 | Term | Definition |
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Active listening |
empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies; a feature of Roger's client-centered therapy |
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Antidepressant Drugs |
biological treatment; typically used for depression but is often used for anxiety, OCD, GAD, panic disorder, social phobias, PTSD, and sometimes ADHD; 3 categories: tricyclics, MAO inhibitors, and SSRIs; SSRIs are more popular (Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor, Paxil) because they tend to have less side effects , SSRIs block the reuptake of serotonin in the nervous system; MAOIs and trycyclics both concentrate on serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain but have a number of side effects and limitations (food reactions), MAOIs and trycyclics are now used in serious cases and not so much after the invention of Prozac |
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Antipsychotic Drugs |
biological treatment option used to treat the severe psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia; effective for treating hallucinations; blocks dopamine receptors; Examples: thorazine, therazine, clozapine, |
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Aversive Conditioning |
behavioral technique; designed to eliminate undesirable behaviors; a type of counterconditioning; associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol); controversial technique |
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Behavior Contracting |
behavioral technique; therapist and client both agree on goals and reinforcement when goals are reached; written contract; reinforces new behaviors and ignores/punishes undesirable behaviors; often used with adolescents and children |
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Behavior Therapy |
Approach that is based on the belief that all behavior (normal and abnormal) is learned; therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors and to teach new, appropriate ways of behaving; includes systematic desensitization, flooding, modeling extinction, token economy, and behavior contracting; is often combined with Cognitive therapies and is known as CBT |
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Biological Treatments |
treatment that focuses on organic or biological aspects; includes medication, ECT, psychosurgery; best used in conjunction with other forms of therapy because when the biological treatment ceases, typically the symptoms return |
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Client-Centered Therapy (Person-Centered) |
a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers; therapist uses non-directive techniques such as active listening with a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients' growth; uses bits and pieces of neo-Freudian views; calls for unconditional positive regard; goal is to help client become a fully-functioning person |
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Cognitive Therapies |
therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions; designed to correct cognitive distortions or “stinking thinking”; includes stress-inoculation, RET (REBT), and Beck’s CT; often combined with Behavioral therapies and is known as CBT |
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Beck’s Cognitive Therapy |
cognitive technique; designed by Aaron Beck; designed to identify and change inappropriate negative and self-critical patterns of thought; primarily used to treat depression and anxiety; therapy is not as challenging and confrontational as REBT; aims to lead person to more realistic and flexible ways of thinking |
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Cognitive-Behavior Therapy |
a popular integrated therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior) |
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Counterconditioning |
a behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors; based on classical conditioning; includes systematic desensitization, flooding, aversive conditioning, etc. |
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Couples Therapy |
therapy that is designed to treat partners who are having difficulties in their relationship; often concentrates in improving communication and expectations between the partners or misinterpretation |
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Deinstitutionalization |
policy of treating individuals with severe disorders in the larger community or in a small residential center (halfway house) rather than large wards in a public hospital; Problems include poorly funded community centers or no centers, poor preparation due to understaffing and lack of funding, social stigma |
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Eclecticism |
movement is psychotherapy that recognizes the value of a broad treatment package that best suits the client and the client’s reason for seeking therapy rather than sticking to one type of approach; Example: if you are a psychoanalyst and your client comes to you for a phobia, an eclectic psychoanalyst would utilize desensitization rather than focus on childhood events |
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Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) |
biomedical treatment; typically for severely depressed; brief, mild electric current is sent through the brain (one hemisphere) of an anesthetized patient; often produces convulsions and temporary coma; side effects include disorientation, STM loss; now used as a last resort treatment |
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Exposure Therapies |
behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid |
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Extinction |
used in Systematic Desensitization; when the undesired behavior stops |
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Family Therapy |
therapy that treats the family as a system; views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by or directed at other family members; attempts to guide family members toward positive relations and improved communication; seeks to change all family behaviors to benefit the entire unit |
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Flooding |
behavioral technique; counterconditioning; an aggressive method of desensitization; exposure to anxiety-producing stimuli is great; short-term technique; example: someone who is afraid of spiders must immediately handle a tarantula, makes me think of the show “Fear Factor” |
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Free Association |
Freudian technique; used in psychoanalysis; “stream of consciousness”; client talks about whatever topic comes to mind without editing, controlling, or inhibiting thoughts and fantasies; therapist acts as a “blank slate” |
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Gestalt Therapy |
outgrowth of Fritz Perls work; insight therapy; emphasizes the wholeness of personality and attempts to reawaken people to their emotions and sensations; works in the here-and-now; encourages face-to-face confrontations (e.g. “How is that working for you?”); therapist is active and directive; focuses on the whole person/client; uses empty chair technique |
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Group Therapy |
psychotherapy where multiple people meet regularly to interact and help one another to achieve insight into their feelings and behavior; allows the therapist to see how the client interacts with others, offers a social support, and shows the client that s/he is not the only person with that problem; can be less expensive; includes family, couples, and self-help groups. |
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Insight |
awareness of previously unconscious feelings and memories and how the this awareness influences present feelings and behaviors; working through childhood conflicts |
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Insight Therapy |
psychotherapy designed to help an individual come to a better awareness and understanding of his/her feelings, motivations and actions; includes psychoanalysis, Gestalt, client-centered therapy. |
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Interpretation |
in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors in order to promote insight |
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Lithium |
biological treatment; a chemical that provides an effective drug therapy for the mood swings of bipolar (manic-depressive) disorders; naturally occurring salt; effective in 75% of bipolar cases; needs to be monitored closely for correct dosage treatment; do not know how lithium works exactly |
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Modeling |
behavioral technique; process of learning a behavior by watching someone perform the behavior; helps relieve anxiety to watch someone else before the client tries (friend touches snake and lives, so can you…); very effective when combined with positive reinforcement (especially in helping people with schizophrenia); don’t forget the sociocultural implications |
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Primary Prevention |
techniques and programs designed to improve social environment so that new cases do not develop; includes family planning, genetic counseling, sex education, effects of drugs, etc.; key word here is prevention (education) |
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Psychoanalysis |
Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique; designed to bring repressed feelings and thoughts to conscious awareness so the person can deal with these issues more effectively; uses free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences--and the therapist's interpretations of them--released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight |
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Psychopharmacology |
the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior |
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Psychostimulants |
biological treatment; heightens alertness and arousal; commonly used to treat AD/HD case because they increase the electrical activity of the frontal lobe and therefore cause a calming effect rather than stimulating; includes Ritalin |
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Psychosurgery |
biological treatment; brain surgery to change a person’s behavior; includes a prefrontal lobotomy; rarely used today |
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Psychotherapy |
the use of psychological techniques to treat disorder; can take many forms (group, individual, family, couples, etc) |
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Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) |
cognitive therapy founded by Albert Ellis; directive therapy; based on the idea that psychological distress is caused by irrational and self-defeating beliefs; therapy is designed to challenge the dysfunctional thoughts (“stinking thinking”) and reinterpret the thoughts in a more positive light; therapy is challenging and confrontational; aims to lead person to more realistic and flexible ways of thinking |
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Resistance |
in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material |
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Revolving Door |
term to describe the constant entering and leaving of mental health facilities; often caused by deinstitutionalization and health insurance |
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Secondary Prevention |
programs to identify groups (e.g. abused children, rape victims) that are at high risk of disorders and to detect maladaptive behavior before the behavior disrupts life; includes crisis intervention, suicide hot lines |
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Self-Talk |
cognitive technique; suppression of negative, anxiety-provoking throughts and replaced with positive, “coping” statements |
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Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy |
psychodynamic therapies that are limited in the number of sessions, for example 25 sessions; sessions are weekly for a fixed period of time unlike most psychodynamic therapies which meet 3x/week for years |
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Stress-Inoculation Therapy |
cognitive technique; designed to train people to deal with stressful situations by using a pattern of self-talk; replace bad statements with positive statements when in stressful situations |
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Systematic Desensitization |
behavioral technique; a type of counterconditioning; designed to reduce a person’s fear and anxiety by gradually associating a pleasant relaxed state with anxiety-triggering stimuli; commonly used to treat phobias, OCD; includes developing a hierarchy of fears |
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Tertiary Prevention |
programs to help individuals adjust to community life after institutionalization; includes day or weekend passes from hospital, day programs (spend night at home but return to hospital each day), halfway houses, or supportive therapy |
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Token Economy |
behavioral technique; an operant conditioning procedure that rewards desired behavior; a patient exchanges a token of some sort, earned for exhibiting the desired behavior, for various privileges or treats; often seen in elementary schools and reading programs to promote desirable behaviors, weekend passes, etc. |
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Transference |
in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships; Freud thinks the client is carrying over feelings from childhood authority figures and putting them onto the therapist; can be positive or negative |
