Download Spotlight on Terminology and Language – ESL Pointers

Spotlight on Terminology and Language – ESL
Pointers
Module 41: Psychotherapy: Humanistic,
Interpersonal, and Group Approaches to
Treatment
Page 512“As you know from your own
experience, a student cannot master the material
covered in a course without some hard work, no
matter how good the teacher and the textbook
are.”
The phrase “master the material” means that a
student has learned the subject that they have been
studying.
Page 512 “The many types of therapy that fall into
this category have a similar rationale: We have
control of our own behavior, we can make choices
about the kinds of lives we want to live, and it is
up to us to solve the difficulties we encounter in
our daily lives.”
The therapies have a similar rationale; they have a
similar underlying principle.
Page 512 “Instead of being the directive figures
seen in some psychodynamic and behavioral
approaches, humanistic therapists view themselves
as guides or facilitators.”
When someone is being directive, he is leading
others or giving orders.
Page 512 “Now the reason why I did it
probably was—I mean, not that I was a good
little Samaritan going around making other
people happy, but that was probably the role
that felt easiest for me to play . . .”
A Samaritan is someone who helps people in
need.
Page 513 “By providing a warm and
accepting environment, therapists hope to
motivate clients to air their problems and
feelings.”
A warm environment is one that is friendly.
An accepting environment is a welcoming
one.
To air something is to get it out in the open.
Page 513 “In turn, this enables clients to make
realistic and constructive choices and
decisions about the things that bother them in
their current lives (Bozarth, Zimring, &
Tausch, 2002, Kirschenbaum, 2004; Bohart,
2006).”
Constructive choices are those that are
productive and useful.
Page 513 “Furnishing unconditional positive
regard does not mean that therapists must
approve of everything their clients say or do.”
Page 512 “In this view, psychological disorders
result from the inability to find meaning in life
and from feeling of lonely and unconnected to
others (Cain, 2002).”
Furnishing unconditional positive regard
means providing unconditional positive
regard.
To find meaning in something is to find
significance or value in it.
Page 513“Rather, therapists need to
communicate that they are caring,
nonjudgmental, and empathetic—
understanding of a client’s emotional
experiences (Fearing & Clark, 2000).”
Lonely means that you feel separated from
everyone else.
Page 512 “I somehow developed a sort of a
knack, I guess, of—well—habit—of trying to
make people feel at ease around me, or to make
things go along smoothly . . .”
A knack is a skill or talent that is usually inborn
and is difficult to teach.
Empathy is the ability to understand what
someone else is thinking and feeling, and
relate to them. When someone does this, they
are being empathetic.
Page 513 “Person-centered therapy is rarely
used today in its purest form.”
When something is in its purest form it is free
from contamination or impurities.
approaches.”
Employ means to use.
Page 513 “Contemporary approaches tend to be
somewhat more directive, with therapists nudging
clients toward insights rather than merely
reflecting back their statements.”
A nudge is small push, to get someone or
something going in the right direction.
Page 514 “However, humanistic treatments lack
specificity, a problem that has troubled their
critics.”
Someone who is troubled is experiencing
emotional conflicts or psychological difficulties.
Page 515 “Because in group therapy several
people are treated simultaneously, it is a much
more economical means of treatment than
individual psychotherapy.”
Economical means less costly.
Page 515 “On the other hand, critics argue that
group settings lack the individual attention
inherent in one-to-one therapy, and that
especially shy and withdrawn individuals may
not receive the attention they need in a group
setting.”
Page 514 “Moreover, this form of treatment
works best for the same type of highly verbal
client who profits most from psychoanalytic
treatment.”
When something is part of something else, or
is a natural result of something else, it is an
inherent part of that something else.
If someone is highly verbal, they speak and write
well.
Page 515 “But rather than focusing simply on
the members of the family who present the
initial problem, family therapists consider the
family as a unit, to which each member
contributes.”
Page 514 “Although its roots stem from
psychodynamic approaches, interpersonal therapy
concentrates more on the here and now with the
goal of improving a client’s current relationships.”
The here and now is the present.
Page 514 “During those sessions, therapists make
concrete suggestions on improving relations with
others, offering recommendations and advice.”
Concrete is a building material. When the word
concrete is used with ideas, it means that the ideas
are solid, realistic and down to earth.
Page 514 “The other members of the group
provide emotional support and dispense advice on
ways in which they have coped effectively with
similar problems (Alonso, Alonso, & Piper, 2003;
Scaturo, 2004; Rigby & Waite, 2007).”
When people dispense advice they are giving out
advice.
Page 514 “Groups vary greatly in terms of the
particular model they employ; there are
psychoanalytic groups, humanistic groups, and
groups corresponding to the other therapeutic
A unit is an organized group.
Page 515 “Many family therapists believe that
family members fall into rigid roles or set
patterns of behavior, with one person acting
as the scapegoat, another as a bully, and so
forth.”
Set patterns are designs that are inflexible
and unbending.
A scapegoat is a person that takes the blame
for others.
A bully is an aggressive person who mistreats
others.
Page 516 “He can’t concentrate on his studies,
has a lot of trouble getting to sleep, and—this
is what really bothers him—has begun to think
that people are ganging up on him, talking
about him behind his back.”
To gang up on someone is join together
especially for the purpose of attacking them.
When someone talks about another person
behind their back they say one thing when the
person is present and then say the opposite when
the person is not present.
(Consumer Reports (CR), 1995; Seligman,
1995; Strupp, 1996; Nielsen et al., 2004).
A consumer is a buyer of goods and services.
Satisfaction is happiness with something.
Page 516 “He is fairly skeptical of psychologists,
thinking that a lot of what they say is just mumbo
jumbo, but he’s willing to put his doubts aside and
try anything to feel better.”
Consumer satisfaction occurs when buyers
are happy with the goods or services they have
purchased.
Mumbo jumbo is unnecessarily involved and
incomprehensible language, also known as
gibberish.
Page 518 “There is a strong possibility that
Jimmy is harboring repressed rage that needs
to be ventilated and dealt with.”
Page 516 “In fact, identifying the single most
appropriate form of treatment is a controversial,
and still unresolved, task for psychologists
specializing in psychological disorders.”
A harbor is a place where ships are kept; if
someone harbors a feeling, he keeps it inside
himself.
When something is unresolved the issue remains
unanswered and the resolution is unclear.
Page 516 “Although others quickly challenged
Eysenck’s conclusions, his review stimulated a
continuing stream of better controlled, more
carefully crafted studies on the effectiveness of
psychotherapy, and today most psychologists
agree: Therapy does work.”
When we craft something we designed and make
things by hand.
Page 516 “Several comprehensive reviews
indicate that therapy brings about greater
improvement than does no treatment at all, with
the rate of spontaneous remission being fairly
low.”
Comprehensive means that it includes or covers
everything available.
Page 516 “In most cases, then, the symptoms of
abnormal behavior do not go away by themselves
if left untreated—although the issue continues to
be hotly debated (Seligman, 1996; Westen,
Novotny, & Thompson-Brenner, 2004; Lutz et al.,
2006).”
Things that are hotly debated are argued about
with a lot of emotion.
Page 517 “However, there was little difference in
‘consumer satisfaction’ on the basis of the
specific type of treatment they had received
To ventilate is to publicly discuss grievances
or opinions.
Page 518 “His inability to directly express his
anger had led him to adopt passive aggressive
means of expressing hostility, i.e.,
inattentiveness, daydreaming, falling asleep.”
When someone daydreams they experience a
series of distracting and unusually pleasant
thoughts while being awake.
Page 518 “Rather than suffering from
‘repressed rage’, Jimmy lived in a povertystricken and disorganized home.”
A person or family that is poverty-stricken
has little money or possessions.