Key Terms for Treatment
- asylum
- institution created for the specific purpose of housing people with psychological disorders
- aversive conditioning
- counterconditioning technique that pairs an unpleasant stimulant with an undesirable behaviour
- behaviour therapy
- therapeutic orientation that employs principles of learning to help clients change undesirable behaviours
- biomedical therapy
- treatment that involves medication and/or medical procedures to treat psychological disorders
- cognitive therapy
- form of psychotherapy that focuses on how a person’s thoughts lead to feelings of distress, with the aim of helping them change these irrational thoughts
- cognitive-behavioural therapy
- form of psychotherapy that aims to change cognitive distortions and self-defeating behaviours
- comorbid disorder
- individual who has two or more diagnoses, which often includes a substance abuse diagnosis and another psychiatric diagnosis, such as depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia
- confidentiality
- therapist cannot disclose confidential communications to any third party, unless mandated or permitted by law
- counterconditioning
- classical conditioning therapeutic technique in which a client learns a new response to a stimulus that has previously elicited an undesirable behaviour
- couples therapy
- two people in an intimate relationship who are having difficulties and are trying to resolve them with therapy
- cultural competence
- therapist’s understanding and attention to issues of race, culture, and ethnicity in providing treatment
- deinstitutionalization
- process of closing large asylums and integrating people back into the community where they can be treated locally
- dream analysis
- technique in psychoanalysis in which patients recall their dreams and the psychoanalyst interprets them to reveal unconscious desires or struggles
- electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
- type of biomedical therapy that involves using an electrical current to induce seizures in a person to help alleviate the effects of severe depression
- exposure therapy
- counterconditioning technique in which a therapist seeks to treat a client’s fear or anxiety by presenting the feared object or situation with the idea that the person will eventually get used to it
- family therapy
- special form of group therapy consisting of one or more families
- free association
- technique in psychoanalysis in which the patient says whatever comes to mind at the moment
- group therapy
- treatment modality in which 5–10 people with the same issue or concern meet together with a trained clinician
- humanistic therapy
- therapeutic orientation aimed at helping people become more self-aware and accepting of themselves
- individual therapy
- treatment modality in which the client and clinician meet one-on-one
- intake
- therapist’s first meeting with the client in which the therapist gathers specific information to address the client’s immediate needs
- involuntary treatment
- therapy that is mandated by the courts or other systems
- nondirective therapy
- therapeutic approach in which the therapist does not give advice or provide interpretations but helps the person identify conflicts and understand feelings
- play therapy
- therapeutic process, often used with children, that employs toys to help them resolve psychological problems
- psychoanalysis
- therapeutic orientation developed by Sigmund Freud that employs free association, dream analysis, and transference to uncover repressed feelings
- psychotherapy
- (also, psychodynamic psychotherapy) psychological treatment that employs various methods to help someone overcome personal problems, or to attain personal growth
- rational emotive therapy (RET)
- form of cognitive-behavioural therapy
- relapse
- repeated drug use and/or alcohol use after a period of improvement from substance abuse
- Rogerian (client-centered therapy)
- non-directive form of humanistic psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogers that emphasizes unconditional positive regard and self-acceptance
- strategic family therapy
- therapist guides the therapy sessions and develops treatment plans for each family member for specific problems that can addressed in a short amount of time
- structural family therapy
- therapist examines and discusses with the family the boundaries and structure of the family: who makes the rules, who sleeps in the bed with whom, how decisions are made, and what are the boundaries within the family
- systematic desensitization
- form of exposure therapy used to treat phobias and anxiety disorders by exposing a person to the feared object or situation through a stimulus hierarchy
- token economy
- controlled setting where individuals are reinforced for desirable behaviours with tokens (e.g., poker chip) that be exchanged for items or privileges
- transference
- process in psychoanalysis in which the patient transfers all of the positive or negative emotions associated with the patient’s other relationships to the psychoanalyst
- unconditional positive regard
- fundamental acceptance of a person regardless of what they say or do; term associated with humanistic psychology
- virtual reality exposure therapy
- uses a simulation rather than the actual feared object or situation to help people conquer their fears
- voluntary treatment
- therapy that a person chooses to attend in order to obtain relief from her symptoms
