My Favorite Therapy

My favorite therapy is the Biopsychosocial Therapy. I think the mind is a very powerful thing. I think having a  positive outlook on whatever you are facing is half the battle. The traditional therapeutic techniques include stress management, deep breathing, progressive relaxation, meditation, guide imagery, autogenic training, biofeedback, and hypnosis; other useful techniques are yoga, massage, accupressure, repetitive prayer, and cognitive restructuring. In addition to relaxation response techniques, health promotion, self-management and social support are also helpful. Once you find the best technique for you, it can be used over and over again in different situations and can be used without the help of a therapist.

Headliner: Therapist Deb Penney

Why would you choose me as your counselor? I have had some difficult times in my life, as we all have. My life experience would help me be empathic and genuine as a therapist. I went through a postpartum depression (PPD) after my second child was born. I think I would be best at counseling someone that is also going through (PPD). I know the helplessness and lonely feeling that comes along with it. At a time that is supposed to be a happy and joyous, it can also come with anxiety and depression. Sometimes knowing someone else knows how you feel can help. Seeing, in the darkest times, that others have gone through it and are happy again can be encouraging. Being educated on PPD can help explain the symptoms and can therefore be the beginning of overcoming them. A lot of the techniques used in the Biopsychosocial Therapy can be used to control the anxiety that someone may experience with PPD such as stress management, relaxation techniques, social support, health promotion (eating right and exercise),  and self-management. I would work with the client to use these techniques to help overcome their anxiety. Reassuring them that they WILL get better and feel "normal" again would be talked about at each session. I would be their living proof.

Classical Psychoanalysis

Theory: Classical Psychoanalysis
 
Theorist: Sigmund Freud

Focus: Psychoanalysis concerns the functioning of the mind. It refers to a specific type of treatment where the therapist, upon hearing the thoughts of the patient, formulates and then explains the unconscious basis for the patient's symptoms and character problems. During psychoanalytic treatment, the patient tells the therapist various thoughts and feelings. The counselor listens carefully, formulates, and then intervenes to attempt to help the patient develop insight into unconscious factors causing the problems. This type of therapy is helpful for phobias, hysteria, obsessional neurosis, and abnormalities of character that replaced these mental disorders. The most common defense mechanisms include denial, displacement, projection, reaction formation, undoing, introjection, rationalization, regression, and sublimation. (Austad, 2009)

Strengths: Patient works through his or her major conflicts. The patient understands more about his or her self-defeating habits and immature defenses, has freed up cathected libido, and can channel their anxiety into a more mature character structure.

Weakness: The length of therapy for this type of treatment is long. To be effective, the patient and therapist could meet 4-5 times a week for 4-7 years. I do not think there are many people who could commit to that much time in therapy.

Techniques Used: Assessment and diagnosis aims at determining if a person has a sufficient ego to tolerate therapy as well as the capacity to benefit from the therapy. The psychoanalyst is a neutral authority figure. Therapeutic techniques include free association, and interpretations of resistance, transference, defenses and symptoms, and dream analysis. (Austad, 2009) The specifics of the therapist's interventions typically include confronting and clarifying the patient's pathological defenses, wishes and guilt. Through the analysis of resistance (unconscious barriers to treatment), and transference to the analyst of expectations, psychoanalysis aims to unearth wishes and emotions from prior unresolved conflicts, in order to help the patient perceive and resolve lingering problems.

Personal example: In the preschool that I teach at there are a good number of children that are adopted from other countries. I had a little boy adopted from Russia that had been in an orphanage. He did not get held or touched when being feed as an infant. As a preschooler he showed signs of anxiety and had a low frustration level. According to Freud, his libidinal energy suffered during the oral stage of development. 

References:

Austad, C. (2009). Counseling and Psychotherapy Today, New York: The McGraw-Hill

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Biopsychosocial Therapy

Theory: Biopsychosocial Therapy

Therorist: George Engel

Focus: The biopsychosocial approach emphasizes values that encourage patients to take charge of their own health, be sensitive to their body’s changing patterns, and recognize symptoms of illnesses at an early stage. Physical and mental disturbances can be seen as opportunities for personal growth and transformation. (Austad, 2009) It is a way of looking at the mind and body of a patient as two important systems that are interlinked.

Strengths: Research shows that mind-body interventions have positive effects on psychological functioning and quality of life. (Austad, 2009)

Weakness: The patient has to invest and believe in the treatment and work at it at home.

Techniques: Although not a single system of core values, attitudes, perspectives, and practice tools the cornerstones of biopsychosocial interventions are; Stress management based on relaxation response, learning theory, and cognitive restructuring, Health promotion and prevention, Self-management, and Social support.

Personal example: My youngest son was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder when he was in the 5^th grade. He was very anxious about going to school and it got in the way of his learning. He went to see a psychologist and he taught him some relaxation techniques he could do before he went to be. He would start with his feet and work his way up his body. He would squeeze or tighten a body part and then relax it and use deep breathing techniques. If nothing else, it helped take his mind of being anxious before he went to bed and he fell asleep faster.

References:

Austad, C. (2009). Counseling and Psychotherapy Today, New York: The McGraw-Hill

Companies, Inc.

Retrieved August 5, 2011 from  

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Biopsychosocial_model

Feminist Therapy

Theory: Feminist Therapy

Therapist: Jean Miller

Focus: Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Most of women’s mental health problems stem from living in a sexist society that assigns them an inferior status with less economic and political power than males.

Strengths: The Feminist therapy can serve as a model in terms of not only dealing with issues for women but all diversity as it applies to inequality with relation to gender, race, class, and sexual orientation.

Weakness: Many people try to dismiss the feminist therapy as not being a real problem and think it is just the ranting and raving of a small group of dissatisfied trouble-making woman. (Austad, 2009)

Techniques: Therapeutic techniques include consciousness raising, education, feminist group therapy, empowerment and assertiveness training, and creating an egalitarian relationship. The process of therapy begins with raised consciousness about gender roles, then deals with the rage and resentment about consequences, and ends successfully when the patient applies the therapy to her everyday life. (Austad, 2009)

Personal example: One example I have of being treated differently because of my sex is when my husband and I went to buy a new car. The salesmen talked to him about all the “technical” stuff and just looked at me and said “I bet you want to know what colors is comes in.” I looked at my husband and said, “I don’t care what color it comes in, we are not buying a car here!” And we left!

References:

Austad, C. (2009). Counseling and Psychotherapy Today, New York: The McGraw-Hill

Companies, Inc.

Cognitive Therapy

Theroy: Cognitive Therapy

Therorist: Aaron Beck

Focus: Cognitive therapy seeks to help the patient overcome difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional thinking, behavior, and emotional responses. Cognitive therapy aims to help the patient recognize and reassess his patterns of negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts that more closely reflect reality.

Strengths: Teaches patients to be their own cognitive therapists.

Weakness: In order to benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy patients need to ensure that they can give a considerable level of commitment and involvement.

Techniques: Therapeutic techniques include identification and questioning of underlying automatic thoughts and maladaptive assumptions or themes; hypothesis testing and Socratic dialogue; and many exercises including activity scheduling, decatastrophizing, decentering, redefining advantages and disadvantages, role playing, and guided discovery. Through cognitive mapping, therapists can map the important elements of their patient’s experiences. (Austad, 2009)

Personal example:  I can relate to the cognitive distortion of personalization. There are times when something might happen that have nothing to do with me but I feel responsible somehow. For example, I used to work with a teacher that was very moody, if I came into work and she was in a bad mood, I automatically assumed that I had done something wrong and she was mad at me. After working with her for half the year, I had to finally make myself go about the day as usual and not take her moods personally.

References:

Austad, C. (2009). Counseling and Psychotherapy Today, New York: The McGraw-Hill

Companies, Inc.

Behavior Therapy

Theroy: Behavior Therapy

Theorist: B.F. Skinner

Focus:  Behavior therapy is an approach to psychotherapy based on a learning theory which aims to treat psychopathology trough techniques designed to reinforce desired behavior and eliminate undesired behaviors. It is based on classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and modeling.

Strengths: More behavior therapies have been reported as successful and effective for specific problems, diagnoses, and populations when using this therapy than for any other therapy (Austad, 2009)

Weakness: There are so many techniques available to use that it may be hard to match the best technique for the patient.

Techniques Used: Models of behavior therapy include exposure therapies such as assertiveness, flooding, implosive therapy, and eye movement desensitization therapy. Contingency management therapy could include self-direction, self-control, token economy, aversive conditioning and punishment. Modeling therapies such as self-efficacy, problem-solving, self-instruction and stress inoculation, and social skills training can be used effectively. The therapeutic techniques are tailored to the unique needs of each client.

Personal example: I am a preschool teacher and I use the token economy as a class management tool. We have a kindness jar and when we “catch” a student doing something nice for someone they get to put a stone in the jar. When the jar is full the class decides votes on what the reward with be (pizza party, ice cream party…)

References:

Austad, C. (2009). Counseling and Psychotherapy Today, New York: The McGraw-Hill

Companies, Inc.

Retrieved August 3, 2011 from  

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-behavior-therapy.htm

Client-Centered Therapy

Theroy: Client-Centered Therapy

Theorist: Carl Rogers

Focus:  The focus of the client-centered therapy is that all humans possess a drive toward self-actualization, or a growth process that activates in the context of a genuine, caring, empathetic, nonjudgmental relationship. (Austad, 2009) The process of client self-discovery and actualization occurred in response to the therapist supplying a consistent empathic understanding of the client’s experience, based on the attitude of acceptance and respect. This self-discovery has proven to be especially beneficial to those in eating disorder treatment clinics, trauma recovery, treatment for alcoholism and cocaine rehab.

Strengths: The genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and empathic listening by the therapist, portrays an attitude of warmth, acceptance, caring, and respect that emanates from one person to another.

Weakness: It is important that the patient find the right fit in a therapist. They must feel comfortable enough to be able to open up fully and the therapist must be able to be genuine and empathetic.

Techniques Used: Therapeutic techniques include the therapeutic relationship itself, reflection, self-disclosure, and sharing experiences. The process of therapy brings the patient from a state of incongruence to congruence. Termination occurs when the patient decides he or she is ready, as only the client determines the outcome.

Personal example: I went through a post-partum depression after my second son was born. I went to a therapist that was very caring and understanding and could actually describe the way I was feeling better than I could myself. Knowing someone understood how I felt and what I was going through was a great deal of comfort for me.

References:

Austad, C. (2009). Counseling and Psychotherapy Today, New York: The McGraw-Hill

Companies, Inc.

Retrieved August 1, 2011 from  

http://www.casapalmera.com/articles/client-centered-therapy/