Current Psychotherapies Key Points and Test Bank 10th
Edition
Table of Contents
Chapter Page
1 Introduction to 21st Century Psychotherapies 1
2 Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies 10
3 Adlerian Psychotherapy 35
4 Client-Centered Therapy 54
5 Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy 72
6 Behavior Therapy 88
7 Cognitive Therapy 107
8 Existential Psychotherapy 127
9 Gestalt Therapy 142
10 Interpersonal Psychotherapy 160
11 Family Therapy 181
12 Contemplative Psychotherapies 201
13 Positive Psychotherapy 217
14 Integrative Psychotherapies 238
15 Multicultural Theories of Psychotherapy 257
16 Contemporary Challenges and Controversies 278
, Chapter 1
Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies
Authors: Frank Dumont
Key Points and Terms
Evolution of the Science and Profession of Psychology
Early attempts to address mental disorders include:
► Pre-Christian, temple-like asklepeia and other retreat centers, which used religio-
philosophical lectures, to assuage if not remedy psychological disorders.
► Hellenist physicians understood that the brain was not only the seat of knowledge and
learning but also the source of depression, delirium, and madness.
► Hippocrates insisted that his students address illnesses by natural means.
Psychotherapy in its present guise did not clearly emerge until the 18th century. Below are some
key players:
► Scientific study of the unconscious attributed to renowned polymath Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz:
▪ Investigated subliminal perceptions
▪ Coined the term “dynamic”
► Johann Friedrich Herbart:
▪ Attempted to apply mathematics to dynamics
▪ Suggested ideas struggle with one another to access consciousness
► Franz Anton Mesmer and his disciple the Marquis de Puysegur are influential in current
understanding of:
▪ hypnotherapy
▪ rapport between therapist and patient
▪ influence of the unconscious
▪ importance of the qualities of the therapist
▪ spontaneous remission of disorders
▪ hypnotic somnambulism
▪ selective function of unconscious memory
▪ role of patient confidence
▪ common factors across effective treatments
► Arthur Schopenhauer
▪ Work strongly influenced Freud
► Gustav T. Fechner
▪ Made distinction between waking and sleeping states
▪ Attempted to measure the intensity of psychic stimulation
► Herman von Helmholtz
▪ Discovered the phenomenon of unconscious inference
► Emil Kraepelin
▪ Attention to classifying diseases
► Carl Gustav Carus
Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies 1
, ▪ Developed one of the most sophisticated schemas the unconscious that
exist, describing several levels to the unconscious
▪ Felt individuals were communicating at conscious and unconscious levels
with each other in paravocal, nonverbal, organic, and affective modes in
ways individuals were largely unaware of
► Carus Schopenhauer
▪ Principal argument was that we are driven by blind, irrational forces of
which we are largely unaware
► Friedrich Nietzsche
▪ Viewed that humans lie to themselves more than they do to each other
► Moritz Benedikt
▪ Developed concept of seeking out and clinically purging “pathogenic
secrets”
The Impact of Biological Science on Psychotherapy
Every encounter with our environment causes a change within us and in our neural functioning.
One cannot unlearn knowledge unless neuronal decay and lesions undo memory.
Klaus Grawe has noted that “psychotherapy appears to achieve its effect through changes in gene
expression at the neuronal level.” And research shows that therapy may be effective through
triggering the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) through exposure to nurturant social
events.
Much of the plasticity in our neuro-emotional systems is achieved through epigenetic changes.
In the current age of psychopharmacology, medicating patients for psychological purposes
should require clear, preset clinical objectives.
Future developments in molecular genetic analysis, cognitive neuropsychology, and social
cognitive neuroscience will continue to inform psychotherapy.
Clashing Standpoints
• Gillath, Adams, and Kunkel (2012) provide a model for uniting disparate approaches to
study of human nature.
• Resolution can be achieved through systemic integration of many variables that are at
play at any moment.
• For example, Pope and Wedding (2012) discuss the danger inherent in neglecting to
monitor patients who are taking psychotropic medication.
Evolutionary Biology and Behavioral Genetics
• Anthropologists have discovered at least 400 universal behavioral traits.
• Steven Pinker (2002) has further documented the principle that all humans share a unique
human nature.
, Cultural Factors and Psychotherapy
Research shows it is clear that if patient and therapist are strongly wedded to different cultures, it
matters if the authority figure is a member of a minority, non-dominant culture or dominant,
majority culture. Some would argue that psychotherapies need to be indigenized.
The Challenges of Evidence Based Treatments
Industrializing Psychotherapy
▪ Psychotherapy has gained recognition as a health discipline.
▪ Therapists will increasingly work in inter-professional medical teams.
▪ Integrated healthcare wave of the future.
▪ Therapists must demonstrate competence in treating patients in accordance with currently
accepted standards of the larger mental-health services community.
Positive Psychology
▪ Revitalized by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
▪ Built on solid historical foundations such as Alfred Adler’s view of self-actualization;
Abraham Maslow’s concepts from Toward a Psychology of Being (1962); Carl Rogers
view of therapy; and Milton Erickson’s work.
Treatment Efficacy, Therapist Aptitudes, and Diagnostic Coding
▪ Some disorders require a specific modality.
▪ Certain therapists are more capable of treating certain kinds of disorder than others.
▪ Therapists need to know the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10-CM).
Empirically Based Treatments
Division 12 of the American Psychological Association (APA) established a Task Force on
Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures of empirically based treatments
(EBTs) in 1995. However, EBTs are in much debate as patients present with a unique set of such
variables and experience endless experiences and co-morbidity complicates the categorization of
disordered patients for purposes of validating therapy for them.
Paul Meehl (1978) coined the term context-dependent stochastologicals to describe the
complexity of random internal and external events (both past and present) that impact an
individual.
Manualized psychotherapy is also debated, but most clinicians agree that therapy should proceed
from the known (i.e. empirically validated) to the “unknown and untried” in a methodical,
stepwise fashion. And, some therapies (e.g. interpersonal, behavioral and cognitive therapies) are
more amenable to becoming manual-based.
However, in the end truly successful therapists adopt or develop a theory and methodology
congruent with their own personality. As Michael Mahoney wrote, “The person of the therapist
is at least eight times more influential than his or her theoretical orientation.”
Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies 3
Edition
Table of Contents
Chapter Page
1 Introduction to 21st Century Psychotherapies 1
2 Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies 10
3 Adlerian Psychotherapy 35
4 Client-Centered Therapy 54
5 Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy 72
6 Behavior Therapy 88
7 Cognitive Therapy 107
8 Existential Psychotherapy 127
9 Gestalt Therapy 142
10 Interpersonal Psychotherapy 160
11 Family Therapy 181
12 Contemplative Psychotherapies 201
13 Positive Psychotherapy 217
14 Integrative Psychotherapies 238
15 Multicultural Theories of Psychotherapy 257
16 Contemporary Challenges and Controversies 278
, Chapter 1
Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies
Authors: Frank Dumont
Key Points and Terms
Evolution of the Science and Profession of Psychology
Early attempts to address mental disorders include:
► Pre-Christian, temple-like asklepeia and other retreat centers, which used religio-
philosophical lectures, to assuage if not remedy psychological disorders.
► Hellenist physicians understood that the brain was not only the seat of knowledge and
learning but also the source of depression, delirium, and madness.
► Hippocrates insisted that his students address illnesses by natural means.
Psychotherapy in its present guise did not clearly emerge until the 18th century. Below are some
key players:
► Scientific study of the unconscious attributed to renowned polymath Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz:
▪ Investigated subliminal perceptions
▪ Coined the term “dynamic”
► Johann Friedrich Herbart:
▪ Attempted to apply mathematics to dynamics
▪ Suggested ideas struggle with one another to access consciousness
► Franz Anton Mesmer and his disciple the Marquis de Puysegur are influential in current
understanding of:
▪ hypnotherapy
▪ rapport between therapist and patient
▪ influence of the unconscious
▪ importance of the qualities of the therapist
▪ spontaneous remission of disorders
▪ hypnotic somnambulism
▪ selective function of unconscious memory
▪ role of patient confidence
▪ common factors across effective treatments
► Arthur Schopenhauer
▪ Work strongly influenced Freud
► Gustav T. Fechner
▪ Made distinction between waking and sleeping states
▪ Attempted to measure the intensity of psychic stimulation
► Herman von Helmholtz
▪ Discovered the phenomenon of unconscious inference
► Emil Kraepelin
▪ Attention to classifying diseases
► Carl Gustav Carus
Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies 1
, ▪ Developed one of the most sophisticated schemas the unconscious that
exist, describing several levels to the unconscious
▪ Felt individuals were communicating at conscious and unconscious levels
with each other in paravocal, nonverbal, organic, and affective modes in
ways individuals were largely unaware of
► Carus Schopenhauer
▪ Principal argument was that we are driven by blind, irrational forces of
which we are largely unaware
► Friedrich Nietzsche
▪ Viewed that humans lie to themselves more than they do to each other
► Moritz Benedikt
▪ Developed concept of seeking out and clinically purging “pathogenic
secrets”
The Impact of Biological Science on Psychotherapy
Every encounter with our environment causes a change within us and in our neural functioning.
One cannot unlearn knowledge unless neuronal decay and lesions undo memory.
Klaus Grawe has noted that “psychotherapy appears to achieve its effect through changes in gene
expression at the neuronal level.” And research shows that therapy may be effective through
triggering the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) through exposure to nurturant social
events.
Much of the plasticity in our neuro-emotional systems is achieved through epigenetic changes.
In the current age of psychopharmacology, medicating patients for psychological purposes
should require clear, preset clinical objectives.
Future developments in molecular genetic analysis, cognitive neuropsychology, and social
cognitive neuroscience will continue to inform psychotherapy.
Clashing Standpoints
• Gillath, Adams, and Kunkel (2012) provide a model for uniting disparate approaches to
study of human nature.
• Resolution can be achieved through systemic integration of many variables that are at
play at any moment.
• For example, Pope and Wedding (2012) discuss the danger inherent in neglecting to
monitor patients who are taking psychotropic medication.
Evolutionary Biology and Behavioral Genetics
• Anthropologists have discovered at least 400 universal behavioral traits.
• Steven Pinker (2002) has further documented the principle that all humans share a unique
human nature.
, Cultural Factors and Psychotherapy
Research shows it is clear that if patient and therapist are strongly wedded to different cultures, it
matters if the authority figure is a member of a minority, non-dominant culture or dominant,
majority culture. Some would argue that psychotherapies need to be indigenized.
The Challenges of Evidence Based Treatments
Industrializing Psychotherapy
▪ Psychotherapy has gained recognition as a health discipline.
▪ Therapists will increasingly work in inter-professional medical teams.
▪ Integrated healthcare wave of the future.
▪ Therapists must demonstrate competence in treating patients in accordance with currently
accepted standards of the larger mental-health services community.
Positive Psychology
▪ Revitalized by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
▪ Built on solid historical foundations such as Alfred Adler’s view of self-actualization;
Abraham Maslow’s concepts from Toward a Psychology of Being (1962); Carl Rogers
view of therapy; and Milton Erickson’s work.
Treatment Efficacy, Therapist Aptitudes, and Diagnostic Coding
▪ Some disorders require a specific modality.
▪ Certain therapists are more capable of treating certain kinds of disorder than others.
▪ Therapists need to know the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10-CM).
Empirically Based Treatments
Division 12 of the American Psychological Association (APA) established a Task Force on
Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures of empirically based treatments
(EBTs) in 1995. However, EBTs are in much debate as patients present with a unique set of such
variables and experience endless experiences and co-morbidity complicates the categorization of
disordered patients for purposes of validating therapy for them.
Paul Meehl (1978) coined the term context-dependent stochastologicals to describe the
complexity of random internal and external events (both past and present) that impact an
individual.
Manualized psychotherapy is also debated, but most clinicians agree that therapy should proceed
from the known (i.e. empirically validated) to the “unknown and untried” in a methodical,
stepwise fashion. And, some therapies (e.g. interpersonal, behavioral and cognitive therapies) are
more amenable to becoming manual-based.
However, in the end truly successful therapists adopt or develop a theory and methodology
congruent with their own personality. As Michael Mahoney wrote, “The person of the therapist
is at least eight times more influential than his or her theoretical orientation.”
Introduction to 21st-Century Psychotherapies 3
