Sigmund Freud was the first to challenge the view that mental disorders were caused by physical illness and proposed that psychological factors were responsible for the illness. The psychodynamic approach highlights the importance of the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences. Psychodynamic psychologist’s attempt to deal with the mental health issues of their patients by incorporating these ideas and creating therapies using these ideas. The basic concept behind psychoanalysis is that a patient that suffers from mental health problems such as depression can address any regressed feelings thus, the patient gains insight of and can learn to work through their emotional baggage. It is a generalised concept that if the cause of the symptoms were tackled it would only be logical that the symptoms would then cease.
Failure to diagnose a client’s problem correctly could result in the therapist using the wrong treatment. One of the most common requests a therapist who employs hypnotic techniques receives, is for help with chronic pain. However there is potential here for the client who makes such a request to learn to mask the symptom of a disorder which if progressive or life-threatening, may place them in danger. This could result in a particular disorder becoming too far advanced for successful treatment to be undertaken. If research is correct, hypnotic techniques can have a significant effect on all physical aspects of human functioning.
Outline and evaluate 1 or more psychological methods of stress management (12) The psychological approach to dealing with stress is one of the most common used through CBT which means that behaviour is believed to be determined by the way somebody thinks about a situation. Therefore cognitive therapy attempts to change thoughts in order for an individual to change their behaviour. One of these methods, SIT, was created by Meichenbaum (1985), who believed that although we cannot change the causes of stress, we can change the way that somebody perceives stressors in order to inoculate them from disorders like anxiety and OCD, etc. To do so, he developed three phases: 1. Conceptualisation phase, where the therapist and client establish a relationship before the client is educated about stress and its impacts.
A comparison of the Behaviourist perspective and the Psychodynamic perspective in the context of health and social care The behaviourist perspective focuses on classical and operant condition. Behaviourists argue that, as behaviour can be learnt, it can also be unlearnt. Within health care this approach could be used in ‘aversion therapy’ whereby patients can be conditioned to avoid certain damaging behaviours such as drinking alcohol or smoking. By linking the substance with a drug that causes nausea or other unpleasant side effects the patient can be taught to avoid the substance. On the other hand the psychodynamic perspective would consider that people acquire an addictive personality because they are stuck in the ‘oral’ stage of development and compensate for their feelings of under gratification by smoking, drinking, or eating too much.
Non-compliance with medication is often due to adverse effects however involving the clients in the recognition and management of them can help to overcome this. The author has chosen to set up a clinic with the primary focus is to monitor and assess for any/all side effects which are commonly attributed to antipsychotic medication use. The clinic will also be used as a platform to encourage and promote healthy life styles, offer education regarding the illness and management of side effects and a great emphasis will also be placed upon encouragement of concordance with prescribed medication. Regular assessment and monitoring of medicines is essential to ensure optimal treatment for clients. Consideration of both the positive and negative effects of medication and the consequences of these on the clients is essential.
Currently, hypnotherapy is primarily used as a treatment modality of psychological distress. Some of the approaches used in hypnotherapy easily align with positive psychology’s focus on an individual’s strengths (Guse, 2012), but it also has the ability to allow individuals to tap into their mental and intellectual processes, taking on a cognitive approach; as well as addressing conditioning, a behavioral approach to psychotherapy. (Kagan, Segal & Havemann, 2004, p.554) Modern psychotherapy uses various approaches to address an innumerable amount of diagnosable mental and behavioral disorders. According to various task forces in the United States and the United Kingdom, cognitive therapy and cognitive behavior therapy are empirically supported therapies (EST’s) that have shown to be useful in the treatment of depression. (Kagan, Segal & Havemann, 2004, p.561)The majority of scientific research and empirical evidence of the efficacy of hypnotherapy as an adjunct treatment lies within the realm of cognitive behavior
The aim of this assignment is to explain what is hypnosis describe the psychological & physical aspects & discuss the role of relaxation in hypnotherapy. The British Society of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis defines hypnosis as "In therapy, hypnosis usually involves the person experiencing a sense of deep relaxation with their attention narrowed down, and focused on appropriate suggestions made by the therapist." 2011 cited on www.bscah.com These suggestions can help people make positive changes within themselves. Historically hypnosis was seen as waving pendulous items & controlling people's minds, this is no longer common practice. In a hypnotherapy session the client is always in control and they are never made to do anything
This treatment is used to treat many emotional problems particularly irrational fears (phobias). Systematic desensitisation is led by a therapist and a different and unique method is used in this treatment which is called a fear hierarchy; this consists of the therapist and the client working together to link in rank from lowest to highest of what they fear the least about their anxiety provoking event or stimuli to what situation they may fear the most. Then the therapist helps the client by teaching them relaxation techniques whilst put in the first stage of the stressful anxiety provoking stimuli of their hierarchy and then the client eventually learns to relax in that situation and they work through the hierarchy until the top which would be the most anxiety provoking situation of the hierarchy and if the clients anxiety levels are normal and they feel relaxed at this stage then that means that they are cured of their phobia and irrational fear. So the method of systematic desensitisation involves extinction by gradually exposing the anxiety provoking stimuli to the client until they can relax in that situation. The success of this treatment is shown in the study conducted by Kazdin and Wilcoxon 1976 which showed that the principles of extinction and exposure are the bases of systematic
Some believe in hypnosis to treat dissociative identity disorder or pills that supposedly make the patient’s life more tolerable. However, I believe the best way to treat dissociative identity disorder is through frequent psychotherapy and setting up coping techniques with the patient. According to Muhammed Waseem (2012) the first step to treating dissociative identity disorder is working with a therapist to learn healthy coping behaviors; the patient needs to reconnect with their sense of power and decide what to do when feelings of helplessness arise. Next, one way the patient can begin to work with their fear of unpredictable outbursts is to have them keep a log of their emotions. The patients must first identify emotions so they can monitor the intensity of each feeling (Waseem, 2012).
This consists of regular sessions between just the patient and a therapist focusing on past or current problems, thoughts, feelings, or interactions. Patients become better at differentiating between what is real and what is not real and can acquire valuable problem-solving skills (Moritz & Woodward, 2007). The objective of therapy is to create a healing umbrella to protect the patients from unnecessary personal stress (Penn, Mueser, Tarrier, Gloege, Cather, Serrano, & Otto, 2004). Psychotherapy is also widely recommended, though not widely used in the treatment of schizophrenia due to compensation problems or lack of training. As a result treatment is often confined to medication (Pilling et al, 2002).