Chapter 17 pt. 1:
Psychoanalysis, Humanistic,
and Behaviorism Therapies
 Imagine
a good friend of yours has
approached you about a problem he or
she has developed recently. The friend
describes several symptoms, including
increased feelings of depression, crying
spells, loss of interest in activities, and
changes in eating and sleeping patterns.
You have asked enough questions to
assume person is clinically depressed.
Assume the role of therapist and develop
some possible interventions. Come up
with 3 possible ideas to help your friend.
 1.
2 Major Types of Therapy
Psychological
Therapies: employ
interaction (usually verbal)
between trained
professional and a client
with a problem
VS.
 2.
Biomedical:
therapies directed at a
patient’s nervous
system.
Psychotherapy Differs Depending
on the Perspective of Therapist
 Psychotherapy:
emotionally charged,
confiding interaction between a trained
therapist and someone who suffers from
psychological difficulties.
 There are different types based on
personality theories we discussed:
 1. Psychoanalytic
 2. Humanistic
 3. Behavioral
 4. Cognitive
Eclectic Approach Takes a
Smorgasbord Approach
 Eclectic
Approach: uses a variety of
different techniques from various
theories of therapy depending on the
problem of the individual.

More than half of therapists take this
approach.
Psychotherapy One:
Psychoanalysis
 Psychoanalysis’s
 Goal
main assumption?
of psychoanalysis?
How do Psychoanalysts Unmask
Your “Repressed Anxiety?”
1. While doing free association there will be blocks
in your flow. Analysts interpret these blocks as
Resistance.
– Resistance: the blocking from consciousness of
anxiety-laden material.
– Based on your resistance the analysts will try to
provide accurate interpretations: noting
supposed meaning behind blocks in flow to provide
patient with insight (reason behind your problems).
 2. Psychoanalysts also interpret dreams’ latent
content.

How do Psychoanalysts Unmask
Your “Repressed Anxiety?”

3. Interpreting Transference
– After revealing extremely personal things
about themselves to therapists, patients
often start to feel positive or negative
feelings towards their analyst.
– Freud argued that the feelings you feel
towards a therapist represented
transference: patient’s transfer to the
analyst of emotions linked with other
relationships (such as love or hatred for a
parent).
Criticism of Psychoanalytic
Therapy
 1.
Built on assumption that
repressed memories exist.
 2. Interpretations cant be proven
right or wrong.
 3. Is very time-consuming and
costly…usually takes several years to
achieve insight.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy as an
Alternative To Psychoanalysis
 Interpersonal
Psychotherapy: occurs
in much shorter session and also aims
to to help patients gain insight into the
roots of their difficulties.
 However instead of focusing on past, this
approach focuses on current
relationships and how to deal with
problems….looking for symptom relief
instead of personality change.
Psychotherapy Two:
Humanistic Approach
 Humanistic
perspective hopes to boost
self-fulfillment by helping people grow
in self-awareness and self
acceptance.
Main Focuses:
 1. The present and future
 2. Conscious Rather than Unconscious
Thoughts
 3. Individual Responsibility for feelings
 4. Promote growth instead of cures.

Carl Rogers’ Client or Person
Centered Therapy
Most widely used humanistic technique is
client (person) centered therapy:
technique which involves active listening
witihin a genuine, accepting, empathetic
environment to facilitate clients’ growth.
 Active listening: technique in which therapist
is non-directive towards client and empathizes
with them by echoing, restating, and
clarifying their feelings.

Client Centered Therapy
Promotes Self-Awareness
 When
given
unconditional
positive regard
clients start to
accept themselves
including their
faults and feel
more valued and
whole.
Psychotherapy Three: Behavior
Therapies Focus on Learning
 Unlike
previous 2 psychotherapies,
behavior therapies are not interested in
the underlying cause of the problem or in
achieving self-awareness.
 Behavior Therapies: assume the
problems are the behaviors themselves
and look to use well-established learning
principles to eliminate the unwanted
behavior.
Classical Conditioning
Techniques
 Argue
that learned responses like phobias
can be unlearned through
counterconditioning.
 Counterconditioning: behavior
therapy that conditions new responses
to stimuli that trigger your unwanted
behaviors.
 Ex: pair fear of heights with relaxing
stimuli.
Two Types of
Counterconditioning
1. Systematic Desensitization: exposure
technique used to commonly treat phobias.
Associates a pleasant relaxed state with
gradually increasing anxiety-triggering
stimuli until anxiety towards stimuli is
eliminated.
 Goal is to extinguish previously learned
response.
 Key to enacting procedure is move
gradually.
 Also called Graduated Exposure Theory

How Could you Use Systematic
Desensitization to Help people
Overcome their Intense Fear of
Old People?

Systematic Desensitization
More Aggressive Exposure
Therapy
 Flooding:
involves
immediately
exposing client to a
stimulus that causes
undesirable response to
show that stimulus isn’t
dangerous.
 Flooding can lead to
extinction of fear.
Less Aggressive Exposure
Therapy (Not in Book)
 Implosion:
patient
imagines stimulus
rather than being
exposed to actual
negative
stimulus…hopes to
reduce anxiety.
 Usually used as first
step in systematic
desensitization.
Using Virtual Reality For
Exposure Therapy

Two Types of
Counterconditioning
 2.
Aversive Conditioning: is the
opposite of systematic desensitization.
Looks to reverse a negative behavior by
associating an unpleasant state with
an unwanted behavior.
Aversive Therapy for
Alcoholics
Although initially
successful why
doesn’t aversive
therapy usually
stop people from
permanently
drinking?
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(alcohol)
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(alcohol)
CR
(nausea)
Operant Conditioning Therapy
 What

is Operant Conditioning?
Token Economy: procedure
that rewards desired
behavior. Patient exchanges
a token of some sort, earned
for good behavior, for various
privileges or treats.
Observational Learning’s
Impact on Therapy
 Bandura’s
theories on modeling were
extended to therapy when it was
shown that Clients learn through
observation of appropriate behavior
(and Rewards) and will be
encouraged to imitate the
behavior.
Criticism of Behavior Therapy?