Abnormal Psychology: Implementing Treatment

Relationship between Etiology and Treatment Bio-psycho-social Approach most modern integrates all LOA’s Sufferer is a “client” Follows medical model 1 on 1, CBT therapies Social aspect group therapy Shared experiences

Cultural considerations in Treatment Culture influences type/effectiveness of therapy Mutlaq & Chelaby 1995 problems with group therapy in Arab countries issues involving status, gender roles

Indigenous Healing Practices: combo of Western and native beliefs/roles/mores Malaysia/Koran Chinese Taoist Cognitive Therapy

Community Psychologists practices focus on client within their community Reaction to the weaknesses of institutionalization Ecological Model Miller (2000) focuses on the relationships between people/ settings Coping/collaboration in problem solving

Eclectic Practices Research: better results obtained when several approaches are integrated Virtually all therapies now incorporate 2+ approaches Addresses 2+ LOA’s Rush et al (1977); Hollon & Beck (1994) drug + Cognitive therapy helped coping and decreased relapse rates of Depression http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ery8RHHEfIM

Measuring Therapy’s Effectiveness Criteria for evaluating therapies Symptom free for how long? Absence of symptoms = success? Is success dependent on only observable behaviors? Is it possible to quantify (or is it only qualitative)? Who decides success: therapist, client, family, public, government? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8iph1XjnoY

Outcome Studies seek to answer this, but are limited Not all suffer to the same degree Treatment cannot be standardized or linear Treatment is individual, adaptive and continual

Studies of the Efficacy of Therapy Eysenck (1961) Spontaneous Remission—improved condition caused by natural healing process, not therapy still viable, but not all experience this, thus therapy is necessary

Bennun & Schindler (1988) Smith et al (1980) best indicator of success was favorable rating of therapists by clients Smith et al (1980) meta analysis of 475 studies showed foundational aspects of therapy were effective