Topic 14 - part 2

Question 1

Humanistic therapy

Answer 1

People have control of their behaviour and essentially are responsible for solving their own problems

• Therapist as guide or facilitator
• Psychological disorders are the result of people’s inability to find meaning in life, feeling lonely, unconnected
• Several different therapeutic techniques

Question 2

Person-centered therapy

Answer 2

Aims to enable people to reach thir potential for self actualization

• Provides a warm and ceepting enviomrne
• The therapist provides unconditional positive regard - nonjudgmental
• Rearly used in purest form today - clients toward insight

Question 3

How deos humanistic therapy stack up?

Answer 3

Advantages

• Idea that psychological disorders result from restricted growth potential appeal to many people

Disadvantages

• Lack specificity
• Not very persies
• Works best for high verbal clients

Question 4

Interpersonal Thearpy

Answer 4

Short term (6-12 weeks) that focuses on context of individual’s current social relationships

• Therapists make concrete suggestions on improving relations with others
• Effective dealing with depression, anxiety, eating disorder

Question 5

Group therapy

Answer 5

People meet in groups with a therapist - support and advice for group members

• Economocal
• It doesn’t always involve a professional therapist

Different types

• Self-help groups
• Family therapy - get families to adopt new, more constructive roles & patterns of behaviour

Question 6

Does therapy work

Answer 6

Psychtherapy is effective for most people but may not be effective for everyone

Different treatments for different problems

Therapists tend to use electric approach

Question 7

Biomedical therapy: Biological approaches to treatment

Answer 7

Drugs therapies work by altering neurotransmission (agonist/antagonist)

Antipsychotic drugs

• Temporarily reduce psychotic symptoms by blocking dopamine receptors

Antianxiety drugs

• Benzodiazepines - reduces excitability & increase feelings of well being - concerns with dependence and lethality with alcohol

Question 8

Antidepressant drugs

Answer 8

Improved feeling of well being, aslo being used for anxiety disorders

• Tricyclic drugs –> increase norepinephrine
• MAO inhibitors –> prevent monoamine oxidase from breaking down neurotransmitters
• selective serotonin Reuotake Inhibitors –> Traget serotonin, allows it to linger at synapse

Question 9

Prozac (SSRI)

Answer 9

Fluoxetine (Prozac) is best-selling SSRI

Daily dose around $2

Proza (Also luvox, paxil, celexa, zoloft)

Mant do well with prozac that don’t with others

Question 10

New direction in psychopharmacology

Answer 10

Ketamine blocks nerual receptor NDMA, which affects glutamate (plays a role in mood regulation)

Promising for treatment-resistant depression

Side effects

• Affects cognitive functioning, some experience increase in depressive symptoms over time - concerns over addiction.

Question 11

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

Answer 11

Used in treatment of severe depression

electric current of 70 to 150 voltsis briefly administered

The patient is sedated & receives muscle relxants

Uslaly 10 treatments in course of a month

Conversial - potential serious side effects

We do not know why ECT works! It may produce permanent damage in brain

Question 12

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Answer 12

Precise magnetic pulse directed to a specific area of the brain - activates particular neurons

Effective in relieving symptoms of depression

Side effects include seizures and convulsions

Question 13

Psychosurgery

Answer 13

Historically, lobotomies - Frequent in 1940s & 50s

1960s - lessons in amygdala or areas of limbic system (emotion)

Primitive procedures replaced with ultrasound, electricity, freezing of tissues, and implants of radioactive materials

Today last resort for people with severe OCD, major depression, bipolar

Question 14

Biomedical therapies in perspective

Answer 14

Arguebly the greatest revolution in the field of mental health

More patients that can be treated as outpatients

Not a cure-all for disorders

• Temproary symptom relief
• May not solve the underlying problem
• Serious side effects - especially antipsychotic medications

Question 15

Eye movement desensitization & reprocessing (EDMR)

Answer 15

Involves patients conjuring up images associated with traumatic event, then performing rapid left right eye movements while tracking an object

Controversial - not a strong body of research, lack of evidence in reduction in physiological/beahviour anxiety

No basis for why it works