Summary Clinical Psychology (EPPP)

Clinical Psychology (EPPP) Clinical Psychology - - the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological and behavioral disorders Assumptions of Psychodynamic Therapies - - human behavior is motivated by unconscious processes - early development has a profound effect on adult functioning - universal principles explain personality development and behavior - insight into unconscious processes is a key component of therapy Freudian Psychoanalysis - - human beings are determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivations, biological and instinctual needs and drives, and psychosexual events that occur during the first five years of life Freud's Personality Theory - - composed of two theories: structural (drive) theory and developmental theory Structural Theory (Freud) - - the personality is composed of three structures: the id, ego, and superego Id - - present at birth and consists of the person's life and death instincts - operates on pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification of its instinctual drives in order to avoid tension Ego - - develops at six months of age - operates ont eh reality principle that defers gratifcation until an appropriate object is available in reality and employs thinking - mediates conflicting demands of pleasure and reality Superego - - develops between four and five years - represents an internalization of society's values and standards - attempts to permanently block socially unacceptable drives Developmental Theory (Freud) - - emphasizes the sexual drives of the id and proposes that an individual's personality is formed during childhood as a result of certain experiences during psychosexual stages of development - over or undergratification of a person's sexual needs during a stage is associated with different personality outcomes Oral Stage - - Freud's first stage of personality development, from birth to about age 2, during which the instincts of infants are focused on the mouth as the primary pleasure center. Anal Stage - - Freud's second stage of psychosexual development where the primary sexual focus is on the elimination or holding onto feces. The stage is often thought of as representing a child's ability to control his or her own world. Phallic Stage - - Freud's third stage of personality development, from about age 4 through age 7, during which children obtain gratification primarily from the genitals. Latency Stage - - Freud's fourth stage of psychosexual development where sexuality is repressed in the unconscious and children focus on identifying with their same sex parent and interact with same sex peers. Genital Stage - - Freud's last stage of personality development, from the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of childhood resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence). Defense Mechanisms - - occur when the ego is unable to ward off danger through rational, realistic means - these operate on an unconscious level and deny or distort reality (danger or anxiety helps alert the ego to impending threats, such as conflict between the id and the superego) Repression - - defense mechanism in which id's drives are excluded from conscious awareness by maintaining them in the unconscious Reaction Formation - - defense mechanism in which one avoids an anxiety evoking instict by doing the opposite View of Psychopathology (Freudian) - - maladaptive behavior results from an unconscious, unresolved conflict that occurred during childhood Psychoanalytic Therapy - - goal is to reduce symptoms by bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness and integrating previously repressed material into the personality - use free associations, dreams, resistances, and transferences to confront, clarify, interpret, and work through Free Associations - - a method in psychotherapy where a patient is encouraged to sit back, relax, free his/her mind, refrain from trying to be logical, and report every image or idea that enters his/her awareness, usually in response to some word or picture that the therapist provides as an initial stimulus Psychic Determinism - - belief that all behaviors are meaningful and serve some psychological function - ex slips of tongue (parapraxes) are expressions of unconscious motives Psychoanalytic Therapy: Confrontation - - making statements that help the client see her behavior in a new way Psychoanalytic Therapy: Clarification - - restating the client's remarks and feelings in clearer terms Psychoanalytic Therapy: Interpretation - - more explicitly connecting current behavior to unconscious processes - more effective when they address motives and conflicts that are close to consciousness Psychoanalytic Therapy: Working Through - - following cathartic release of recalling unconscious materials that contribute to behavior, client gradually assimilates new insights into his personality - longest stage of therapy Transference - - patient's response to the therapist's actual behavior and attempt to imbue that behavior with personal meaning Countertransference - - not just the therapist's distorted response to the patient, but a potential source of information about the patient and contributor to the curative process Assumptions of Alder's Individual Psychology - - disagreed with emphasis on role of unconscious instinctual forces - states all behavior is goal directed and purposeful - behavior is largely motivated by a person's future goals rather than past events Alder's Individual Psychology: Inferiority - - develops during childhood as the result of real or percieved biological, psychological, or social weakness Alder's Individual Psychology: Superiority - - inherent tendency to stive toward "perfect completion" Alder's Individual Psychology: Style of Life - - the ways a person chooses to compensate for inferiority and achieve superiority determine this and impact a person's personality - impacted by early experiences, such as family context Healthy Style of Life (Alder) - - life is marked by goals that reflect optimism and confidence and