, cultural val-
  ues, social class, and nonverbal communication.


• Cybertherapy is therapy that is offered on the Internet and offers
  options for people who cannot otherwise get to a therapist.

15. 9 Identify factors that influence the effectiveness of
    therapy.

• Most therapies benefit through the establishment of an effective,
  working, therapeutic alliance between the professional and the
  client.


• Treatment approaches that have the greatest research support
  are referred to as evidence based or empirically supported
  treatments.


• Neuroimaging is being used to potentially identify the mecha-
  nisms and outcomes of effective treatment.