Therapy
AP Psychology
Mr. Holland
Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis
Humanistic Therapies
Behavior Therapies
Cognitive Therapies
Group and Family Therapies
Eclectic Approach
Psychoanalysis
Few therapists practice psychoanalysis as Freud did
but many of his techniques survive
Aims – Freud assumes that people’s psychological
disorders are fueled by the residue of childhood’s
repressed impulses and conflicts. The aim of
therapy is to discover this repression. Once
discovered there will be less anxiety because the
energy wasted between id ego and superego has
been released.
Psychoanalysis
Methods – Psychoanalysis is basically historical
reconstruction. Freud used free association to
unlock the unconscious. Patients who pausing
before answering or joked about uncomfortable
thoughts were said to display resistance.
Resistance usually indicated the location of the
problem issue you are having and the psychoanalyst
would pursue those topics till they could give you
insight into them by interpretation. Freud is also
famous for his analysis of dreams, esp. the latent
content.
Psychoanalysis
Sometimes your repressed feelings of anger
or passion may be transferred to your
therapist. When this happens
psychoanalysts view it as another opportunity
to give you insight.
Psychoanalysis takes a long time, years
usually at several sessions a week which
makes it very expensive
Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic theory is a more modern
version which focuses on resolving current
issues by exploring someone’s childhood.
However, the sessions are less often and
only last a few months and more directly
address the patient.
Interpersonal psychotherapy tries to help
people by addressing their current issues
only not delving into their past as much.
Humanistic Therapies
Humanistic perspective emphasizes people’s
inherent potential for self-fulfillment.
Humanistic therapies aim to boost self-
fulfillment by helping people grow in self-
awareness and self-acceptance.
Psychotherapy vs. Humanistic
Humanistic focuses more on:
The present and future than the past
Conscious rather than unconscious thoughts
Taking immediate responsibility for actions and
feelings not uncovering hidden origins
Promoting growth instead of curing illness,
having clients not patients.
Client Centered Therapy
Famous Humanist Therapy developed by Carl
Rodgers
Focus is on the clients self perceptions not the
therapists interpretations of them. This is also called
nondirective therapy as the therapist is not leading
the client toward any particular insight.
Believing most people have the tools to improve
themselves Rodgers wanted therapists to simply
focus on and express genuineness, acceptance, and
empathy.
Client Centered Therapy
Therapists are experts in active listening
which involves paraphrasing and inviting
clarification of what people express, and
reflecting their feelings. Rodgers believes
that most people “just want to be heard” and
once they know they have communicated
with someone and someone understands
them they will be more open to change.
Behavior Therapies
Behavior therapies doubt that self awareness
leads to fixing psychological disorders and
their symptoms. For behaviorists the
symptoms of the disorders are themselves
the problems and if those behaviors can be
changed the person is “cured.”
Behavior Therapies
Therefore behavior therapy takes what we know
about learning principles such as classical
conditioning and applies them to eliminate
unwanted therapies, they do not try to deal with or
examine root causes.
Besides classical conditioning behaviorists also use
counterconditioning such as systematic
desensitization or averse conditioning.
Systematic Desensitization
Exposure Therapies – expose patients a little
bit to their phobias so over time they no
longer fear them.
Systematic desensitization – using
techniques like progressive relaxation
patients learn over time how to relax in the
presence of their phobias.
Averse Conditioning
In averse conditioning the therapist tries to
replace a positive response to a harmful
stimulus with a negative response. It’s the
opposite of systemic desensitization. For
example treating nail biting by placing a
nasty tasting nail polish on your nails.
Operant Conditioning
Offers rewards for wanted behavior and
punishments for unwanted behavior, usually
focuses on rewards.
Sometimes therapists create a token
economy or system of rewards for patients
to take part in.
Critiques of Behavior Modification
What happens when reinforcers or therapy
stops?
Is behavior modification authoritative and
ethical? Are token economies ethical?
Cognitive Therapies
Cognitive therapies assume that thinking colors
our feelings and actions. Cognitive
therapists aim to make people aware of their
thoughts and change how people think about
things to cure things like depression
Cognitive-behavior therapy – combining
cognitive and behavior therapy to change
both the thoughts and actions of the patient
Group and Family Therapies
Group therapies can be more cost effective and work
as well as individual therapies for many people.
People have the benefit of knowing they are not
alone in their issues.
Family therapy assumes that in order to help an
individual all people close to that individual should go
through some therapy. Therapists usually try to
open up communication and teach ways of resolving
conflicts.
Is Psychotherapy Effective?
Client’s and therapist’s perceptions are not always
the best indicator if therapy is working because they
work within biases
Researcher’s use meta-analysis, the combining of
information from many studies to determine how
effective therapy is.
Research show’s that while some people who do not
get treatment improve on their own over time, a
statistically significant group improve more often if
therapy is applied.
Is Psychotherapy Effective?
Studies by insurance companies show that
psychotherapy is cost effective because
treated patients will spend less time seeking
medical attention and less time missing work
and will be more effective workers. This is
why insurance companies will help pay for
therapy
Is Psychotherapy Effective?
Surprisingly however it has generally been
determined that no one therapy is overall more
effective than others, even when the training of the
psychologist is taken into account or whether its
group or individual therapy.
Some therapies are recommended for specific
issues though, like behavioral therapies have good
success curing phobias, compulsions, or sexual
disorders
Alternative Therapies
Most alternative therapies will be effective at
least within the range of the placebo effect.
However, controlled studies of most of these
therapies has not been conducted
Many successes of alternative therapies can
be attributed to other therapies or simply the
desire of the patient to want to get better
Commonalities Amongst
Psychotherapies
Meta-analysis shows the following traits are
common in all therapies.
Hope for demoralized people
A new perspective to help change life
An empathetic, Trusting, Caring, professional
relationship between client and therapist.
Biomedical Therapies
Drug Therapies (psychopharmacology)
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Psychosurgery
