Therapy and Treatment
Putting It Together: Treatment and Therapy
Learning Objectives
In this module, you learned to
- describe the treatment of mental health disorders over time
- identify and explain the basic characteristics of various types of therapy
- explain and compare treatment modalities
In this module, you covered a full gamut of treatment methods, including psychotherapy in its many forms as well as biomedical therapies. Put yourself in the shoes of a mental health counselor. Which treatment method or methods would you prefer to study or utilize in your practice? Which type of counseling would you prefer to seek out as a patient? Review the common types of psychotherapy below:
- Psychodynamic Therapy: The primary focus is to reveal the unconscious content of a client’s psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. Although its roots are in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy tends to be briefer and less intensive than traditional psychoanalysis.
- Behavioral Therapy: These methods focus exclusively on behaviors, or on behaviors in combination with thoughts and feelings that might be causing them. Those who practice behavioral therapy tend to look more at specific, learned behaviors and how the environment has an impact on those behaviors. Two primary types include operant conditioning and classical conditioning.
- Cognitive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Cognitive therapy seeks to identify maladaptive cognitions (thoughts), appraisals, beliefs, and reactions, with the aim of influencing destructive negative emotions. CBT combines cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy to address maladaptive cognitions as well as dysfunctional behaviors.
- Humanistic Therapy: This form is explicitly concerned with the human context of the development of the individual with an emphasis on subjective meaning, a rejection of determinism, and a concern for positive growth rather than pathology. It posits an inherent human capacity to maximize potential.
- Group Therapy: In this type of social therapy, one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group.
- Eclectic Therapy: Recently, many practitioners have begun to take what’s known as an eclectic approach, meaning they combine aspects of multiple types of therapies. This approach can be useful in that is uses the techniques and theories that work best in a specific patient’s scenario, rather than sticking solely to the methods of one discipline.
Biomedical therapies approach psychological disorders as having biological causes and focus on eliminating or alleviating symptoms of psychological disorders. The mind and body are viewed as connected; poor physical health leads to poor mental health, and vice versa.
Biomedical therapies and psychotherapy are often used in conjunction with one another to treat the whole person. Not all individuals will require biomedical therapy; however, for some, biomedical approaches can help enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic a