Psychology · Ch 5 — Therapeutic Approaches
Summary
Summary
- Nature and goals of therapy: Therapy is a planned, professional relationship aimed at alleviating distress, resolving life problems, and promoting personal growth. The key goals are behaviour change, better coping, and enhanced self-awareness.
- Types of therapies: Broadly classified into biomedical (drugs, ECT) and psychological (insight-oriented, behaviour, humanistic, cognitive, etc.). Psychological therapies focus on the mind and behaviour, not just symptoms.
- Psychodynamic therapy: Rooted in Freud's work; explores unconscious conflicts, defence mechanisms, and childhood experiences. Techniques include free association, dream analysis, and interpretation of resistance and transference.
- Humanistic-existential therapy: Emphasises free will, self-actualisation, and the client's subjective experience. Person-centred therapy (Rogers) uses unconditional positive regard, empathy, and genuineness. Gestalt therapy focuses on the 'here and now' and integrating fragmented parts of the self.
- Behaviour therapy: Based on learning principles (classical and operant conditioning). Techniques include systematic desensitisation (for phobias), aversion therapy, token economies, and modelling. Focus is on observable behaviour, not underlying causes.
- Cognitive therapy: Targets maladaptive thoughts and beliefs. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) (Ellis) challenges irrational beliefs. Cognitive Therapy (Beck) corrects cognitive distortions (e.g., overgeneralisation, catastrophising) to change emotions and behaviour.
- Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT): Integrates cognitive and behavioural techniques — e.g., identifying automatic thoughts, behavioural experiments, and homework assignments. Highly effective for anxiety and depression.
- Biomedical therapies: Include psychopharmacology (antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilisers, anxiolytics), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (for severe depression), and psychosurgery (rare, last resort). These treat biological bases of disorders.
- Alternative therapies: Yoga and meditation (e.g., mindfulness) reduce stress and improve emotional regulation. Biofeedback uses physiological monitoring to gain voluntary control over bodily processes. …