Download Basic Psychological Theories

Basic Psychological Theories
DR. CAROLYN R. FALLAHI
Psychodynamic Theories
 Psychodynamic theories: focus = child’s instincts
and how his/her social environment produces many
characteristics and behaviors.
 Mind = dynamic and active.
 Goal: To coexist with society. Can we get our needs
met within society’s restrictions?
Freud’s views
 Freud postulated 2 instincts: eros and thantos.
 Sexual drives.
 Aggressive drives.
 How did Freud view sex?
 Psychodynamic theory.
Sigmund Freud
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 1856-1939
 Viennese physician trained in neurology.
 While treating patients suffering from hysteria, he
began to develop his theory of psychoanalysis.
 Freud worked with another physician, Joseph
Breuer, from whom he learned the technique of
catharsis, the so-called talking cure.
 The treatment of hysteria.
Freud’s techniques
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 Free association.
 Hypnosis (Breuer & Freud)
 Dream interpretation
Freud & repressed childhood experiences
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 Sexual abuse or hysteria?
 Defense mechanisms
 Repression
 Regression
 Reaction formation
 Projection
 Rationalization
 Displacement
 Sublimation
The Structure of Personality
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 Freud proposed that the mind has 3 parts:
 Conscious
 Preconscious
 unconscious
The Psychosexual stages of Personality Development
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 Oral: B to 1
 Anal: 1 to 3
 Phallic: 3 to 5
 Latency 6 to puberty
 Genital (puberty)
Concepts to cover
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 The Oedipus complex
 Women do not resolve the Oedipal complex as fully as men do.
 Fixation
Problems with Freud
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 Lack of research
 Views about women
 Neo-Freudians
 A critique
 Freud’s legacy
Humanistic therapies – Carl Rogers
 Person-Centered Therapy
 Based upon a phenomenological view of human life &
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helping relationships.
Carl Rogers.
Ideas: genuineness, nonjudgmental caring, & empathy.
Every living being has an actualizing tendency to realize
their potential.
The therapist has an attitude of respect.
Nondirective attitude.
Carl Rogers
 Congruence, unconditional positive regard, empathy.
 Congruence
 Unconditional positive regard
 Self-actualization
 Differs from an analyst…. How?
Behavioral Treatments
 Behavioral theories only focus on observable
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behaviors (rather than unseen, e.g. unconscious).
Forces in the environment and outside the person
have the primary influence on behavior.
Ivan Pavlov
John Watson
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
The focus is on the present
Behaviors are shaped by the environment.
Applied Behavioral Analysis
 Behavioral therapy based on Skinner’s operant
conditioning paradigm.
 Requires careful analysis of the environments in
which problem behavior occurs.
 Careful assessment of the antecedents and
consequences of problem and non-problem
behaviors.
 This information is analyzed by the therapist who
then describes to the child and important adults how
the child’s behavior is being shaped.
Classical Conditioning
 Systematic desensitization (Wolpe, 1958).
 Used to treat phobias with a technique called
reciprocal inhibition = pairs a response that inhibits
anxiety (typically relaxation) with the source of the
phobia.
 Explain how it works.
Cognitive Treatments
 Cognitive theories focus on how our thoughts
influence our emotions and our behaviors.
 Behaviors are seen as resulting mainly from thoughts
and belief systems rather than emerging from
unconscious drives or being shaped by the
environment.
 Albert Ellis - RET
Ellis
 Demanding: I must, should, have to, need to.
 Catastrophizing: it’s awful, terrible, catastrophic
 Overgeneralizing: I’ll always be a failure; I’ll never
make it
 Copping out: you make me angry; it upsets me
Ellis
 These dysfunctional beliefs have rigid, dogmatic
demands at their core, e.g. “I absolutely must have
this important goal unblocked and fulfilled!
Common Dysfunctional Beliefs
 I need the love and approval of every significant person
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in my life.
I must be competent and adequate in all possible
respects.
People (including me) who do things that I disapprove of
are bad people who deserve to be severely blamed and
punished.
It’s catastrophic when things are not the way I’d like
them to be.
My unhappiness is externally caused; I can’t help feeling
and acting as I do and I can’t change my feelings or
actions.
Common Dysfunctional Beliefs
 When something seems dangerous or about to go wrong,
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I must constantly worry about it.
It is better for me to avoid the frustrations and
difficulties of life than it is for me to face them.
I need to depend on someone or something that is
stronger than I am.
Given my childhood experiences and the past I have had,
I can’t help being as I am today and I’ll remain this way
indefinitely.
I can’t help feeling upset about other people’s problems.
I can’t settle for less than the right or perfect solution to
my problem.
Classification Issues
 Why Classify?
 To describe & communicate symptoms.
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 IF you know about the diagnosis, you can retrieve
information about the etiology of the disorder,
treatment, and prognosis.
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 Knowing the disorder provides us with a way of
describing the disorder.
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 Knowing the disorder allows us to predict what
treatments are going to be clinically useful.
Why classify?
 Why classify?
 The classification & systematic description allows us
to formulate theories which play a central role in
research.
 Classification can have a direct impact on broader
social consequences by influencing health policy;
social policy; forensic decisions; and the economics
of the mental health professions.
The antipsychiatry movement
 During the 1960s, psychiatry came under attack from the
antipsychiatry movement. Much of the criticism was
focused on the clinical activities of diagnoses and
classification.
 Szasz (1961) went so far as to argue that mental illness
was a myth.
 Three major criticisms 1960s
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1. psychiatric diagnoses are unreliable
2. diagnoses are based on the medical model
3. problems with labeling and stigmatizing people
Rosenhan’s famous study (1973)
 A paper published by Science – “On being sane in
insane places”. In this study, 8 normal persons
sought admission to 12 different inpatient units.
 What happened?
DSM-IV-TR
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Axis I: Clinical syndromes
Axis II: Personality disorders; mental retardation
Axis III: General medical conditions
Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental problems
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Problems with primary support group
Educational problems
Occupational problems
Housing/economic problems
Problems with access to health care services
Problems with legal system/crime
Other psychosocial problems & environmental problems
 Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning
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Ranges from – (inadequate information) – 100 (superior
functioning)
Psychological Testing
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Intelligence testing
Achievement testing
Testing for a learning disability
Personality testing (objective versus projective)
Projectives: Goal: present ambiguous stimulus and ask
test-takers to describe it or tell a story about it.
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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) or CAT
Draw a person, Draw a family, Sentence Stem
Rorschach Inkblot test – 1921 Hermann Rorschach
10 inkblots reflects our inner feelings and conflicts.
 For example … if we see predatory animals or weapons, we infer that
we have aggressive tendencies.
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 Neuropsychological testing