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Chapter 13: Treatment of
Psychological Disorders
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Treatment

Psychotherapy
– Treatment in which a trained
professional – a therapist –
uses psychological
techniques to help someone
overcome psychological
difficulties and disorders

Biomedical therapy
– Relies on drugs and other
medical procedures to
improve psychological
functioning
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Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Psychodynamic Approaches to
Therapy


Based on the premise that the primary sources of
abnormal behavior are unresolved conflicts and the
possibility that unacceptable unconscious impulses
may enter consciousness
Psychoanalysis
– Frequent sessions that lasts for many years
• Free association
• Dream interpretation
• Resistance
• Transference
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Behavioral Approaches to Therapy

Building on the basic processes of learning
(classical and operant conditioning) poses that
abnormal and normal behavior are learned
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Classical Conditioning Approaches to
Treatment

Aversive conditioning
– Create unpleasant reactions
to stimuli that an individual
previously enjoyed

Systematic desensitization
– Gradual exposure to an
anxiety-producing stimulus
is paired with relaxation in
order to extinguish the
response of anxiety
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Operant Conditioning Techniques to
Treatment

Token system
– Person rewarded for desired behavior with a
token that is later exchanged for something
they want

Contingency contracting
– Written agreement that outlines behavioral
goals and positive consequences if achieved

Observational learning
– Learning by watching others’ behavior
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Cognitive Approaches to Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral
approach
– Assumption that anxiety,
depression, and negative
emotions develop from
maladaptive thought
processes
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Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy

Attempts to restructure a person’s belief system into a more
realistic, rational, and logical set of views
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Cognitive Therapy


Psychotherapy developed by Beck to
change people’s illogical thoughts about
themselves and the world
Less confrontational and challenging than
RET
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Humanistic Approach to Therapy

Based on the assumption that people control
their own behavior, can make choices about
the kinds of life they want to lead, and are
responsible for solving their own difficulties
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Humanistic Approaches to Therapy

Client-centered therapy
– Goal is to enable people to reach their potential
for self-actualization
– Unconditional positive regard

Gestalt therapy
– Holds the ultimate goal for the client to
experience life in a more unified and complete
way
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Therapeutic Modalities

Group therapy
– Several unrelated people
meet with a therapist to
discuss some aspect of their
psychological functioning

Family therapy
– Involves two or more
members of the same
family, one (or more) of
whose problems led to
treatment
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Evaluating Psychotherapy





For most people, psychotherapy is effective
Doesn’t work for everyone
Certain specific types of treatments are somewhat,
although not invariably, better for specific types of
problems
No single form of therapy works best
Spontaneous remission
– Recovery without treatment

Eclecticism
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Biomedical Therapy: Biological
Approaches to Treatment


Therapy that focuses on
brain chemistry and other
neurological factors
Drug therapy
– Control of psychological
disorders through drugs
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Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Procedure in which an electric current of
70 to 150 volts is briefly administered to a
patient’s head, causing a loss of
consciousness and often seizures
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Psychosurgery


Brain surgery in which the
object is to reduce
symptoms of mental disorder
– used only rarely today
Prefrontal lobotomy
– Surgically destroying or
removing parts of a patient’s
frontal lobes that were
thought to control
emotionality

Cingulotomy
– Used with rare cases of
OCD
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Community Psychology: Focus on
Prevention


Geared toward preventing or
minimizing the incidence of
psychological disorders
Deinstitutionalization
– Movement of former mental
patients out of institutions
and into the community
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