terms

• psychotherapy 


  the general term for the treatment of mental health problems
• electic approach

  taking ideas from various approaches to best serve the client
• psychological approach


  is separated into 4 categories that are based on the main theories for the causes of mental illness. psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive.
• psychodynamic approach

  aims to help patients gain insight into these underlying causes by tapping into unconscious
• psychoanalysis

  Sigmund freud: central goal was to create a trusting environment so that a patient would more easily reveal repressed unconscious conflicts causing emotional turmoil.
• neurosis 


  mental problems in ones conscious life
• free association 


  the patient is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind
• dream analysis 


  what is consciously remembered in a dream are the symbolic representations of the unconscious.
• therapeutic rapport


  a trusting relationship with therapist and patient
• transference


  when a patients feelings are expressed and as a result the patient develops a strong positive or negative view of the therapist
• countertransference 


  the therapists experiences an unconscious emotional response to the patient and feels almost responsible for their wellbeing
• catharsis

  the intense emtotional release a person can experience during therapy
• interpersonal psychotherapy 


  helping clients typically with depression focus on their interpersonal relationships
• object relations therapy

  based on the social psychoanalytic perspective that social relationships in early childhood lie at the heart of mental problems in childhood
• object relations therapy

  social relationships in childhood are at the heart of mental problems in adulthood
• humanistic perspective

  to help people accept themselves through self awareness and self fulfillment
• person-centered or rogerian therapy 


  developed by carl rogers, he believed that humans posses a drive to fulfill their unique potential. he believed that psychological troubles were about the present and future, not the past.
• person-centered therapy 


  the therapist honors the inherent human potential of the client by acting as a nonjudgmental facilitator of the therapeutic practice
• unconditional positive regard or non-directive

  intended to reinforce for clients that they have value (without conditions) for who they really are.
• empathy

  the ability to truly see, feel, and understand what the client is experiencing
• congruence


  refers to the therapists willingness to foster an honest and open relationship with the person
• active listening 


  active listening by the therapist reinforces the principles of unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence through intensely and empathetically listening to the client
• gestalt therapy

  focuses on a persons perceptions of his or her own feelings and own sense of reality in the present moment
• empty chair technique 


  have the client engage in a dialogue with a feeling they are experiencing or with an aspect of their personality
• exaggeration


  the client is encouraged to dramatically exaggerate a specific feeling or nonverbal gesture or movement to become better aware of the feelings or emotions behind it
• action therapies 


  focus on providing practical solutions and teaching coping skills to help resolve physiological problems
• behavioral therapy


  uses classical conditioning or operant conditioning to help clients unlearn maladaptive behaviors
• systematic desensitization 


  One> the client learns to practice relaxation. two> the client creates a hierarchy of anxieties from lowest to highest anxiety producing stimulus. three> client is introduced to the stimulus's via the therapist lowest to highest in order to get over them
• virtual reality graded exposure 


  client wears virtual reality goggles that give a visual experience of the feared object or situation
• flooding


  a form of exposure therapy, it requires the client to be fully exposed to the anxiety-producing stimulus in a harmless and controlled situation from which he or she cannot escape.
• aversion therapy 


  a form of behavioral therapy in which an unwanted behavior is associated with a stimulus to which the client has great aversion. like when alcohol is associated with vomiting
• behavior modification


  based on skinner, in which learning (or unlearning) voluntary behaviors results from positive or negative reinforcement or punishment
• extinction 


  the undesirable behavior will be replaced with a more desirable one (with operant conditioning)
• token economy systems

  tokens are earned for desirable behaviors and exchanged for rewards like using a computer, playing video games, or eating desirable foods
• modeling 


  the therapists demonstrates the desired behavior to help clients learn the behavior themselves. like the therapist handling a spider without issue.
• cognitive behavioral therapy 


  approach psychological problems based on the assumption that cognition leads to emotional repossess and behavior
• rational-emotive behavior therapy 


  based on the belief that the reason behind most psychological problems was irrational thought
• awfulizing 


  to refer to the tendency to irrationally overestimate or exaggerate a situation or event
• cognitive therapy 


  help clients recognize dysfunctional cognitive distortions
• cognitive triad 


  compromises three interrelated types of thinking. negative views of the world, negative views of the self, and negative views of the future.