By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Distinguish between psychotherapy and biomedical therapy
- Recognize various orientations to psychotherapy
- Discuss psychotropic medications and recognize which medications are used to treat specific psychological disorders
One of the goals of therapy is to help a person stop repeating and reenacting destructive patterns and to start looking for better solutions to difficult situations. This goal is reflected in the following poem:
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson (1993)
Chapter One
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost. . . . I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in . . . it's a habit . . . but,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter Four
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter Five
I walk down another street.
Two types of therapy are psychotherapy and biomedical therapy. Both types of treatment help people with mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Psychotherapy is a psychological treatment that employs various methods to help someone overcome personal problems, or to attain personal growth. In modern practice, it has evolved into what is known as psychodynamic therapy, which will be discussed later. Biomedical therapy involves medication and/or medical procedures to treat psychological disorders. First, we will explore the various psychotherapeutic orientations outlined in Table 16.1 (many of these orientations were discussed in the Introduction chapter).
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Psychodynamic psychotherapy | Talk therapy based on belief that the unconscious and childhood conflicts impact behavior | Patient talks about their past |
| Play therapy | Psychoanalytical therapy wherein interaction with toys is used instead of talk; used in child therapy | Patient (child) acts out family scenes with dolls |
| Behavior therapy | Principles of learning applied to change undesirable behaviors | Patient learns to overcome fear of elevators through several stages of relaxation techniques |
| Cognitive therapy | Awareness of cognitive process helps patients eliminate thought patterns that lead to distress | Patient learns not to overgeneralize failure based on single failure |
| Cognitive-behavioral therapy | Work to change cognitive distortions and self-defeating behaviors | Patient learns to identify self-defeating behaviors to overcome an eating disorder |
| Humanistic therapy | Increase self-awareness and acceptance through focus on conscious thoughts | Patient learns to articulate thoughts that keep them from achieving their goals |
The content of this course has been taken from the free Psychology textbook by Openstax