emotionally charged experience from the past, may ultimately result in relief of anxiety.
Traditional psychoanalysis requires too much time and is too expensive for the vast major-
ity of people seeking help.
Psychodynamic and Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Psychoanalytic theory influences modern psychodynamic psychotherapy,which is typically shorter
in duration, less frequent, and involves the client sitting up and talking to the therapist. The
more active therapist is likely to point out and interpret relevant associations and help the client
uncover unresolved conflict more directly to gain insight into the problem and work through
feelings. Although psychodynamic therapists think that anxieties are rooted in past experiences,
they do not necessarily assume the problems arose in infancy and early childhood.
Even shorter interpersonal psychotherapyaims to enable people to gain insight into the
causes of their problems, but it focuses on current relations to relieve present symptoms.
Humanistic Therapies
Humanistic therapies include client-centered or person-centered therapies, and Gestalt
therapy. Humanists think that problems arise because the client’s inherent goodness and
potential to grow emotionally have been stifled by external psychosocial constraints. The
goal of client-centered therapy is to provide an atmosphere of acceptance (unconditional
positive regard), understanding (empathy), and sharing that permits the client’s inner
strength and qualities to surface so that personal growth can occur and problems can be
eliminated, ultimately resulting in self-actualization. According to humanist Carl Rogers,
the greater the difference between the ideal selfand the real self, the greater the problems
of the client. His emphasis on developing a more positive self-concept through uncondi-
tional positive regard,active listening, and showing both sensitivity and genuineness is
a central focus of nondirective, Rogerian psychotherapy. Nondirective therapy encourages
the client to take the lead in determining the direction of therapy. Rogers’s technique
ofactive listeninginvolves echoing, restating, and seeking clarification of what the client
says and does, and acknowledging feelings.
Influenced by Gestalt psychology, which emphasized that people organize their view
of the world to make meaning, psychoanalyst Fritz Perls said that people create their own
reality and continue to grow psychologically only as long as they perceive, stay aware of, and
act on their true feelings. He developed Gestalt therapy. The therapist’s goal is to push
clients to decide whether they will allow past conflicts to control their future or whether
they will choose right now to take control of their own destiny. In contrast to client-
centered therapy, Gestalt therapists are directive in questioning and challenge clients to help
them become aware of their feelings and problems, and to discard feelings and values that
are not their own. Similar to psychoanalysts, Gestalt therapists use dream interpretation to
help the client gain a better understanding of the whole self. Through role playing, the ther-
apist gets the client to express his or her true feelings. Like other humanistic therapies, the
emphasis is on present behavior, feelings, and thoughts to get the client aware of how these
factors interact to affect his or her whole being.
Insight therapies have been demonstrated to be effective for treating eating disorders,
depression, and marital discord.
Behavioral Approaches
B. F. Skinner and other behaviorists discount the insight therapies. To Skinner, abnormal
behavior is a result of maladaptive behavior learned through faulty rewards and punishment.
The goal of behavior therapyis to extinguish unwanted behavior and replace it with more
adaptive behavior. Therapies are based on the learning principles of classical conditioning,
operant conditioning, and observational or social learning theory.
Treatment of Abnormal Behavior 231