This summary covers the content pertaining to the treatment of abnormal behaviour in psychology. It includes terminology, a psychological approach, combined approaches, types of treatments (insight, behaviour, client-centered and psychopharmacology therapies), the role of a mental health-care profe...
Chapter 16 – Treatment of Abnormal Behaviour
(Pages 450-485)
Terminology:
Psychotherapy – the professional treatment of psychological disorders and problems
Treatment protocol – a specific approach which has been developed, implemented and
evaluated over a period of time.
Aetiology – the cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition.
Often expressed in terms of historical explanation.
Biopsychosocial approach – an approach which promotes the multifaceted integration of
biological, psychological and social influences on mental health.
Multidisciplinary team (MDT) – a group of professionals from a variety of disciplines,
working together to manage, improve and maintain an individual’s
mental well-being.
Psychiatrists - are qualified medical health-care practitioners who have specialised in the
diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
Psychologists – clinical psychologists diagnose and treat psychological disorders and
everyday problems.
Diagnosis – a medical term, used within all species of medical practice, which
encapsulates our current understanding of the medical condition.
Free association – an insight therapy in which clients spontaneously express their thoughts
and feelings exactly as they occur, with as little censorship as possible and
therapists analyse their words to discover what is happening in the
unconscious.
Dream analysis – an insight therapy in which the therapist interprets the symbolic meaning
of the client’s dreams.
Oedipal complex – (in Freudian theory) the complex of emotions aroused in a young child,
typically around the age of four, by an unconscious sexual desire for the
parent of the opposite sex and wish to exclude the parent of the same sex.
(The term was originally applied to boys, the equivalent in girls being called
the Electra complex.)
Client-centred therapy – an insight therapy that emphasises providing a supportive
emotional climate for clients, who play a major role in determining the
pace and direction of their therapy.
Positive psychology – a psychological approach which uses theory and research to better
understand the positive, adaptive, creative and fulfilling aspects of human
existence.
, Well-being therapy – a therapy that has emerged from positive psychology and seeks to
enhance clients’ self-acceptance, purpose in life, autonomy and
personal growth.
Positive psychotherapy – a positive psychological approach which attempts to get clients to
recognise their strengths, appreciate their blessings, savour positive
experiences, forgive those who have wronged them and find
meaning in their lives.
Group therapy – the simultaneous psychological treatment of several clients in a group.
Family therapy – a type of group therapy which involves the treatment of a family unit as a
whole in which the main focus is on family dynamics and communication.
Behaviour Therapies – a therapy which involves the application of learning principles to
direct efforts to change clients’ maladaptive behaviours.
Systematic Desensitisation – a behaviour therapy used to reduce phobic clients’ anxiety
responses through counterconditioning.
Exposure therapies – behaviour therapy in which clients are confronted with situations that
they fear so that they learn that these situations are really harmless.
Social skills training – a behaviour therapy designed to improve interpersonal skills that
emphasise modelling, behavioural rehearsal and shaping.
Cognitive-behavioural treatments – treatment which uses varied combinations of verbal
interventions and behaviour modification techniques to help
clients change maladaptive patterns of thinking.
Cognitive therapy – uses specific strategies to correct habitual thinking errors that underlie
various types of disorders.
Automatic negative thoughts – self-defeating statements that people are prone to make
when analysing problems.
Psychopharmacology – a physiological intervention intended to reduce symptoms
associated with psychological disorders OR the treatment of mental
disorders with medication.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – a biomedical treatment in which electric shock is used
to produce a cortical seizure accompanied by convulsions.
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