Psychological Approaches target the "software," learned faulty behaviors and habits, along with damaging words, thoughts, interpretations, and feedback that direct strategies for daily living. Psychological approaches assume that many disorders result from mental, behavioral, and social factors, such as personal experiences, traumas, conflicts, and environmental conditions.
Psychological Treatments attempt to change behaviors, thoughts, and thought processes that impair daily living, thereby improving functioning. Practiced by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and counselors, psychological treatments include four types of psychotherapy.
Psychodynamic Therapy
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View: Problems are symptoms of unresolved traumas and conflicts
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Focus: Inner, often unconscious motivations as well as attempts to resolve conflicts between personal needs and social requirements
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Approach: By understanding and making more conscious the relationships between overt problems and the unresolved, internal conflicts that caused them, people can work through problems to reach an effective solution
Behaviorial Therapy
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View: Problems are the result of learned, self-defeating behaviors
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Focus: Observable behavior and conditions that sustain unhealthy behavior
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Approach: By applying the principles of conditioning and reinforcement, people can learn healthy behaviors
Cognitive Therapy
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View: Problems are the result of what we think (cognitive content) and how we think (cognitive process), including distorted view of situations and self, faulty reasoning, and poor problem solving
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Focus: Thoughts and thought processes that cause problematic emotions and behaviors
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Approach: By reconfiguring damaging thinking patterns, people can learn healthy, realistic ways of thinking about life experiences
Existential/Humanistic Therapy
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View: Problems are the result of issues related to difficulties in daily life, especially a lack of both meaningful relationships and significant goals
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Focus: Ways to unite mind and body, that is, the whole person, and thus release the potential for greater levels of performance and greater richness of experience
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Approach: By examining experiences in current life situations, people can develop their individuality and learn how to realize their full potential