PSYC 3082 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS
Definition of psychotherapy - Answers - Specialized formal interaction between mental
health practitioner and a client in which therapeutic relationship is established to help
resolve symptoms of a mental disorder.
Murdock (2009) A good theory always has - Answers - - Precision and test-ability
- Parsimony
- Practicality
- Stimulation
- Empirical validity
Stages of psychotherapy - Answers - Assessment and observation -> Case formulation
-> Intervention plan -> Intervention implementation -> Evaluation
Delivery of psychotherapy - Answers - Individually (most common)
Sometimes family setting
Couples counselling
Therapeutic communities
E-therapy
Intervention only design (B) - Answers - Monitor behavior after intervention and observe
significant change in behaviour
Baseline-Intervention design (A-B) - Answers - Monitor behaviour before and after
intervention and observe behaviour.
Weaknesses of A-B design - Answers - Results may be due to alternative explanations
- History
- Maturation
-Testing effects
Successive conditions (A-B-A-B) - Answers - Monitor behaviour before intervention, and
then after intervention, then remove treatment and observe behaviour, and then
implement intervention again and observe treatment. If behaviour changes only during
treatment, we can rule out alternative explanations and conclude that the treatment
works.
Efficacy studies - Answers - Emphasise the internal validity of the experimental design.
Very controlled, dont have much external validity.
- Controlling types of patients in the study
- Using manuals to standardize treatment
- Training and monitoring therapists
- Controlling the number of treatment sessions
- Random assignment to conditions and the use of blinding procedures for raters
, Effectiveness studies - Answers - Naturalistic setting, not closing monitored. Results are
less impressive but results are more generalisable.
- Clients not preselected
- Number of treatment sessions not controlled
- Therapy not manualised
- Therapist adherence is not monitored
the effect size of the intervention is generally based on within-subject changes from pre-
post intervention.
Is psychotherapy efficacious/effective? - Answers - Yes, it is efficacious, 80% of patients
improve after psychotherapy.
Most likely effective, patients report improvements as it is practiced in the real world.
The dodo bird conjecture - Answers - All psychotherapies, regardless of their specific
components, produce equivalent outcomes.
Lambert and Barley (2001); also, Hubble, Duncan and Miller (1999) variances in what
impacts psychotherapy - Answers - 30% of variance in patient outcomes is due to
therapeutic alliance, 15% due to specific techniques of psychotherapy, 15% due to
client expectations, 40% due to changes outside of therapy.
Therapeutic relationship (alliance) - Answers - Most often cited factor. Many
researchers maintain that the therapeutic alliance accounts for dramatically more of the
variability in outcomes than any specific factors based on theoretical approaches.
Core components in the therapist client relationship - Answers - - Therapist variables
(interpersonal style, therapist attributes.
- Facilitative factors (therapists empathy, respect, non-judgemental attitude)
- Theraputic alliance (Tasks [beahviours and processes that constitute the work of
therapy]. Bonds [trust, confidence and acceptance between client and therapist]. Goals
[objectives of therapy that both the client and therapist endorse].
Why the psychotherapies are argued to be not all equivalent - Answers - Can we put
everyone in one outgroup? CBT is more effective than the non directive relationship
therapy for GAD. Exposure therapy is more effective than relaxation therapy for OCD.
Ongoing debate whether we can collapse across treatments.
Active theraputic ingredients - Answers - Mediational and moderator analyses are
needed to determine what those key ingredients might be - an area of emerging
research.
Initial clinical assessement interview - Answers - 2 Broad purposes: develop theraputic
alliance as well as gather information.
Definition of psychotherapy - Answers - Specialized formal interaction between mental
health practitioner and a client in which therapeutic relationship is established to help
resolve symptoms of a mental disorder.
Murdock (2009) A good theory always has - Answers - - Precision and test-ability
- Parsimony
- Practicality
- Stimulation
- Empirical validity
Stages of psychotherapy - Answers - Assessment and observation -> Case formulation
-> Intervention plan -> Intervention implementation -> Evaluation
Delivery of psychotherapy - Answers - Individually (most common)
Sometimes family setting
Couples counselling
Therapeutic communities
E-therapy
Intervention only design (B) - Answers - Monitor behavior after intervention and observe
significant change in behaviour
Baseline-Intervention design (A-B) - Answers - Monitor behaviour before and after
intervention and observe behaviour.
Weaknesses of A-B design - Answers - Results may be due to alternative explanations
- History
- Maturation
-Testing effects
Successive conditions (A-B-A-B) - Answers - Monitor behaviour before intervention, and
then after intervention, then remove treatment and observe behaviour, and then
implement intervention again and observe treatment. If behaviour changes only during
treatment, we can rule out alternative explanations and conclude that the treatment
works.
Efficacy studies - Answers - Emphasise the internal validity of the experimental design.
Very controlled, dont have much external validity.
- Controlling types of patients in the study
- Using manuals to standardize treatment
- Training and monitoring therapists
- Controlling the number of treatment sessions
- Random assignment to conditions and the use of blinding procedures for raters
, Effectiveness studies - Answers - Naturalistic setting, not closing monitored. Results are
less impressive but results are more generalisable.
- Clients not preselected
- Number of treatment sessions not controlled
- Therapy not manualised
- Therapist adherence is not monitored
the effect size of the intervention is generally based on within-subject changes from pre-
post intervention.
Is psychotherapy efficacious/effective? - Answers - Yes, it is efficacious, 80% of patients
improve after psychotherapy.
Most likely effective, patients report improvements as it is practiced in the real world.
The dodo bird conjecture - Answers - All psychotherapies, regardless of their specific
components, produce equivalent outcomes.
Lambert and Barley (2001); also, Hubble, Duncan and Miller (1999) variances in what
impacts psychotherapy - Answers - 30% of variance in patient outcomes is due to
therapeutic alliance, 15% due to specific techniques of psychotherapy, 15% due to
client expectations, 40% due to changes outside of therapy.
Therapeutic relationship (alliance) - Answers - Most often cited factor. Many
researchers maintain that the therapeutic alliance accounts for dramatically more of the
variability in outcomes than any specific factors based on theoretical approaches.
Core components in the therapist client relationship - Answers - - Therapist variables
(interpersonal style, therapist attributes.
- Facilitative factors (therapists empathy, respect, non-judgemental attitude)
- Theraputic alliance (Tasks [beahviours and processes that constitute the work of
therapy]. Bonds [trust, confidence and acceptance between client and therapist]. Goals
[objectives of therapy that both the client and therapist endorse].
Why the psychotherapies are argued to be not all equivalent - Answers - Can we put
everyone in one outgroup? CBT is more effective than the non directive relationship
therapy for GAD. Exposure therapy is more effective than relaxation therapy for OCD.
Ongoing debate whether we can collapse across treatments.
Active theraputic ingredients - Answers - Mediational and moderator analyses are
needed to determine what those key ingredients might be - an area of emerging
research.
Initial clinical assessement interview - Answers - 2 Broad purposes: develop theraputic
alliance as well as gather information.
