Psychoanalytic therapy: Basic Philosophies
Human beings are basically determined by psychic energy and by early experiences. Unconscious motives and conflicts are central in present behavior. Irrational forces are strong; the person is driven by sexual and aggressive impulses. Early development is
Psychoanalytic therapy : Key Concepts
Normal personality development is based on successful resolution and integration of psychosexual stages of development. Faulty personality development is the result of inadequate resolution of some specific stage. Anxiety is a result of repression of basi
Psychoanalytic therapy: Goals of Therapy
To make the unconscious conscious. To reconstruct the basic personality. To assist clients in reliving earlier experiences and working through repressed conflicts. To achieve intellectual and emotional awareness.
Psychoanalytic therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
The analyst remains anonymous, and clients develop projections toward him or her. Focus is on reducing the resistances that develop in working with transference and on establishing more rational control. Clients undergo long-term analysis, engage in free
Psychoanalytic therapy: Limitations
Requires lengthy training for therapists and
much time and expense for clients. The
model stresses biological and instinctual
factors to the neglect of social, cultural, and
interpersonal ones. Its methods are not
applicable for solving specific daily lif
Adlerian therapy: Basic Philosophies
Humans are motivated by social interest, by
striving toward goals, and by dealing with the tasks of life. Emphasis is on the individual's positive capacities to live in society cooperatively. People have the capacity to interpret, influence, and create ev
Adlerian therapy: Key Concepts
Key concepts of this model include the unity of
personality, the need to view people from their
subjective perspective, and the importance of life goals that give direction to behavior. People are motivated by social interest and by finding goals to give
Adlerian therapy: Goals of Therapy
To challenge clients' basic premises and life goals. To offer encouragement so individuals can develop socially useful goals. To develop the client's sense of belonging.
Adlerian therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
The emphasis is on joint responsibility, on mutually deter-mining goals, on mutual trust and respect, and on equality. Focus is on identifying, exploring, and disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions within the person's lifestyle.
Adlerian therapy: Limitations
Weak in terms of precision, testability, and
empirical validity. Few attempts have been made to validate the basic concepts by scientific methods. Tends to oversimplify some complex human problems and is based heavily on common sense.
Existential therapy: Basic Philosophies
The central focus is on the nature of the
human condition, which includes a capacity
for self-awareness, freedom of choice to
decide one's fate, responsibility, anxiety, the
search for meaning, being alone and being
in relation with others, and facing the
Existential therapy: Key Concepts
Essentially an experiential approach to
counseling rather than a firm theoretical
model, it stresses core human conditions.
Normally, personality development is based
on the uniqueness of each individual. Sense
of self develops from infancy. Focus is on
t
Existential therapy: Goals of Therapy
To help people see that they are free and
become aware of their possibilities. To challenge them to recognize that they are responsible for events that they formerly thought were happening to them. To identify factors that block freedom
Existential therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
The therapist's main tasks are to accurately
grasp clients' being-in-the-world and to establish a personal and authentic encounter
with them. The immediacy of the client/therapist
relationship and the authenticity of the here-and-now encounter are stresse
Existential therapy: Limitations
Many basic concepts are fuzzy and illdefined,
making its general framework abstract at times. Lacks a systematic statement of principles and practices of therapy. Has limited applicability to lower functioning and nonverbal clients and to
clients in extre
Person-centered therapy: Basic Philosophies
The view of humans is positive; we have an inclination toward becoming fully functioning. In the context of the therapeutic relationship, the client experiences feelings that were previously
denied to awareness. The client actualizes potential and moves t
Person-centered therapy: Key Concepts
The client has the potential to become aware of problems and the means to resolve them. Faith is placed in the client's capacity for self-direction. Mental health is a congruence of ideal self and real self. Maladjustment is the
result of a discrepancy be
Person-centered therapy: Goals of Therapy
To provide a safe climate conducive to clients' self-exploration, so that they can recognize blocks to growth and can experi-ence aspects of self that were formerly denied or distorted. To enable them to move toward openness, greater
trust in self, willin
Person-centered therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
The relationship is of primary importance. The qualities of the therapist, including genuineness, warmth, accurate empathy, respect, and nonjudgmentalness�and communication of these attitudes to clients�are stressed. Clients use this real relationship wit
Person-centered therapy: Limitations
Possible danger from the therapist who remains passive and in-active, limiting responses to reflection. Many clients feel a need for greater direction, more structure, and more techniques. Clients in crisis may need more directive measures. Applied to ind
Gestalt therapy: Basic Philosophies
The person strives for wholeness and
integration of thinking, feeling, and
behaving. The view is nondeterministic in
that the person is viewed as having the
capacity to recognize how earlier influences
are related to present difficulties. As an
experienti
Gestalt therapy: Key Concepts
Emphasis is on the "what" and "how" of experiencing in the here-and-now to help clients accept all aspects of themselves. Key concepts include holism, figure formation process, awareness, unfinished business and avoidance, contact, and energy.
Gestalt therapy: Goals of Therapy
To assist clients in gaining awareness of moment-to-moment experiencing and to expand the capacity to make choices. Aims not at analysis but at integration.
Gestalt therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
Central importance is given to the I/Thou relationship and the quality of the therapist's presence. The therapist's attitudes and behavior count more than the techniques used. The therapist does not interpret for clients but assists them in developing the
Gestalt therapy: Limitations
Techniques lead to intense emotional expression; if these feelings are not explored and if cognitive work is not done, clients are likely to be left unfinished and will not have a sense of integration of their learning. Clients who have difficulty using i
Behavior therapy: Basic Philosophies
Behavior is the product of learning. We are both the product and the producer of the environment. No set of unifying assumptions about behavior can incorporate all the existing procedures in the behavioral field.
Behavior therapy: Key Concepts
Focus is on overt behavior, precision in specifying goals of treatment, development of specific treatment plans, and objective evaluation of therapy outcomes. Present behavior is given attention. Therapy is based on the principles of learning theory. Norm
Behavior therapy: Goals of Therapy
To eliminate maladaptive behaviors and learn more effective behaviors. To focus on factors influencing behavior and find what can be done about problematic behavior. Clients have an active role in setting treatment goals and evaluating how well these goal
Behavior therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
The therapist is active and directive and functions as a teacher or trainer in helping
clients learn more effective behavior. Clients must be active in the process and experiment with new behaviors. Although a quality client-therapist relationship is not
Behavior therapy: Limitations
Major criticisms are that it may change behavior but not feelings; that it ignores the relational factors in therapy; that it does not provide insight; that it ignores historical causes of present behavior; that it involves control and manipulation by the
Cognitive behavior therapy: Basic Philosophies
Individuals tend to incorporate faulty thinking, which leads to emotional and behavioral disturbances. Cognitions are the major determinants of how we feel and act. Therapy is primarily oriented toward cognition and behavior, and it stresses the role of t
Cognitive behavior therapy: Key Concepts
Although psychological problems may be rooted in childhood, they are perpetuated through reindoctrination in the now. A person's belief system is the primary cause of disorders. Internal dialogue plays a central role in one's behavior. Clients focus on ex
Cognitive behavior therapy: Goals of Therapy
To challenge clients to confront faulty beliefs with contradictory evidence that they gather and evaluate. To help clients seek out their rigid beliefs and minimize them. To become aware of automatic thoughts and to change them.
Cognitive behavior therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
In REBT the therapist functions as a teacher and the client as a student. The therapist is highly directive and teaches clients an A-B-C model of changing their cognitions. In CT the focus is on a collaborative relationship. Using a Socratic dialogue, the
Cognitive behavior therapy: Limitations
Tends to play down emotions, does not focus on
exploring the unconscious or underlying conflicts, and sometimes does not give enough weight to client's past. REBT, being a confrontational therapy, might lead to premature termination. CT might be too struc
Reality therapy: Basic Philosophies
Based on choice theory, this approach assumes
that we are by nature social creatures and we
need quality relationships to be happy.
Psychological problems are the result of our
resisting the control by others or of our attempt
to control others. Choice th
Reality therapy: Key Concepts
The basic focus is on what clients are doing and
how to get them to evaluate whether their
present actions are working for them. People are mainly motivated to satisfy their needs,
especially the need for significant relationships.
The approach rejects th
Reality therapy: Goals of Therapy
To help people become more effective in
meeting their needs. To enable clients to get reconnected with the people they have chosen to put into their quality worlds and teach clients
choice theory.
Reality therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
A therapist's main function is to create a good
relationship with the client. Therapists are then
able to engage clients in an evaluation of all
their relationships with respect to what they
want and how effective they are in getting this.
Therapists find
Reality therapy: Limitations
Discounts the therapeutic value of exploration
of the client's past, dreams, the unconscious,
early childhood experiences, and transference.
The approach is limited to less complex
problems. It is a problem-solving therapy that
tends to discourage explora
Family systems therapy: Basic Philosophies
The family is viewed from an interactive and
systemic perspective. Clients are connected to a living system; a change in one part of the system will result in a change in other parts. The family provides the context for understanding how individuals funct
Family systems therapy: Key Concepts
Focus is on communication patterns within a family, both verbal and nonverbal. Problems in relationships are likely to be passed on from generation to generation. Symptoms are viewed as ways of communicating with the aim of con-trolling other family membe
Family systems therapy: Goals of Therapy
To help family members gain awareness of patterns create new ways of interacting to relieve their distress of relationships that are not working well and to
Family systems therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
The family therapist functions as a teacher, coach, model, and consultant. The family learns ways to detect and solve problems that are keeping members stuck, and it learns about patterns that have been transmitted from generation to generation. Some appr
Family systems therapy: Limitations
Limitations include problems in being able to
involve all the members of a family in therapy. Some family members may be resistant to changing the structure of the system. Therapists' self-knowledge and willingness to work on their own family-of-origin is