Therapies for Sundry Mental Disorders - Research Paper Example

Types of Therapy It is a known fact that the human mind is very complex and fragile. It is the center of all perceptions, cognitions and thought processes that play a vital role in the functioning of an individual. However, erroneous cognitions or other factors may give rise dysfunctional behavior in an individual. These behavioral dysfunctions are defined according to the various psychological paradigms and are treated according to the therapies proposed by each model. (Berger, 2006, P.p 31-40) The substance of this prose will state and describe the different types of therapies to help clients resolve their issues. The treatment regimes that are designed to help clients overcome their issues and problems, this form of psychological intervention is either referred to as ‘Counseling’ or ‘Psychotherapy’; the latter form was devised by Sigmund Freud. This form of therapy was further developed by Carl Rogers, who laid great emphasis on a client-centered approach to further enhance the treatment. (Berger, 2006, P.p 31-40) In all psychological treatments there are a number of factors that are synonymous with all treatment and these factors include a close rapport with the therapist that is characterized by a deep confiding relationship. The therapy is conducted in a secure setting that is the therapist’s office or generally a closed environment. The therapist’s behavior is also of key importance here, as it speeds up the process of treatment and enhances client adherence to the regimen. Therefore the therapist must always adopt an empathetic and positive attitude towards the client. As mentioned earlier there are a number of therapies that are suitable for various mental disorders. The first category of therapies is defined by the biological paradigm, whereby the client is prescribed psychotropic drugs such as anti-anxiety, anti-depressive or anti-psychotic drugs that alleviate the symptoms of the disorder. However, there are a number of drawbacks that are associated with this mode of treatment as many of these drugs may give rise to addictive behaviour and sometime the side-effects are even more adverse than the symptoms of the disorder itself. However, drug therapy has been very popular in mental and physical health settings. (Berger, 2006, P.p 31-40) Therapists have devised supportive psychotherapy that involves one-on-one counseling sessions between the clinician and the client. Analogous to the drug therapy, supportive therapy is used by clients suffering from chronic stress and other mental or physical illnesses. Supportive psychotherapy is characterized by a number of sessions over a long period of time. During these sessions the therapist carefully listens to the client, encourages emotional expression and provides an outlet for the client to get rid of the pent-up emotional and mental trauma as a result of the client’s life situations. (Ingram, 2006) This is a client-centered approach and usually ends with the therapist psychoeducating the client and advising him or her accordingly. Such client-centered counseling is effective in dealing with clients, who need social support or an outlet for their emotional ordeal. Client-centered counseling is widely used by pastoral counselors and social workers, who incorporate a non-directive approach to help the client and calmly listen to the client. The counselor clarifies and helps the client understand various issues but leaves the choice and the entire decision-making power to the client. The prime focus on the client’s dilapidated self-esteem and increase his or her confidence. These sessions effectively help the client achieve self-actualization. (Ingram, 2006) Though, most of the therapy sessions are based on a client-centered approach, however, in Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) is quite different; it is based on the cognitive model of psychiatric disorders and proposed by Albert Ellis and Aaron T. Beck. The therapy is largely applied on people suffering from depression and to help them overcome the erroneous cognition that triggers the depression. In other words, it involves aggressively coaxing the client in to assessing the rationality of his or her thought processes. This form of therapy is largely therapist centered and unlike client-centered counseling the therapists’ role is not purely advisory. (Sudak, 2006) On the other behavioral therapy encompasses a wide range of therapeutic procedures that are based upon the learning theory. The entire therapy is established on the premise that every behaviour is learned and can be effectively unearned using a process of association and dissociation. Behaviour therapy includes exposure therapy, response prevention, and modeling. This kind of therapy is conducted in a controlled setting such as the psychiatrists’ office or the clinic, and all variable stringently controlled. Exposure therapy involves exposing the individual to the stimuli that triggers the dysfunctional behavior. (Sudak, 2006) Response prevention is a part of the exposure therapy whereby the individual is discouraged from carrying out the dysfunctional behavior or the ritual following exposure to the stimulus. The procedure is conducted repeatedly throughout all the sessions, until the client becomes neutral to the stimulus; this is referred to as systematic desensitization and the client is taught relaxation techniques in order to reduce the anxiety triggered by the variable. As the client becomes desensitized to the variable in his or her environment, the client can effectively overcome the dysfunctions in his or her behavior. On the other hand modeling is devised on the basis of the social learning theory to help clients overcome deficits in their social and interactions skills. Behavioral therapy is largely used in cases of severe disorders such as anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks and phobias. In this form of therapy, both the therapist and the client are actively involved. However, in recent psychologists and researchers have developed a keen interest in the incorporation of cognitive and behavioral techniques, and formulated a therapy known as the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This therapy is extremely effective in dealing with a wide range of disorders such as eating disorders, personality disorders, psychosis, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders; it can also be applied on people suffering from chronic pain or illnesses such as cancer. (Sudak, 2006) As mentioned earlier cognitive therapy focuses on identifying the irrational cognition or thought process that triggers the dysfunction and then the client persuaded to assess the rationality and the reliability of their erroneous beliefs. And then the second part of therapy involves encouraging the client to learn to become more rational and effectively resolve the irrational cognitions in the individual’s psyche. This is a collaborative effort, whereas the therapist and the client are actively involved to resolve the negative schemata and the arbitrary automatic thoughts that are usually negative and give rise to various dysfunctions in the individual’s behaviour. (Sudak, 2006) Aversion therapy is also a part of the behavioral therapy based n classical conditioning whereby, individuals associate an unpleasant outcome with a stimulus and that enables them to avid the behaviour. Aversion therapies are largely used in case of people who have adopted addictive behaviors. Fr instance, an individual who suffers from alcoholism is encouraged to quit drinking by pairing alcohol with an emetic. Every time the client consumes alcohol he will feel the unpleasant feeing of nausea and as a result, the individual would have the motivation to quit the alcohol due to the unpleasant feeling. Aversion therapies can also be applied to people suffering from a phobia and this is done so by associating a pleasant sensation with the phobic stimulus. However, exposure therapy is largely used and is highly successful in dealing with such problems and will be discussed in greater in later parts of the prose. (Richards, 2009, P.p 34-40) Furthermore, the psychodynamic approach devised by the ‘father of psychology Sigmund Freud is a highly effective way to help clients overcome dysfunctional behaviour. It is based on the Psychodynamic approach and is dissected into various components that aid the individual to overcome the dysfunctional behavior. This type of therapy is used by psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, who are specialized in carrying out the procedure. The therapy is also known as insight-oriented therapy and is a holistic approach towards the problem. It basically seeks to resolve the issues that are present in the individual’s conscious and sub-conscious. As Freud stated that all dysfunctions and abnormality is the result of the conflicts in an individual’s unconscious that were developed as a result of various childhood incidents. (Richards, 2009, P.p 34-40) The therapy is divided into the following steps that is free association, whereby the client talks freely and without any inhibitions. After free association, there is a step called ‘dream analysis’; in this step the individual’s conscious and unconscious desires are analyzed through his dreams. Since dreams are believed to be the expression of unconscious desires their interpretations are vital for the treatment to proceed. As unconscious thoughts surface the individual may become resistant and use various techniques in order to avoid talking about the subject. Following this step, the individual may transition into the transference step; in this step the client directs all his negative emotions towards the therapist. As the client effectively deals with this step, the client then reaches the final stage that is catharsis, which is an emotional release and subsequently the client achieves resolution of all the conflicts that he r she was facing on an unconscious level. The approach has been deemed extremely useful but it is often deemed reductionist and disregards the current situations in the individual’s life that may be triggering the dysfunctionality; as it considers childhood events to be the source of all problems. However, this therapeutic procedure gives great insight into the psyche of the client and gives ample amount of information regarding the nature of the pathology that client is suffering from. (Richards, 2009, P.p 34-40) There are other types of therapies as well such as group therapies, whereby prior social support is provided in order to help individuals overcome the problems in their life. The most popular form of group therapy is Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. This is used to encourage people to quit addictive behaviour that is individuals work to achieve and maintain sobriety. Family therapies and couple therapies are designed on the same outline whereby all the members carefully outline their issues out and effectively work to resolve them. Psychologists have devised a number of therapies in order to help people overcome various mental problems and issues. Though, these therapies have been deemed vastly successful in dealing with most of the problems, however researchers are working to further develop enhance the treatment regimen. (Sudak, 2006) Works Cited Berger, Dale E et.al. Applied Psychology: New frontiers and rewarding careers. Routledge. 2006: P.p 31-40 Ingram, Barbara L. Clinical case formulations: matching the integrated treatment plan to the client. John Wiley & Sons. 2006 Richards, Graham. Psychology, the key concepts. Taylor & Francis. 2009: P.p 34-40 Sudak, Donna M. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Clinicians. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2006 Read More