Basic Psychological Theories

Basic Psychological Theories Dr. Carolyn r. Fallahi

Psychodynamic Theories • Psychodynamic theories: focus = child’s instincts and how his/her social environment produces many characteristics and behaviors. • Mind = dynamic and active. • Goal: To coexist with society. Can we get our needs met within society’s restrictions?

Freud’s views • Freud postulated 2 instincts: eros and thantos. • Sexual drives. • Aggressive drives. • How did Freud view sex? • Psychodynamic theory.

Sigmund Freud • 1856-1939 • Viennese physician trained in neurology. • While treating patients suffering from hysteria, he began to develop his theory of psychoanalysis. • Freud worked with another physician, Joseph Breuer, from whom he learned the technique of catharsis, the so-called talking cure. • The treatment of hysteria.

Freud’s techniques • Free association. • Hypnosis (Breuer & Freud) • Dream interpretation

Freud & repressed childhood experiences • Sexual abuse or hysteria? • Defense mechanisms • Repression • Regression • Reaction formation • Projection • Rationalization • Displacement • Sublimation

The Structure of Personality • Freud proposed that the mind has 3 parts: • Conscious • Preconscious • unconscious

The Psychosexual stages of Personality Development • Oral: B to 1 • Anal: 1 to 3 • Phallic: 3 to 5 • Latency 6 to puberty • Genital (puberty)

Concepts to cover • The Oedipus complex • Women do not resolve the Oedipal complex as fully as men do. • Fixation

Problems with Freud • Lack of research • Views about women • Neo-Freudians • A critique • Freud’s legacy

Humanistic therapies – Carl Rogers • Person-Centered Therapy • Based upon a phenomenological view of human life & helping relationships. • Carl Rogers. • Ideas: genuineness, nonjudgmental caring, & empathy. • Every living being has an actualizing tendency to realize their potential. • The therapist has an attitude of respect. • Nondirective attitude.

Carl Rogers • Congruence, unconditional positive regard, empathy. • Congruence • Unconditional positive regard • Self-actualization • Differs from an analyst…. How?

Behavioral Treatments • Behavioral theories only focus on observable behaviors (rather than unseen, e.g. unconscious). • Forces in the environment and outside the person have the primary influence on behavior. • Ivan Pavlov • John Watson • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • The focus is on the present • Behaviors are shaped by the environment.

Applied Behavioral Analysis • Behavioral therapy based on Skinner’s operant conditioning paradigm. • Requires careful analysis of the environments in which problem behavior occurs. • Careful assessment of the antecedents and consequences of problem and non-problem behaviors. • This information is analyzed by the therapist who then describes to the child and important adults how the child’s behavior is being shaped.

Classical Conditioning • Systematic desensitization (Wolpe, 1958). • Used to treat phobias with a technique called reciprocal inhibition = pairs a response that inhibits anxiety (typically relaxation) with the source of the phobia. • Explain how it works.

Cognitive Treatments • Cognitive theories focus on how our thoughts influence our emotions and our behaviors. • Behaviors are seen as resulting mainly from thoughts and belief systems rather than emerging from unconscious drives or being shaped by the environment. • Albert Ellis - RET

Ellis • Demanding: I must, should, have to, need to. • Catastrophizing: it’s awful, terrible, catastrophic • Overgeneralizing: I’ll always be a failure; I’ll never make it • Copping out: you make me angry; it upsets me

Ellis • These dysfunctional beliefs have rigid, dogmatic demands at their core, e.g. “I absolutely must have this important goal unblocked and fulfilled!

Common Dysfunctional Beliefs • I need the love and approval of every significant person in my life. • I must be competent and adequate in all possible respects. • People (including me) who do things that I disapprove of are bad people who deserve to be severely blamed and punished. • It’s catastrophic when things are not the way I’d like them to be. • My unhappiness is externally caused; I can’t help feeling and acting as I do and I can’t change my feelings or actions.

Common Dysfunctional Beliefs • When something seems dangerous or about to go wrong, I must constantly worry about it. • It is better for me to avoid the frustrations and difficulties of life than it is for me to face them. • I need to depend on someone or something that is stronger than I am. • Given my childhood experiences and the past I have had, I can’t help being as I am today and I’ll remain this way indefinitely. • I can’t help feeling upset about other people’s problems. • I can’t settle for less than the right or perfect solution to my problem.

Classification Issues • Why Classify? • To describe & communicate symptoms. • IF you know about the diagnosis, you can retrieve information about the etiology of the disorder, treatment, and prognosis. • Knowing the disorder provides us with a way of describing the disorder. • Knowing the disorder allows us to predict what treatments are going to be clinically useful.

Why classify? • Why classify? • The classification & systematic description allows us to formulate theories which play a central role in research. • Classification can have a direct impact on broader social consequences by influencing health policy; social policy; forensic decisions; and the economics of the mental health professions.

The antipsychiatry movement • During the 1960s, psychiatry came under attack from the antipsychiatry movement. Much of the criticism was focused on the clinical activities of diagnoses and classification. • Szasz (1961) went so far as to argue that mental illness was a myth. • Three major criticisms 1960s • 1. psychiatric diagnoses are unreliable • 2. diagnoses are based on the medical model • 3. problems with labeling and stigmatizing people

Rosenhan’s famous study (1973) • A paper published by Science – “On being sane in insane places”. In this study, 8 normal persons sought admission to 12 different inpatient units. • What happened?

DSM-IV-TR • Axis I: Clinical syndromes • Axis II: Personality disorders; mental retardation • Axis III: General medical conditions • Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental problems • Problems with primary support group • Educational problems • Occupational problems • Housing/economic problems • Problems with access to health care services • Problems with legal system/crime • Other psychosocial problems & environmental problems • Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning • Ranges from – (inadequate information) – 100 (superior functioning)

Psychological Testing • Intelligence testing • Achievement testing • Testing for a learning disability • Personality testing (objective versus projective) • Projectives: Goal: present ambiguous stimulus and ask test-takers to describe it or tell a story about it. • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) or CAT • Draw a person, Draw a family, Sentence Stem • Rorschach Inkblot test – 1921 Hermann Rorschach • 10 inkblots reflects our inner feelings and conflicts. • For example … if we see predatory animals or weapons, we infer that we have aggressive tendencies. • Neuropsychological testing

Basic Psychological Theories