Discuss one of the different types of therapy and provide an example of when it might be useful

Read the book   

Weiten, W., Hammer, E., & Dunn, D. (2014). Adjust. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 

Chapter 15

After reading Chapter 15 and reviewing the Therapy and Mental Health PPT, please attend to one or more of the following:

Discuss your beliefs about therapy, couples counseling, and mental illness. Where do they come from? How do they inform your interactions with others?

Discuss your experience with therapy. Was it helpful? Why/why not? What did you learn? What would you have liked to see be different?

Do you think our society has a negative stigma against mental health? Why or why not? Provide real examples you have seen. 

Discuss one of the different types of therapy and provide an example of when it might be useful (behavioral, insight, biomedical therapy)

In order to receive full credit, be sure to post two separate posts in each discussion forum: one original post (5 points) attending to one of the provided questions or prompts 

Psychological Disorders and Mental health

Abnormal behavior

· How would you define abnormal behavior?

· At what point does abnormal behavior become an illness?

· How do we define mental illness?

The medical model and Abnormal behavior

· Medical Model

· Proposes that it’s useful to think of abnormal behavior as a disease

· The Medical Model has produced many terms we use in abnormal psychology

· Mental Illness

· Psychological Disorder

· Psychopathology

· Psychotic manifestation of the disease

· Because of the medical model we have diagnosis

· Distinguishing one illness from another

· We understand the etiology

· Causation and developmental history of an illness

· We are able to give a prognosis

· Forecast about probable course of an illness

· I use interventions based in the theory of the medical model every day in clinical practice

· The Medical Model is progressive in comparison to past theories

· Superstition

· Possession

· Witches

The Medical Model and Abnormal Behavior

· Viewing patients as victims of an illness

· Created a new understanding of abnormal behavior

· Shifted view of patients from fear and hatred to sympathy and compassion

· This changed the way abnormal behavior was treated

· Past burning at the stake (witches) or Exorcism

· Mental asylums

· By creating labels for abnormal behavior ie; mental illness

· We are better able to identify and treat the needs of a patient

· Is there harm in viewing abnormal behavior or abnormal psychology as an illness?

· Thomas Szasz The Myth of Mental Illness (1974)

· “disease of illness can affect only the body; hence there can be no mental illness…Minds can be sick only in the sense that jokes are sick or economies are sick (1974).

· Abnormal behavior is a deviation from social norms, not an illness

· Problems in living, not medical problems

What is abnormal behavior

· Deviance

· Behavior deviates from what society considers to be acceptable

· Maladaptive

· Impairment in every day adaptive behavior

· Key criterion in diagnosis of substance abuse disorders

· Personal distress

· Individual report of personal distress as a result of the behavior

· My anxiety keeps me from engaging in social functions that I want to be a part of

· Defining abnormal behavior is very helpful in understanding how to treat it

· This definition and using it as an approach is not perfect

· It relies heavily on self report

· It relies on a value judgment of what constitutes normal or acceptable

· It can be highly subjective

· The dichotomy of abnormal vs normal is to simplistic

· As we have learned in this class, behavior often exists on a spectrum like many other things

Anxiety Disorders

· Generalized Anxiety Disorder

· Phobic Disorder

· Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

· Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

· Etiology (Causes)

· Biology

· Conditioning and Learning

· Cognitive Factors

· Stress

Mood Disorders

· Major Depressive Disorder

· Bipolar Disorder (I & II)

· Often misrepresented in the media, society (“she’s so bipolar”)

· Dysthymia

· Etiology

· Genetics

· Neurochemicals

· Norepinephrine and serotonin

· Cognitive Factors

· Interpersonal Factors

· Stress

Psychological Disorders and Mental Health

· These are just some examples of the ways in which behavior or individual psychology can be abnormal

· By understanding mental illness we can better predict outcomes and plan treatment

· Understanding illness paves the way to creating health

· Mental Health is as important as medical health

· Some would insist that mental health is the same as medical health

Therapy

Mental Health Stigma?

· Before we begin learning about psychotherapy, take a moment to ask yourself:

· What do you think about someone who goes to therapy?

· What does it mean if a couple is in couple’s counseling?

· How do you feel about someone who has a severe mental illness?

· What do you think therapy is like? What are your expectations of therapy?

· There has long been a negative stigma associated with therapy and those with mental illness

· We often mislabel people (crazy, bipolar, etc.)

· If you go to therapy, you must be messed up

· If your relationship needs counseling, it’s too late

· We often fear what we don’t understand

· There are many misconceptions about mental illness and mental health diagnosis

What is therapy?

· The textbook describes research estimating over 400 different types of therapy!

· Therapy is: meeting with a trained professional to address mental, relational, and emotional concerns

· Insight therapy

· Behavior therapy

· Biomedical therapy

· Psychotherapy is: “talk therapy”

· Trained Professionals

· Psychologist

· Psychiatrist

· Social Worker

· Licensed Professional Counselor

· Marriage and Family Therapist

Insight Therapy

· Psychoanalysis

· Developed by Freud

· Focusing on unconscious, defense mechanisms

· Internal conflicts between id, ego, and superego from previous chapter (2)

· Free association

· Client spontaneously expresses their thoughts and feelings as they occur with no filter (word vomit)

· This is what we typically think of when we think of therapy

· Client laying on therapist’s couch, therapist is guiding client through exploration of unresolved conflicts

Client Centered Therapy

· Carl Rogers

· Humanistic perspective

· Also known as person-centered therapy

· A form of insight therapy that emphasizes the importance of the client

· Pace and direction of therapy follows client’s emotional comfort and safety

Group Therapy

· Group therapy helps people find others to share in a common experience

· Normalize struggle

· Gain strength through support

· Open forum for discussion

· Alcoholics Anonymous

· Divorce Recovery

Behavioral Therapy

· Identify problematic behavior, learn and reinforce new, more adaptive behavior

· Reinforce desired behavior

· Most common is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

· Focuses on connection between thoughts, feelings, actions

· By changing one element, you change all

Biomedical therapy

· We discussed the BioPsychoSocial model of illness earlier

· Problems come from biological factors, in addition to psychological and social factors

· Biomedical therapy includes physiological interventions

· Medication

· Treatment of anxiety, depression, psychosis, mood disorder

· Coordination of care with mental health practitioner and medical professional

· Psychiatrist, Primary Care Doctor, Nurse Practitioner