Therapeutic Approaches

About this unit

This unit explains how people with psychological problems are helped. It covers the nature and process of psychotherapy, the therapeutic relationship, the major types of therapy (psychodynamic, behaviour, cognitive and humanistic-existential), the factors that contribute to healing, ethical standards, alternative therapies such as yoga and meditation, and the rehabilitation of people with mental illness.

Key ideas

• Psychotherapy is a voluntary relationship between a client and a trained therapist.
• Therapeutic alliance: contract, trust, empathy, unconditional positive regard and confidentiality.
• Psychodynamic techniques: free association, dream interpretation, transference, interpretation and insight.
• Behaviour therapy techniques: systematic desensitisation, aversive conditioning, token economy, modelling.
• Cognitive therapies of Albert Ellis (ABC model) and Aaron Beck.
• Humanistic-existential therapies: logotherapy, client-centred therapy and Gestalt therapy.
• Ethics, alternative therapies and rehabilitation.

How to prepare

• Match each therapy with its founder and key technique.
• Practise identifying the therapy from a short case description.
• Learn the ethical principles and the aims of rehabilitation.