AP Psychology Treatment and Therapy Terminology

AP Psychology Treatment and Therapy Terminology Insight awareness of previously unconscious feelings and memories and how the this awareness influences present feelings and behaviors; working through childhood conflicts Insight Therapy psychotherapy designed to help an individual come to a better awareness and understanding of his/her feelings, motivations and actions; includes psychoanalysis, Gestalt, client-centered therapy. Interpretation in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors in order to promote insight Lithium biological treatment; a chemical that provides an effective drug therapy for the mood swings of bipolar (manic-depressive) disorders; naturally occurring salt; effective in 75% of bipolar cases; needs to be monitored closely for correct dosage treatment; do not know how lithium works exactly Modeling behavioral technique; process of learning a behavior by watching someone perform the behavior; helps relieve anxiety to watch someone else before the client tries (friend touches snake and lives, so can you...); very effective when combined with positive reinforcement (especially in helping people with schizophrenia); don't forget the sociocultural implications Primary Prevention techniques and programs designed to improve social environment so that new cases do not develop; includes family planning, genetic counseling, sex education, effects of drugs, etc.; key word here is prevention (education) Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique; designed to bring repressed feelings and thoughts to conscious awareness so the person can deal with these issues more effectively; uses free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences--and the therapist's interpretations of them--released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight Psychopharmacology the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior Psychostimulants biological treatment; heightens alertness and arousal; commonly used to treat AD/HD case because they increase the electrical activity of the frontal lobe and therefore cause a calming effect rather than stimulating; includes Ritalin Psychosurgery biological treatment; brain surgery to change a person's behavior; includes a prefrontal lobotomy; rarely used today Psychotherapy the use of psychological techniques to treat disorder; can take many forms (group, individual, family, couples, etc)