PSYCHOTHERAPY LATEST SUMMARY NOTES

Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies Authors: Frank Dumont Key Points and Terms Evolution of the Science and Profession of Psychology Early attempts to address mental disorders include: ► Pre-Christian, temple-like asklepeia and other retreat centers, which used religio- philosophical lectures, to assuage if not remedy psychological disorders. ► Hellenist physicians understood that the brain was not only the seat of knowledge and learning but also the source of depression, delirium, and madness. ► Hippocrates insisted that his students address illnesses by natural means. Psychotherapy in its present guise did not clearly emerge until the 18th century. Below are some key players: ► Scientific study of the unconscious attributed to renowned polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: ▪ Investigated subliminal perceptions ▪ Coined the term “dynamic” ► Johann Friedrich Herbart: ▪ Attempted to apply mathematics to dynamics ▪ Suggested ideas struggle with one another to access consciousness ► Franz Anton Mesmer and his disciple the Marquis de Puysegur are influential in current understanding of: ▪ hypnotherapy ▪ rapport between therapist and patient ▪ influence of the unconscious ▪ importance of the qualities of the therapist ▪ spontaneous remission of disorders ▪ hypnotic somnambulism ▪ selective function of unconscious memory ▪ role of patient confidence ▪ common factors across effective treatments ► Arthur Schopenhauer ▪ Work strongly influenced Freud ► Gustav T. Fechner ▪ Made distinction between waking and sleeping states ▪ Attempted to measure the intensity of psychic stimulation ► Herman von Helmholtz ▪ Discovered the phenomenon of unconscious inference ► Emil Kraepelin ▪ Attention to classifying diseases ► Carl Gustav Carus Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies 1 ▪ Developed one of the most sophisticated schemas the unconscious that exist, describing several levels to the unconscious ▪ Felt individuals were communicating at conscious and unconscious levels with each other in paravocal, nonverbal, organic, and affective modes in ways individuals were largely unaware of ► Carus Schopenhauer ▪ Principal argument was that we are driven by blind, irrational forces of which we are largely unaware ► Friedrich Nietzsche ▪ Viewed that humans lie to themselves more than they do to each other ► Moritz Benedikt ▪ Developed concept of seeking out and clinically purging “pathogenic secrets” The Impact of Biological Science on Psychotherapy Every encounter with our environment causes a change within us and in our neural functioning. One cannot unlearn knowledge unless neuronal decay and lesions undo memory. Klaus Grawe has noted that “psychotherapy appears to achieve its effect through changes in gene expression at the neuronal level.” And research shows that therapy may be effective through triggering the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) through exposure to nurturant social events. Much of the plasticity in our neuro-emotional systems is achieved through epigenetic changes. In the current age of psychopharmacology, medicating patients for psychological purposes should require clear, preset clinical objectives. Future developments in molecular genetic analysis, cognitive neuropsychology, and social cognitive neuroscience will continue to inform psychotherapy. Clashing Standpoints • Gillath, Adams, and Kunkel (2012) provide a model for uniting disparate approaches to study of human nature. • Resolution can be achieved through systemic integration of many variables that are at play at any moment. • For example, Pope and Wedding (2012) discuss the danger inherent in neglecting to monitor patients who are taking psychotropic medication. Evolutionary Biology and Behavioral Genetics • Anthropologists have discovered at least 400 universal behavioral traits. • Steven Pinker (2002) has further documented the principle that all humans share a unique human nature.