Approaches for Mental Illness: Psychotherapy, Biological Therapies, and Common Factors, Slides of Introduction to Psychology

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Treating Disorders of

the Mind and Body

Overview of Chapter Questions:

 How Is Mental Illness Treated?

 What Are the Most Effective Treatments?

 Can Personality Disorders Be Treated?

 How Should Childhood Disorders Be Treated?

How Is Mental Illness Treated?

 Psychotherapy Is Based on Psychological Principles

 Biological Therapies Are Necessary for Some Disorders

 Common Factors Enhance Treatment

Psychotherapy Is Based on

Psychological Principles

 Psychodynamic therapy focuses on insight

 Humanist therapies focus on the whole person

 Behavioral therapy focuses on observable behavior

 Cognitive-Behavioral therapy focuses on faulty cognitions

 Group therapy builds social support

 Family therapy focuses on family context

Psychodynamic therapy

focuses on insight

 Freudian “psychoanalysis” uses free association and dream analysis to bring unconscious unresolved conflict into focus

 The goal is to produce insight, which leads to behavior change and symptom improvement

 Post-Freudian reformulations are called “psychodynamic approaches”

Humanist therapies focus on

the whole person

 Rogers’ “Client-centered therapy” uses reflective listening to help persons clarify their deeply held personal concerns

 Rogers’ approach also promotes “ unconditional positive regard ” as a therapeutic element

 Rogers’ approach aims to achieve “ fully- functioning ” persons who are “ self-actualized ” as described by Maslow

Behavioral therapy focuses on

observable behavior

 Behavior is learned and can be unlearned

 Behavior Modification uses operant conditioning

 But social learning perspectives are used in practice (social-skills, modeling, etc)

 Exposure treatments, like systematic desensitization, focus on phobic avoidance

Cognitive-Behavioral therapy

focuses on faulty cognitions

 Cognitive therapy sees disorder as rooted in distorted thoughts

 Cognitive restructuring targets maladaptive thought patterns

 Ellis’ Rational-Emotive-Therapy pioneered cognition as cause and cure

 CBT integrates cognitive and behavioral interventions Docsity.com

Group therapy builds

social support

 Group therapies offer specific advantages

 Groups vary in structure and orientation

 Groups vary in degree of focus on insight, social support, and cognitive or behavioral change

Family therapy focuses on

family context

 Family systems approaches recognize that individual change is contextual, so why not engage the whole system?

 Studies of schizophrenic families show that high levels of expressed emotion (EE) are associated with risk for relapse, and reducing EE reduces relapse! (see figure 14.4)

Biological Therapies Are

Necessary for Some Disorders

 Psychotropic medications affect

neurotransmitter processes

 Anti-anxiety drugs affect GABA

Biological Therapies Are

Necessary for Some Disorders

 Antidepressant drugs:

 MAO inhibitors

 Trycyclics

 SSRI’s (see fig 14.5)

 Antipsychotic drugs: Docsity.com

Common Factors

Enhance Treatment

 Psychotherapy helps, and common underlying factors contribute to all psychological approaches:

 Caring Therapists

 Catharsis and “Confession”

What Are the Most

Effective Treatments?

 Treatments That Focus on Behavior and Cognition Are Superior for Anxiety Disorders

 Many Effective Treatments Are Available for Depression

 Lithium Is Most Effective for Bipolar Disorder

 Pharmacological Treatments Are Superior for Schizophrenia Docsity.com

Treatments That Focus on Behavior and Cognition Are Superior for Anxiety Disorders

 For specific phobias, the sources of anxiety are better addressed with cognitive- behavioral approaches than with medication

 Systematic Desensitization uses “fear hierarchies” (see fig 14.7) to help people learn to manage dimensions of fear

 Virtual treatments can reduce fear responses

Treatments That Focus on Behavior and Cognition Are Superior for Anxiety Disorders

 SSRI’s help social phobia, but cognitive and behavioral methods are treatments of choice

 Panic Disorder treatments often combine medication and CBT, but relapse is less with CBT

Treatments That Focus on Behavior and Cognition Are Superior for Anxiety Disorders

 OCD treatments blend medication and CBT with a focus on “ exposure ” and “ response prevention ” (see fig 14.10)

Many Effective Treatments Are

Available for Depression

 MAO-inhibitors, tricyclics, and SSRI’s provide relief to 60-70% of depressed persons

 Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments are just as effective, and target the automatic irrational thoughts that accompany depression (see fig 14.11)

Many Effective Treatments Are

Available for Depression

 Seasonal Affective Disorder (see fig 14.12) responds to phototherapy

 Exercise helps depression too

 Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the single most effective treatment for severe depression, and it saves lives, negative public views notwithstanding

 Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)