Invitation to Psychology

COn

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ept Map

Chap

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er 12

a

pproaches to treatment and therapy

444 Chapter 12 Approaches to Treatment and Therapy

Biological Treatments

Medications for Mental Disorder

Drugs commonly prescribed for mental disorders include:

• antipsychotics, used in treating schizophrenia and other
  psychotic disorders.


• antidepressants, used in treating depression, chronic
  anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.


• antianxiety drugs (tranquilizers), often prescribed for
  acute cases of anxiety.


• lithium carbonate, a salt used to treat bipolar disorder.

Psychodynamic

Therapy

Psychodynamic therapies,

including Freudian

psychoanalysis and its

modern variations,

explore the unconscious

through techniques

such as transference.

Behavior and Cognitive

Therapy

Behavior therapy applies principles

of classical and operant conditioning

to help change problematic behaviors.

It uses such methods as:

• graduated exposure and flooding.


• systematic desensitization.


• behavioral self-monitoring.


• skills training.

Cognitive therapy identifies ways

of thinking that generate negative

emotions and self-defeating thoughts;

often combined with behavioral

methods in cognitive-behavior therapy

(CBT).

• Aaron Beck was a pioneer in using
  cognitive therapy for depression.


• Another leading cognitive approach
  is Albert Ellis’s rational emotive
  behavior therapy.


• Many CBT practitioners now
  emphasize mindfulness and
  acceptance of unwanted,
  unpleasant feelings rather than
  trying to eliminate them.

Humanist and Existential

Therapy

Humanist therapy is based

on the philosophy of human-

ism, which stresses the client’s

free will to change rather than

past conflicts.

• Carl Rogers’s client-
  centered therapy empha-
  sizes the therapist’s role in
  providing empathy and
  unconditional positive regard
  for the client.


• Existential therapy helps
  people cope with
  philosophical issues such as
  the meaning of life and
  acceptance of death.

Family and Couples

Therapies

• Family therapy is based on a
  family-systems perspec-
  tive, understanding that
  one person’s behavior
  affects the whole family.


• Couples therapy is designed
  to help couples understand
  and resolve the inevitable
  conflicts that occur in
  relationships.

Cautions About Drug Treatments

Drawbacks of drug treatment include:

• the placebo effect.


• high dropout and relapse rates.


• disregard for effective nonmedical treatments.


• unknown risks over time and drug interactions.


• untested off-label uses.

Direct Brain Intervention

• In psychosurgery, neurosurgeons intervene directly
  in the brain.


• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which a brief
  current is sent through the brain, has been used
  successfully to treat suicidal depression, but its
  effects are short-lived and the depression almost
  always returns. ECT is ineffective for other
  disorders.


• Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and
  transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are
  two newer methods of stimulating the brain to
  treat depression, but long-term efficacy is still
  unknown.

Major Schools of Psychotherapy