Psychology
110
Neil Lutsky, Carleton
College:
October 23,
2002
Class Outline:
Psychotherapy
I. A brief history of therapies for
psychopathology.
- Somatic vs. psychological therapies.
- Insight vs. cognitive-behavioral approaches.
II. Somatic therapies
- Drug
interventions.
- Some
difficulties and complexities.
- The additivity argument for psychological
therapy
- Neurotransmitters and
psychopharmacology.
e.g. Chlorpromazine, SSRIs, Lithium Carbonate, Anxiolytics.
- ECT.
- Psychosurgery.
III. Psychological
therapies.
- Orthodox
psychoanalysis and contemporary variations.
- Humanistic therapies:
Client-centered and existential.
[A session with Carl Rogers]
- Behavioral
therapies: Flooding,
implosion, systematic
desensitization, aversion training, token economies.
- Cognitive
therapies.
IV. Outcome research on psychotherapy.
- The problem of
regression to the
mean.
- Requirements for a
scientific evaluation of psychotherapeutic success.
- Outcome design
complications: diagnosis, patient selection, PT protocols,
controls, measures.
- Is psychotherapy
effective?
- Are some therapies more
effective than others?
- For what kinds of problems
are particular approaches
best suited? Prescriptionism.