Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. It focuses on how humans interact and function. It also deals with how to treat those who appear to be dysfunctional, either in their thoughts, behaviors, or emotions (Huffman, 2012, p.532). In Chapter 14 of “Psychology in Action”, we discussed psychological disorders and abnormal behaviors. Chapter 15 covers therapy. Therapy is a remedial attempt to “cure” emotional, mental, or physical health problems (“Therapy- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”).
When therapists deal with patients with psychological problems and mental disorders, they use psychotherapy. Psychotherapy involves using specific techniques to improve the psychological functioning of the patient. In psychotherapy, therapists help their patients adjust to life. Psychotherapy has many counterparts that are grouped together and called insight therapies because they increase awareness into underlying motives and help improve the attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors of the patients (Huffman, 2012, p. 533).
One of the most debates insight therapies is psychoanalysis, which has a counterpart called psychodynamic therapy. Psychoanalysis is when a person’s mind is analyzed. It is based on Sigmund Freud’s belief that those behaviors that are abnormal are caused by unconscious conflicts amongst the id, ego, and superego (Huffman, 2012, p. 533). Freud believed that in the ego, there are defense mechanisms that are so strong that they are able to block unconscious thoughts from coming to consciousness. Defense mechanisms distort reality and self-deception (Huffman, 2012, p. 464). In order to avoid these defense mechanisms, psychoanalytic therapists “trick” the ego by using the five major methods of psychoanalysi...
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Have you ever needed to conduct psycho therapy on someone but you didn’t know how? Fear no more, because I am about to tell you about the 4 main methods of therapy, which will let you help your friends and relatives in ways that you never thought possible before. The four types of therapy I will be talking about today are psychoanalytical, humanistic, cognitive, and behavioral. You may want to determine what method best suits you, or what method will best suit the situation you or your friend is faced with.
Therapy is as unique and diverse as the people who seek it. There are many types of therapy that are used to treat different kinds of problems. There is no perfect or absolute form of therapy, because therapy varies for each person. One of the branches of therapy is humanistic therapy. This therapy is considered an insight therapy, along with psychoanalytic therapies. However, there are differences between humanistic and psychoanalytic therapy. Humanistic therapy focuses on self-development, personal growth and responsibilities. This type of therapy guides the client to find their own answers. The therapy focuses on emotional awareness: how the person feels versus why that person feels that way (Oltmanns & Emery, 2012).
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
...we must understand that these patients involve a long process that allows them to change their belief system. Cognitive therapy uses looking at the clients thought processes to get closer look at their abnormal ideals and works on finding a better way to thinking about life. The psychoanalytic therapy looks at how a person's childhood events affects their adult life. These therapist work on getting rid of this ideas and help them find comfort in them.
Psychotherapy, or other wise known as talk therapy, is a way to treat people with a metal disorder by helping explain the illness and for them to have a better understanding of what is going on. It teaches people to handle their problems themselves, giving them strategies to work through the issue at hand that day or moment. Psychotherapy ultimately gives the client the power to help themselves with out the therapist having to be there with them in their day to day lives.
One of the main therapeutic methods for mental health issues is cognitive behavioral therapy. I’m a huge fan of this because behavioral psychology was my major due to how fascinating it is. Cognitive behavioral therapy is basically “a type of psychotherapy in which negative patterns of thought about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behavior patterns”
Shelder (2010) describes seven distinguished features of Psychodynamic approach compared to other available therapy forms in his review: focus of effect in relation to client’s express of emotions; understanding resistance in terms of avoidance of important topics and/ or distracting behaviors in therapy sessions; exploring client’s patterns in terms of behaviors, reasoning, emotions, experiences, and connections to others; bringing in the client’s past; examining relational factors and dealings; highlighting the importance of therapy, and bringing in dreams, wishes, or fantasies for exploration.
These psychotherapies involve the analyst fully participating to talk and understand the patient’s neurotic symptoms, and therefore decreasing it. The therapist essentially focuses on “Listening and taking part with the client in exploring and experiencing what is going on between them” (Oatley 1984). Some involve group or family therapies; alternatively the main popular type is the individual one to one therapies, such as the psychoanalytic and the behavioural approaches.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.
Freud, S. (1957b). Some character types met with in psychoanalytic work. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 14, pp. 309–333). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1916)
Boneau, C. A., Kimble, G. A., and Wertheimer, M. (1996) Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology, Volume II. Washington D.C. and Mahwah, NJ: American Psychological Association & Erlbaum Associates, Inc.