Four Major Approaches to Clinical Psychology

In the counseling world today understanding psychodynamic approaches is more crucial than ever in the assessment and treatment of any psychological issue. Psychodynamic approaches such as Individual therapy, analytical therapy and psychoanalysis are similar in many ways but also differ based on the individuals own perception and circumstances. I will discuss the similarities as well difference’s and why these forms of therapy are critical in the assessment and treatment of clients.

This paper therefore focuses on several known disorders and its treatment by cognitive behavioral therapy. The next section will discuss shortly the content of cognitive behavioral therapy. Then the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for several disorders will be presented as is known in literature. However, it is out of the scope of this paper to present all known literature on this subject. Therefore, literature mentioning het main results about the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy will be presented. The differences and similarities will be discussed and at the end the conclusion will provide insight in the overall effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is analysing the contributing treatment approaches that resulted in the emergence of the Behavioural Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The paper presents and analyses the contributions that previous psychological treatment methods made in culminating the CBT. To this end, the paper presents the main treatment methods that are assumed to be most important and analyse their main arguments in

Humanistic perspective is a psychological perspective popularized by Carlo Rogers and Abraham Maslow that emphasizes the human capacity for choice and growth. This perspective offers a very positive viewpoint of human nature and potential. It suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. “The humanistic approach emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human

Humanistic therapy aims to help client develop a stronger, and healthier sense of self. It

“It is a type of psychotherapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, that draws on psychoanalytic theory to help people understand the roots of emotional distress, often by exploring unconscious motives, needs, and defences.The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a client’s self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior.”(Haggerty, J. (2013). Psychodynamic Therapy. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 3, 2015),

The psychodynamic approach founded by Sigmund Freud was a lot of our behavior, is determined by unconscious thoughts, memories. Freud developed the first complete theory of mind and is the founder of a series of techniques called psychoanalysis. This aims to explore the unconscious mind by using techniques, such as free association, dream interpretation etc. and then and be used treat abnormal behavior. Psychodynamic psychology ignores the aspects of science and instead focuses on trying to get inside the head of individuals to make logic of their relationships, experiences and how they see the world. (McLeod, 2007). Freud’s theories

Psychology explores human behavior and the human mental process figuring ways to improve the thinking and attitude of an individual’s existence. Sometimes, different techniques are used and tried to properly resolve the problem within the multitude of possible behavioral issues. Moreover, Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, developed many theories, psychodynamic therapy, for clinically treating people with mental health problems through their unconscious mind; Then, Sigmund Freud’s theories or therapy, rather, diverged into other types of therapies such as Biological Psychology or Cognitive Psychology. No doubt, there are various perspectives, both strong and weak, in the field of Psychology using different techniques on different

Psychotherapy itself comes in many forms, and is based on many different psychological models. Adlerian therapy on the growth model, Gestalt therapy integrates the body and mind, psychoanalytic therapy focuses on the first six years of life, Reality therapy teaches people to control the world around them, and Rational and Cognitive therapy, deals with the cognitive and moral state of the patient. Any one of these could be chosen as a treatment option, but for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on a form of Humanistic Therapy.

The philosophy of cognitive behavioral therapy is that “think and feeling are connected people are creative (Halbur & Halbur, 2015, p.47)”. The key aspects of theory are to challenge the irrational beliefs that we hold about ourselves. Aaron Beck the primary founder of cognitive behavior theory assumed that people can control how they feel and what they think. He believed that our inner thoughts and beliefs affected how we are affected on the outside. One of the key concepts is that the client’s dysfunctional thinking can be derived from an erroneous internal process or bias.

The humanistic approach to psychology is an organization of different thoughts in which the interests of humans and their values and/or beliefs are of main importance (Schultz & Schultz, 2009). The term humanistic relays the notion that all human beings have the potential for growth and that no one is purposely bad or unworthy (Carver & Scheier, 2012). In contrast to psychoanalytical psychologists, humanistic psychologists tend to focus on the strengths of human behavior and not the aspects that make an individual’s

In a humanistic therapy approach or a person-centered psychoanalysis, the therapist’s center of attention is on the conscious of the client to show their awareness. In this environment, such as the therapist displays realism, acceptance and kindness, as an effort in helping the client to openly convey their feelings. These types of sessions allows for information to flow between the client and the therapist in a humanistic genuineness, realness, professional and no façade way. The idea is for the client to freely express their thought and feelings to the psychotherapists so that in return kindness and acceptance is

Today Cognitive behavioral Therapy has been influenced by two major therapeutic approaches: firstly, Behaviorism as developed by Skinner, Pavlov and others in the 1950s and 1960s, where the main research was related to rewards and punishments, or stimuli’ and their response. Second is Cognitive therapy which was introduced or made popular by Beck and Ellis in the 1960s. CBT by definition is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring the patterns of thinking that lead to negative actions and the beliefs that dictate these thoughts, families can identify and change the patterns in order to

My research paper on cognitive behavior therapy took me into many different directions, all of them were very interesting and fascinating to say the least. Cognitive Behavior therapy was initiated in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Aaron T. Beck, MD (Beck, 2011). The origin of cognitive behavior therapy stems from classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning) (Craske, 2010). The topics will be on the treatment of anxiety, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.

During the following three decades, numerous innovative treatment and intervention methods and standpoints were presented as opposed to the customary psychodynamic approachs. Of the many approaches to clinical psychology, four are major and consist of the behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and family classifications. By employing these four major approaches the effectiveness of treatment is heightened (Plante, 2011).