Intro to Psychology (PSYC101): Module 44: Introduction to Therapy

treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology

an approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy

Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transference– and the analyst’s interpretation of them– released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material

in psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting of supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behavior and events in order to promote insight

in psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight

therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth (also called person-centered therapy)

empathetic listening in which the listener echos, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers’ client-centered therapy.

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronic simulations in which people can safely face their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for privileges or treats

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, providing benefits from group interaction

therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members.