A Brief History of Psychotherapy: From Restraint to Humanistic and Behavioral Approaches -, Study notes of Psychology

Download A Brief History of Psychotherapy: From Restraint to Humanistic and Behavioral Approaches - and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! 1 1 Psychology 110 Dr. Gordon Module #50 The Psychological Therapies 2 A. Psychological therapies • 1. Brief history of therapy • 2. Psychoanalysis • 3. Humanistic therapies • 4. Behavioral therapies • 5. Cognitive-behavior therapies • 6. Cognitive therapies • 7. Group therapy 3 1. Brief history of therapies • Through history, treatments for psychological disorders have ranged from the ridiculous to the more sensible approach. Therapies have been described as inhumane such as trephening to beating the demon out of people. Humane and sensible treatments have include everything from placing the mentally ill in serene retreats to identifying maladaptive thoughts. 4 1. Brief history of therapies • Treatment tended to be inhumane when money was scarce. The slide below is a painting by William Hogarth depicting the conditions at the St. Mary of Bethlehem hospital. The treatment of the mentally ill was basically a sideshow in the 17th century. 5 1. Brief history of therapies • The slide below illustrates the use of restraint. In Myer’s review of the history of therapies, he discusses “restraint” as a form of treatment. Benjamin Rush, the founder of American Psychiatry, believed restraint would help patients “regain their sensibilities.” Even though Rush pushed for humane treatment, his ideas of restrain were incorrect. 6 1. Brief history of therapies • Variations of the restraint technique were available. The technique was employed to control patient’s violent behavior in the hospital. 7 1. Brief history of therapies • Today, we have brought psychological treatment to “talk radio” and television. To the right, Frazier is a talk host psychiatrist that assists persons from a radio program. Shows like “Frazier” helped to stereotype mental health professionals as having more problems than their patients. 8 1. Brief history of therapies • Contemporary therapy has moved to the television program. “Dr. Phil” has become a household name. He brings entire families on television, fights obesity, and confronts people about their demons. It is safe to say that Dr. Phil’s television approach is rather unorthodox. 9 1. Brief history of therapies • Myers defines psychotherapy as a “planned emotionally charged confiding interaction between a trained, socially sanctioned healer and a sufferer.” Psychotherapies vary in accordance to their theoretical perspective. Despite the different therapeutic systems of therapy, most contemporary therapists practice an eclectic approach. This approach involves “blending” different therapeutic techniques. 10 2. Psychoanalysis • Freud and the psychoanalytical movement are responsible for starting modern psychotherapy. By 2 definition, psychoanalysis is an insight therapy that emphasizes the recovery of unconscious conflicts, motives, and defenses through techniques such as free association and transference. 11 2. Psychoanalysis • The aim of Freud’s psychoanalysis was to uncover the patient’s repressed impulses and conflicts. Through long-term arduous therapy (3 times per week for 2 years), the patient works through his conflicts, bringing them to a conscious level until self-insight is achieved. When this goal is reached, the patient’s neurosis disappears. 12 2. Psychoanalysis • Some historians believed that Freud developed his techniques because of his practice partner’s unfortunate circumstances. Freud took over the case of Anna “O” from Joseph Breuer. Anna’s real name was Bertha Pappenheim. 13 2. Psychoanalysis • As the story goes, Breuer had developed countertransference for Anna. As a result, ethics got the better of Breuer and he assigned the case to Freud. It is through this case that Freud used hypnosis to discover the talking cure and cure Anna’s conversion disorder. 14 2. Psychoanalysis • Through trial and error and intensive therapeutic sessions, Freud developed a number of techniques to reveal painful unconscious conflicts. These included association, dream analysis, hypnosis, and interpretation. Let’s turn our attention to a film clip that employs hypnosis to help a women rid her fear of “bats.” 15 2. Psychoanalysis • Let’s continue our discussion of psychoanalytical techniques. First, association is a technique in which the psychoanalyst allows their patients to spontaneously express their thoughts, and feelings exactly as they occur with as little censorship as possible. 16 2. Psychoanalysis • Dream analysis involves the therapist interpreting the symbolic meaning of the client’s dream. Dreams have a surface content (description of the dream) and a latent content (the dream’s real meaning). As patients reveal their dreams, the analyst provides interpretations. That is, from the dream’s latent content, the analyst provides the patient underlying wishes, conflicts, desires, etc… 17 2. Psychoanalysis • Interpretation is the psychoanalyst’s “bread and butter.” Interpretation refers to the analyst’s efforts to explain the inner significance of the client’s thoughts, feelings, memories, and behaviors. Psychoanalysis has other interesting characteristics. For example, two phenomenon occur over the course of psychoanalysis. First, resistance refers to largely unconscious defensive maneuvers intended to hinder the progress of therapy. 18 2. Psychoanalysis • People who resist have problems facing or taking ownership of their real problems. In the cartoon to the right, the patient’s resistance is in the form of distraction. Other forms of resistance include canceling or showing up late for an appointment. When the patient becomes resistant, it simply means that the analyst is close to anxiety sensitive areas in the patient’s life. 19 2. Psychoanalysis • Another unique phenomenon specific to psychoanalysis is transference. Transference refers to a process whereby clients unconsciously start relating to their therapist in ways that mimic critical relationships in their lives. Let’s turn our attention to a scene from the film, “Ordinary People,” in which a young patient redirects his anger toward the therapist who the patient believes to be his brother. In other words, he transfers his anger toward his brother on to his therapist.