Therapies for Mental Health

Objectives

• Explain what is meant by therapy
• Explain the two main types of mental health treatment, with advantages of each
• Explain differences between psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and biomedical therapy
• Discuss ethical issues of therapy

active listening

aversive conditioning

behavior modification

biologically based

therapy

cognitive restructuring

counterconditioning

flooding

Gestalt

lobotomy

modeling

person-centered

therapy

phenomenology

psychosurgery

psychotherapy

systematic desentization

Background

In recent years, great advancements have been made in the field of psychotherapy, which now can more effectively treat the kinds of problems that people historically have had to struggle with on their own. Students will learn that there are a variety of therapeutic approaches (and mental health professions) that can effectively treat things like phobias, anxiety, and mental disorders either in individual or in group settings.

Students first review the two types of psychotherapy—individual and group—and the different aspects and benefits of both. Students familiarize themselves with changing attitudes about mental health, which has come a long way from the days of confining the mentally ill in asylums.

Students consider the five major types of therapy—psychoanalysis, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and Gestalt—in depth, as each is scrutinized and compared with the others. Students should learn the primary goals, techniques, and issues involved in each of these evolving fields of psychotherapy.

Students examine biomedical therapy and the use (and effects) of drug therapies to treat specific mental disorders. As compared to the past use of "shock treatment" and psychosurgery, students learn that drug therapies and other biomedical approaches are used but limited to the most serious cases.

Students evaluate the issue of whether society has become too drug-dependent. They contrast this view against recent research that shows the effectiveness of psychotherapy to achieve overall wellness.

Finally, students study ethical issues for therapists—and tips on choosing a therapist, useful information to those who might someday wish to talk with a supportive mental health professional about what is troubling them.

Further Resources

Belkin, G. S. Contemporary Psychotherapies. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Publishing, 1987.

Rogers, C. On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970.

For Discussion

Review

1. What are the two main types of psychotherapeutic treatment?

2. What are five of the psychoanalytic techniques developed by Sigmund Freud?

3. What are four approaches to behavioral counterconditioning?

4. What is the ABCD theory of Rational Emotive Therapy?

Critical Thinking

1. It is 1936 and you are suddenly stricken with a debilitating mental illness. What are your options and what is likely to happen to you?

2. Why are high ethical standards for therapists important in individual therapy?

3. Which of the psychotherapeutic techniques discussed in this chapter do you think could be the most hurtful if applied improperly? Why?

4. What kinds of issues keep people with problems from seeking psychotherapy?

5. If you had the opportunity to use one of the psychotherapies described in this chapter, which would you prefer? Why?

Activities

1. Treating the Condition

Divide students into six groups with one group to act as clients and the other five groups to act as psychoanalytical, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and Gestalt therapists. Clients take turns coming up with specific problems or disorders, and therapy groups suggest approaches and techniques they would use to help the person.

Debate: For and Against Therapy

Divide the class into two teams with one side standing "for" and the other "against" the idea of seeking a person with mental health issues seeking therapy. As each side defends its position, three student judges determine which was the more effective debate team and why.

3. Internet: Mental Health Drug Sites

Direct the students in pairs to research promotional Web sites for new drug therapies. Have them evaluate the supposed usefulness of the drugs and analyze the advertising approaches used to market the "products."

4. Special Sources: Technique Specialization

Ask students to use the library to select and research one aspect of the five psychotherapies presented in the chapter. Students should write short reports on their findings.