Treatment Methods Assignment
According to Morris and Maisto (2002), the goal of insight therapy is “…to give people a better awareness and understanding of their feelings, motivations, and actions, in the hope that this will lead to better adjustment (p.527). The three major insight therapies are psychoanalysis, client-centered therapy, and Gestalt therapy. Psychoanalysis allows a person to express his or her thoughts using free association. During this process, the analyst remains quiet and out of sight. The advantage of this form of therapy allows people to recall past events and give them the opportunity to work through the feelings and beliefs that underlie their problems. However, this form of therapy may take five years or longer and many people cannot afford that length of treatment. Another disadvantage is that this form of therapy does not work immediately and is not effective with severely disturbed people. Client-centered therapy, according to Carl Rogers, “…is to help people become fully functioning, to open them up to all of their experiences and to all of themselves” (Morris & Maisto, 2002, p.529). In other words, Rogers believed that it is important to always follow the client’s lead in therapy and that the client is responsible for change. Gestalt therapy differs from psychoanalysis and client-centered therapy. “Gestalt therapy emphasizes the here-and-now and encourages face-to-face confrontations” (Morris & Maisto, 2002, p.530). In this form of therapy, the therapist is active and direct and their goal is to help the client become aware of their own feelings that they have been ignoring. Many Gestalt methods are used with clients including the empty chair technique where clients speak to a part of themselves they imagine sitting in the empty chair.
As stated by Morris and Maisto (2002), systematic desensitization is “A behavioral technique for reducing a person’s fear and anxiety by gradually associating a new response (relaxation) with stimuli that have been causing the fear and anxiety” (p.534). For example, systematic desensitization could be used to help a person overcome a phobic fear of flying. First, the therapist would look for more details concerning the fear of flying so that they and the client can develop a hierarchy of fears. Secondly, the therapist teaches the client “…to clear his or her mind, to release tense muscles, and to produce this relaxation response readily” (Morris & Maisto, 2002, p.534). After the client learns the technique of deep relation, he or she begins to work on the hierarchy of fears, starting from the bottom of course. The client focuses on the least threatening situation on the list and alternates between relaxing and concentrating on this scene until the client is able to achieve both simultaneously. Therapist and client continue to move up the hierarchy until finally the client can imagine the most fearful situation on the list without experiencing any anxiety, which in this case would be flying itself. A more aggressive method, known as flooding, would expose the client to his or her fear. Therefore, a person with a phobic fear of flying may be forced to ride in an airplane.
A form of therapy that might be best suited to help a person develop better interpersonal skills is group therapy. “Group therapy is based on the idea that psychological problems are at least partly interpersonal and are therefore best approached in an interpersonal setting” (Morris & Maisto, 2002, p.557). Group therapy provides a person with social support, acknowledging that he or she is not the only one with emotional problems. The group can also help the person learn new behaviors, such as how the person can express his or her feelings and how they can disagree without annoying or upsetting others. According to Morris and Maisto (2002), “Interactions with other group members may push the person toward insights into his or her own behavior (seeing how annoying another persons’ constant complaints are, or how helpful his or her words of encouragement are, can lead the person toward useful behavior change)” (p.539). There are many kinds of group therapy. Some groups are similar to other forms of therapy that were already discussed whereas others are more focused on a specific goal. Even though some psychologists think group therapy is ineffective, for many people go into therapy due to interpersonal problems, people begin to see that they are not alone and that there is help. It is comforting to hear that other people have a similar difficulty or have already worked through a problem that deeply disturbs another group member. Furthermore, group therapy is certainly beneficial and less expensive too, and can help a person develop his or her interpersonal skills.
Stress-inoculation therapy, as stated by Morris and Maisto (2002), is “A type of cognitive therapy that trains people to cope with stressful situations by learning a more useful pattern of self-talk” (p.537). A person who is extremely anxious about an upcoming job interview could use the positive self-talk learned during therapy to support them through the stressful situation. Replacing the negative, anxiety-evoking thoughts with positive, coping thoughts will help the person to perform a successful job interview. “Stress-inoculation therapy works by turning the client’s own thought patterns into a kind of vaccine against stress-induced anxiety” (Morris & Maisto, 2002, p.537). Therefore, this technique is beneficial and effective with anxiety disorders or simply those who are anxious about an upcoming job interview. References
Morris, C. G., & Maisto, A.A. (2002). Psychology: An introduction (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.