❮ 243
chapter
17
Treatment of
Abnormal Behavior
In thIs chapter
Summary: If a close friend or family member were experiencing severe
anxiety that interfered with his or her everyday life, what credentials would
you want a therapist for him or her to have?
This chapter focuses on mental health practitioners, their theoretical
approaches, and how they deliver their services.Key Ideas
✪ Mental health practitioners
✪ Brief history of therapy
✪ Insight therapies—psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, humanistic
✪ Behavioral approaches
✪ Cognitive-behavioral approaches
✪ Biological treatments
✪ Modes of therapy
✪ Community and preventive approachesMental health practitioners
• A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (MD) and the only mental health professional who
can prescribe medication (in most regions) or perform surgery. Psychiatrists gener-
ally take a biological approach to treating major disorders such as schizophrenia and
depressive disorder. Their medical training includes an approved residency in a psychi-
atric section of a hospital. Psychiatrists are not required to take courses dealing with
insight, psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, or humanistic therapeutic approaches.KEY IDEA