Approaches To Clinical Psychology

2100 Words9 Pages
Approaches to Clinical Psychology Psychotherapy engages both the client and the clinician in settings where feelings, emotions and concerns are expressed. In clinical psychology, clinicians make suggestions to alter behaviors and attempt to train the way individuals think. Clinical psychology relies on the use of four major approaches to treat individuals as well as groups in therapeutic settings. These approaches are psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic and family systems. While there may be many similarities within the goals and purposes of the approaches, each approach has unique characteristic, which creates differences in the therapeutic interventions between the clinicians and their patients. Ultimately, this paper will attempt to examine the foundations of approaches to clinical psychology as well as the present-day approaches. Psychodynamic Perspective Sigmund Freud became known as the father of “the talking cure,” the original psychoanalytic perspective in which psychodynamic theories first evolved from. However, to the European medical establishment of Freud’s time, the idea that talking could cure a physical symptom seemed outrageous (Gaylin, 2000, p. 111). However, today’s adherents of the psychodynamic perspective are based more on the exploration of such things as defenses and conflicts and other unconscious aspects of personality (Wade and Tavris, 1990) and less on the Freud’s outlook (Gaylin, 2000). The psychodynamic approach gets its name from the action or movement psychological energies within the person (Wade and Tavris, 1990, p. 636). The interaction of conflicts, anxiety, and defense mechanisms beyond the problems that cause people to seek professional help in the first place (Eisenberg and Patterson, 1979). The psychodynamic approach uses such tools as free association and transference as a way of assisting the client. The
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