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Class 12 Therapeutic Approaches: cheat sheet
CBSE Psychology. What psychotherapy is, the therapeutic alliance, behaviour, cognitive and humanistic therapies, what helps healing, ethics, yoga and meditation, and rehabilitation.
Key ideas
- Psychotherapy is a voluntary, confidential relationship between a client and a trained therapist, guided by a theory and limited in time.
- The therapeutic alliance rests on trust, empathy (feeling from the client’s point of view) and unconditional positive regard.
- Therapies differ on cause: psychodynamic looks at inner conflicts, behaviour therapy at faulty learning, existential therapies at meaning in the present.
- Behaviour therapy uses techniques such as reinforcement, token economy, modelling, relaxation and systematic desensitisation.
- Cognitive therapies change unhelpful beliefs and thought patterns; cognitive behaviour therapy combines them with behavioural techniques.
- Healing comes from the techniques, the alliance, catharsis, and the client’s and therapist’s own qualities.
- Rehabilitation helps people who have recovered become self-sufficient, through occupational, social skills, cognitive and vocational training.
Remember
| Therapies and founders | systematic desensitisation – Wolpe; RET – Albert Ellis; cognitive therapy – Aaron Beck; client-centred – Carl Rogers; logotherapy – Viktor Frankl; Gestalt – Fritz and Laura Perls |
| ABC of RET | Antecedent event → irrational Belief → Consequence; question the belief |
| Reciprocal inhibition | two opposing states together: the weaker is inhibited (relaxation over mild anxiety) |
| Ethics | informed consent, confidentiality, integrity of the relationship, respect for dignity, competence |
| Alternative therapies | yoga (asanas, pranayama); meditation, including mindfulness |
Watch out
- Confusing empathy with sympathy: sympathy is pity, empathy is understanding from the inside.
- Linking RET to Beck: Ellis gave RET, Beck gave cognitive therapy.
- Thinking the therapist gives advice like a friend: therapy is a professional relationship with trained help.
Worked example
Suppose a psychodynamic therapy is planned for 14 to 20 sessions at 1 a week. What is the shortest and longest it could take in weeks, and how does this compare with classical psychoanalysis?
Working: 14 ÷ 1; 20 ÷ 1
Answer: 14 to 20 weeks; classical psychoanalysis may go on for several years
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