Do Now What element of psychotherapy do you find the most helpful for patients? How can substance abuse interfere with an accurate diagnosis?

Unit 13: Treatment of Psychological Disorders Evaluating Psychotherapies

Is Psychotherapy Effective? Regression toward the mean (top of pg. 621) Client’s perceptions not enough to measure whether or not psychotherapy is effective why? people often enter therapy in crisis clients may need to believe the therapy was worth the effort ..and money clients generally speak kindly of their therapists Clinician’s perceptions same reasons people usually enter extremely unhappy and leave a little better Outcome research Therapy helps Meta-analysis Placebo treatments the sympathy and friendly counsel of paraprofessionals also tend to produce more improvement than no treatment at all

The Relative Effectiveness of Different Therapies No one type of psychotherapy is generally superior to all others Therapy is most effective for those with clear-cut, specific problems Some therapies are more effective for specific disorders behavioral conditioning for treating phobias and compulsions Evidence – Based Practice

Evidence – Based Practice http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/webpub/Ektron/Myers %20Psychology%202e%20AP/Student%20Resources/Flip %20It%20Videos/flipit_mod72_evidence- based_practice.html

Evaluating Alternative Therapies Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) Light exposure therapy Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) What did book say about these two things? How effecting are they?

Commonalities Hope for demoralized people A new perspective typically those who seek therapy are anxious/depressed and after the therapy leave somewhat improved A new perspective every therapy offers a plausible explanation for their symptoms which can in turn give the seeker a new perspective An empathic, trusting, caring relationship between the therapist and patient

Culture & Values in Psychotherapy All therapies offer hope All therapists want their client to get better Differences arise Individualism Religion Language Communication style Personal background training

Types of Therapists

Today Quiz your knowledge Qs #1-10 Begin HW HW = Qs # 11-14 (biomedical therapy - you can do 15 if you don’t want to deal with it on exam study night)