8.7 Introduction to Treatment of Psychological Disorders

2 min read•january 1, 2023

Emily Pedrazzi

Jillian Holbrook

Emily Pedrazzi

Jillian Holbrook

AP Psychology 🧠

334 resources

See Units

The treatment of psychological disorders has vastly changed as perceptions of mental illnesses and their causes have shifted throughout history. Modern treatment varies based on the condition and approach, but it often focuses on several key ideas:

🧠 Correcting thought patterns that are psychologically damaging
📚 Conditioning proper emotional responses to various situations
😌 Teaching proportionate and healthy responses
🙍 Coping with various conditions and symptoms

Image Courtesy of Allure.

These advancements in psychology would not be possible without the following key figures and their contributions.

Psychologists to Know

Aaron Beck

Aaron Beck is known for youth inventory, anxiety inventory, Beck Scales-depression inventory, the hopelessness scale, and cognitive therapy. He sought to change patients' beliefs about themselves and their lives. 😊

Albert Ellis

Albert Ellis is known for Rational-Emotive Therapy, and he believed that problems come from irrational thinking.

Sigmund Freud

Freud is known for his subfield of psychoanalysis and research in consciousness, defense mechanisms, repression, and negotiation through id/ego/superego. He tries to bring unconscious thoughts into awareness during therapy to gain insight, point out resistance in the mind, and transfer feelings.

Mary Cover Jones

Mary Cover Jones came up with an exposure therapy called systematic desensitization. She is a behavioral psychologist and aimed to treat phobias by exposing patients to stimuli in a present context, meaning she introduced systemic desensitization.

Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers is a humanistic psychologist who believed in client-centered therapy. The therapist uses unconditional positive regard and provides an accepting, genuine, and empathic environment for the patient to express their feelings and overcome disorders. 👩‍⚕️

B.F. Skinner

B.F. Skinner is known for operant conditioning, reinforcement schedules, and the Skinner box. He believed in behavior modification therapy, which uses learning principles to eliminate unwanted thoughts and fears.

Joseph Wolpe

Joseph Wolpe is a behavior psychologist like Mary Cover Jones who refined systematic desensitization.

Key Vocabulary

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy	Exposure Therapies	Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy	Client-centered talk therapy
Active Listening	Insight	Resistance	Interpretation
Transference	Biomedical therapy	Eclectic approach	Talk Therapy
Systematic Desensitization	Counter Conditioning	Hierarchies	Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
Aversive Conditioning	Behavior Modification	Token Economy	Psychopharmacology
Antidepressants	Antipsychotic	Mood-Stabilizers	Antianxiety drugs
SSRI	SNRI	Tardive Dyskinesia	ECT
rTMS	Psychosurgery	Deep Brain Stimulation	Therapeutic Alliance