MODERN TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT:Biological Approaches

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History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 39

MODERN TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT

The psychological method of treatment is an approach in which the patient is not treated with medicines.

Psychological approach may be divided into:

Psychodynamic methodologies

Behavioral methodologies

Cognitive methodologies

Humanistic methodologies

Group methodologies of treatment

The first three methodologies have already been discussed. The fourth approach in psychological methods

is the Humanistic approach. As you remember Carl Rogers was one of its practitioners. Humanistic

therapists view themselves more as guides than therapists. The assumption is that a person has the potential

to get well but he just needs the way to be shown to mental health. Client Centred therapy is one such

method of humanistic method of treatment.

Treatment of less severe forms of mental diseases may also be done in groups. Where this approach is

adopted, it is called Group therapy. It may take the form of a group of people taking part in a drama, as in

psychodrama, a technique developed by J.L. Moreno. Or a group may discuss their problems together. One

specialized form of group therapy is called Family therapy, where the focus may be the family of the client

or the patient.

Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which the therapist has regular meetings with a small group of

individuals. The purpose of group therapy is to assist each of these individual in his or her emotional

development and assist him to solve his or her personal problem. People may choose group therapy for

several reasons which include reasons such as group therapy being cheaper than individual therapies since

the cost is divided among group members. Another reason may be that group therapy allows interaction

with other people giving more insights into how people solve their problems effectively and a chance to

learn from these. In addition, group members receive support from others in the group.

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that involves all the members of a nuclear or extended family. It

may be conducted by a pair of therapists which often may be a man and a woman. This is usually done

when problems related to gender roles in the family are creating trouble. Some types of family therapies are

based on behavioral or psychodynamic principles while most of the others are based on family systems

theory. Family system theory regards the entire family as the unit of treatment, and emphasizes such vital

factors as relationships and communication patterns among members of the family. The purpose of family

therapy is to identify and treat family problems that cause upheavals in the family life.

Comparing all these methods together, a research undertaken recently, involving one hundred and eighty six

thousand people who undertook psychotherapy, it was revealed that Cognitive therapy had a success rate of

95%: Behavioral therapy had a success rate of 85% followed by Psychodynamic methods having a success

rate of 80% and so on.

b) Biological Approaches

Now let us look at some other methods that we include in biological approaches to treat disorders they deal

with more severe kinds of mental illnesses. One noticeable fact in this regard is, as pointed out earlier, that

these methods are employed for more severe and chronic cases of mental disorders.

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

The first major mode of treatment in biological approach is Drug therapy. This is control of mental

disorders through drugs.

Some such drugs include:

i. Anti-psychotic drugs: Drugs which are used for severe cases of psychosis.

ii. Anti-depressant drugs: Drugs which are used to relax the patient.

iii. Anti-anxiety drugs: Drugs which are used to help anxiety.

Another method apart from prescribing drugs is called Electroconvulsive therapy or ECT in short. In this

method, mild shocks are given to the head of the patient to help him rid his mental disease. Usually a shock

of 70 to 150 volts is administered to the head of a severely sick patient. Scientists and psychiatrists are still

unable to understand the phenomenon behind the success of ECT.

The third method in this category is Psycho-surgery. This method involves surgically removing a part of

the brain. This method is very rarely used today and only as a last resort. These are the three major methods

of treatment using the biological model.

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