Psychology 2035A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Automatic Negative Thoughts, Positive Psychology, Classical Conditioning

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2035A/B
• Professor: Doug Hazlewood

Document Summary

The immense diversity of therapeutic treatments makes defining the concept of psychotherapy difficult. All psychotherapies involve a helping relationship (the treatment) between a professional with special training (the therapist) and another person in need of help (the client) One expert estimates that there may be over 400 distinct types psychotherapy. Approaches to treatment can be classified into three major categories: In recent decades, drug therapy has become the dominant mode of treatment for psychological disorders. As the name biomedical therapies suggests, these treatments have traditionally been provided only by physicians with a medical degree (usually psychiatrists) this situation is changing, however, as psychologists have been campaigning for prescription privileges. Among adults, the two most common presenting problems are depression and anxiety. Only about half of these people who use mental health services in a given year meet the criteria for a full-fledged mental disorder.