Behavioral therapies

· Application of learning theories

§ Classical conditioning

§ Operant conditioning

· Focus on behavior rather than inner feelings

· Assumption

§ Problems occur when you learn maladaptive behavior

· E.g., Fear

§ Learning of maladaptive association

· Focus

§ Changing the behavior

Fear Reduction techniques

· Systematic desensitization

§ Create a hierarchy of fear provoking situation

§ Then, under relaxed state, you go through “graded exposure”

§ From the least to the most fear provoking situation

Aversive conditioning

· Focus – elimination of bad habits

§ E.g., smoking

§ Treatment – create an aversive situation

· Smoke 100 cigarettes in 20 minutes

· Develop Sickness

· May quit smoking

Cognitive therapy

· Albert Ellis – Rational emotive therapy

· Assumption

§ Problems are based on faulty thinking

§ Change you thinking – may solve your problem

Faulty Thinking

· Selective abstraction

§ Take things out of context and create faulty inferences

· Overgeneralization

§ Draw a conclusion from a few specific bits of evidence

· Magnification/Minimization

§ Blow it out of proportion

§ Minimize positives

· Personalization

§ Make it personal

· Absolute thinking

§ All or none thinking

Family Systems therapy

· Becoming common

· Treat family as a whole

· Problems

§ Distorted communication

Recent trend

· Brief therapy

§ Improvement often occurs within 8 sessions

§ Motivate therapists and clients to bring successful ending

· Group Therapy

§ Economical

§ Presence of others may help

1. Anxiety Disorders

· Experience excessive levels of negative emotions

· E.g., - Nervous, tense, worried, scared, anxious

· (Bugs, mice, snakes, bats- thing most people are scared of, second is heights than water then public transport, storms, closed places, tunnels or bridges, then speaking in public, then crowds, then speaking ot new acquaintances)

Phobia

· Intense unrealistic fear

§ Specific phobia

§ Social phobia

§ Agoraphobia – fear of open public places

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

· Free-floating anxiety

· A vague, uneasy sense of tension and apprehension

Panic anxiety disorder (Panic attack)

· Talking about it has been known to trigger it

· Sudden onset of panic

· No apparent cause

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

· Happens after experiencing trauma

§ Wars, rape, natural disasters

Treatments

· Behavior therapies

· Drug therapies

§ Benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium)

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

· Obsession – anxiety provoking thoughts

· Compulsion – behaviors you cannot stop

· Often occurs together

· Drug – Clomipramine (prolongs serotonin)

2. Dissociative Disorders

· Broad category of loosely related conditions

· Involve sudden alteration of cognition

Dissociative Identify Disorder