PSYCHOTHERAPY:Global Therapies, Individual therapy, Brief Historical Perspective

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Abnormal Psychology PSY404

LESSON 20

PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy refers to special and systematic process for helping people to overcome their psychological

difficulties.

Example: Some psychological difficulties include anxiety, fear and phobia. All forms of Psychotherapy

have three things in common:

1- Sufferer who seeks help whom we call patient or client

2- A healer who is the therapist and

3- A series of contacts between the client and therapist (number of sessions between the client and

the therapist)

A system of therapy is a set of principles and techniques employed in accordance with a particular theory of

change. As many as 400 distinct forms of therapy are being practiced today. Two broad categories are

1. Global Therapies

Global therapies help people recognize and change general features of their personalities that the therapist

believe are the root cause of their problem. They are

Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic

Humanistic

Existential

Client centered therapy

Gestalt

2. Problem Focused Therapies

Problem focused therapies focus on the symptoms and specific complaints of the person. They include

Behavioral therapies

Cognitive therapies

Biological therapies

Therapy format is

· Individual therapy

· group therapy

· family therapy

· Couple therapy

Individual therapy is in which the therapist sees the alone for some period of time usually weekly.

Group therapy is in which the therapist sees the group of clients such as psychodrama and self help

groups.

Family therapy is a format in which the therapists meet with all members of family and point out

problematic behavior and interactions and work on whole family to change.

In couple therapy the therapist works with two people who share a long term relationship.

Abnormal Psychology PSY404

Whether the psychotherapy is beneficial or not

The critical question to be asked is about all these psychotherapies treatments is whether or not they

actually help people to cope with and overcome their psychological problems.

What do you say?

What do you think?

Four general conclusions have been reached

1- People in therapy are better off than people with similar problems who receive no treatment.

2- Various therapies do appear to differ in their effectiveness.

3- Certain therapies appear to be effective than others for certain disorders

4- A combination of therapy approaches is more effective than a single approach in treatment of

certain disorders.

Important Concerns of Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological techniques and the therapistclient relationship to

produce emotional, cognitive, and behavioral change.

Today, the largest group of mental health professionals describe themselves as eclectic, meaning

they use different treatments for different disorders.

Psychotherapy outcome research examines whether and when treatments are effective, while

psychotherapy process research searches for the "active ingredients" in psychotherapy, that is, the

therapeutic activities that promote positive change.

Research shows that therapy is more effective when therapists appropriately reveal a bit about their

own, similar struggles.

Unfortunately, some therapists do not offer or even educate their clients about more and less

effective treatments, and there is an even bigger problem: Most people who need it do not get any

psychological help.

Eighty-seven percent of people with a diagnosable mental disorder have not received treatment in

the past year, including many people with common, severe, and treatable disturbances.

Therapists working within the biological, psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and humanistic

paradigms would approach treatment and evaluate a mentally ill person in very different ways.

Abnormal Psychology PSY404

Brief Historical Perspective

We can trace the roots of the treatment of psychological disorders to two broad traditions of

healing: the spiritual/religious tradition and the naturalistic/scientific tradition.

The spiritual/religious tradition is an ancient one that attributes both physical and mental ailments

to supernatural forces.

We see in our culture that people go to saints, faqirs and peers for dam and dua.

One of the earliest examples of this tradition is the practice of trephining--chipping a hole through

the unfortunate sufferer's skull with a crude stone tool--presumably, to allow evil spirits to escape.

The influence of spiritual beliefs and rituals should not be ignored since believing is a powerful part

of healing.

Naturalistic/scientific approaches to helping the mentally disturbed also have ancient roots.

Hippocrates recommended treatments such as rest, exercise, and a healthy diet.

In the 1600s, "insane asylums" were developed as a new treatment for the mentally ill.

One rationale for these institutions was to remove disturbed individuals from society; another was

the hope that rest and isolation would alleviate their bizarre behavior.

General paresis is an example not only of the hope of the biological approach to etiology and

treatment but also of the medical model of research.

First, a diagnosis is developed and refined.

Second, clues about causes are put together like pieces of a puzzle to form a picture of the specific

etiology of the disease.

Third, scientists experiment with various treatments for preventing or curing the disorder until they

find an effective treatment.

Most mental disorders appear to be caused by many factors.

Because of this, scientists often search for biological treatments without knowing a disorder's

specific cause.

These treatments focus on symptom alleviation, reducing the dysfunctional symptoms of a disorder

but not eliminating its root cause.

1-Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) involves deliberately inducing a seizure by passing electricity

through the brain.

Approximately 100 volts of electric current is passed through a patient's brain in bilateral ECT,

where electrodes are placed on the left and right temples, and the current passes through both brain

hemispheres.

In unilateral ECT, the electric current is passed through only one side of the brain, the non-

dominant hemisphere.

ECT can be effective in treating severe depressions that do not respond to other treatments,

especially for a patient at high risk for suicide.

2-Psychosurgery

Psychosurgery is a controversial biological treatment, as it involves the surgical destruction of

specific regions of the brain.

Prefrontal lobotomy is a procedure in which the frontal lobes of the brain are surgically and

irrevocably severed.

The procedure has limited effectiveness and causes frequent and severe side effects, including a

significant mortality rate, excessive tranquility, and the absence of emotional responsiveness.

Although prefrontal lobotomies are no longer performed, some forms of highly circumscribed

psychosurgery are used today to treat severe disorders.

Abnormal Psychology PSY404

3-Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology--the study of the use of medications to treat psychological disturbances--

has been the most promising avenue of biological treatment.

In recent years, scientists have developed new medications that have increasingly specific effects on

emotional states and mental disorders.

There is a variety of psychotropic medications, chemical substances that affect psychological state.

The success of psychopharmacology is evident in the expanding development and use of

psychotropic medications.

Evidence indicates that medication often is an effective and safe treatment for many mental

disorders.

Although psychotropic medications do not cure underlying causes, symptom alleviation is

extremely important.

All medications have side effects, some of which are very unpleasant.

Partly as a result of unpleasant side effects, many patients do not take their medication as

prescribed, and they may experience a relapse as a result.

Many psychotropic drugs must be taken for long periods of time.

Despite the effectiveness of many psychotropic medications, we share some concerns that we

sometimes look to medication to solve problems that may have psychological or social roots.

4- Hypnosis

· An early influence on the psychodynamic approach to therapy was Joseph Breuer, who used

hypnosis to induce troubled patients to talk freely about problems in their lives.

· Upon awakening from a hypnotic trance, many patients reported relief from their symptoms.

· Breuer attributed their improvement to catharsis, the release of previously unexpressed feelings,

pent up emotion that Breuer assumed was responsible for his patients' psychological problems. (

covered in lecture 21)

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