Major Approaches to Clinical Psychology Essay

In this essay I am going to explore two of the major approaches to Psychology, Cognitive theories and Behaviourist theories. I will discuss in some detail the two approaches, state how they compare and illustrate the similarities and the differences between them. John Watson, one of the founders of Behaviourism, based his theories on the principles of learning outlined by Pavlov who suggested the theory known as Classical Conditioning; he trained dogs to salivate whenever he rang a bell. Dogs have a natural reflex response to salivate when they see food, Pavlov rang a bell when the dogs were given food and after several repetitions of this action, the dogs began to salivate whenever they heard the bell, even when there was not

In focus of the modern world today, cognitive behavior theory is one of the most widely practiced of the theories. The technological level and ability that could diagnostically reveal a portion of the inner workings and functionary process of the mind has undoubtedly contributed to the cognitive research. For the psychological community to experience a large gain in the professional practice of assessing and correcting inappropriate behavior is to assume that they know what the correct behavior is. Still it becomes a subjective belief that one might think to be appropriate, while there remains to possibility of uncertainty exposed by any new discovery that could have a revelation of evidence in fact.

To begin, the psychodynamic theory is based on Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and primarily focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in the development of personality. The psychodynamic theory includes the idea that people have defense mechanisms. Psychological defense mechanisms are ways of dealing with anxiety through unconsciously distorting one’s perception of reality, such as denial and repression. In addition, sexual impulses play a large role in the psychodynamic theory. According to Freud, part of personality is outside of awareness, unconscious. The unconscious has difficulty retrieving material and is well below the surface of awareness. Also, the past is important in the psychodynamic theory. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this theory. For instance, the advantages are: psychodynamic theory recognizes the importance of childhood; other theorists after Freud have revised the approach to be less controversial, and this theory has been

Write a three- to four-page article review in which you discuss methodological issues unique to psychological research and analyze basic applied psychological research relevant to the treatment of mental disorders. In your paper, you will discuss

Classical conditioning is often associated with physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with the salivating dog (Hutchinson, 2015). This experiment focused on conditioning the dog to associate food with the bell while salivating, and eventually salivates when the bell is rung even without the presence of food. Operant conditioning theory is changed behavior as the result of a reinforcement (Hutchinson, 2015). In our society, we associate positive reinforcements with compliments, smiles, high-fives in order to encourage a behavior more. Negative reinforcement involves jail, detention, and grounding, and this is to stop a behavior from continuing. A cognitive social learning theory states that behavior can be learned through observations, beliefs, expectations, and imitation of others (Hutchinson, 2015). A major difference between cognitive social learning theory and the others, is a lack of manipulation to encourage the individual to follow through with a behavior. Rather, cognitive social learning theories suggest that a change in thinking can ultimately result in a change in behavior (Hutchinson, 2015).

The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the motivation of human behavior by a person’s inner personality through their emotions, childhood experiences, or environmental demands (Hutchison, 2015). As the root of all psychodynamic theories, psychologist Sigmund Freud used his interrelated points of view to develop approaches for human

The psychodynamic perspective was originally theorised by Sigmund Freud. Psychodynamic theory suggests that much of human motivation, action, and thought, are governed by unconscious mental processes. These processes can conflict with one another causing compromises between the contending motives. Freud argued that these mental processes and motivations are determined by two biological drives: aggression and sex. These drives, Freud suggests, are internal states of tension that augment in pressure until satisfied (Burton et al., 2009).

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

The psychodynamic approach to psychology is the study of human behaviour from the point of view of motivation and drives. The original beliefs of this approach were created by Sigmund Freud in the 1800s. Although it is now generally seen negatively in the common view, sometimes comically, it has provided the inspiration for a few of the current leading approaches to psychology.

     All of the information on the different types of therapies has helped me to more fully understand psychology. This chapter is dedicated to explaining the current methods of treating people with psychological disorders in order to help them through a rough time in life. This chapter on therapy shows the side of psychology that is the result of the hard work of a multitude of psychologists and doctors.

Psychodynamics, in its broadest sense, is an approach to the study of human behavior that emphasizes the study and use of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings and emotions; how they relate to early childhood experiences . . . (Sher & Sher, 2015). Intergenerational and psychoanalytic family therapies can be described as an approach to the study of how a

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).

Psychodynamic Therapy was the first therapy used in attempting to explain mental illness and has had great