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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Assignment

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Treatment Plans

You are playing the role of a psychologist/psychiatrist. Your goal is to create a treatment plan for two (2)

patients below. As the professional, you are to determine their disorder and design a plan of treatment

by following the steps.

Use the following headings on your treatment plan. Patient Name, Diagnosis or Problem, Long-Term

Goals, Short-Term Goals, Interventions, Expectations. This is not an essay, use only your text as a

reference. Remember you are write a separate plan for each patient.

1. First select 2 cases below to read. Patient Name 2. Determine a diagnosis. Diagnosis 3. Research which treatments (found in the text) produces the best outcomes with the disorder

diagnosed. Make sure to identify which major type of therapy will be used. Long-term Goals and Short-term Goals

4. Then write about how you might apply this approach to this particular case, taking into account the client’s values and personal circumstances. Interventions

5. Finally, write a paragraph or two on what your expectations are for the outcome if the client

responds well to the treatment, and, what else they might need to explore if the client doesn’t

respond well to the treatment (in lieu of evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention, since it

is an imaginary case.) Expectations

Maria Maria was in her third year of college when her grades began to drop. After failing her second semester, she dropped out of school. Now, living at home, she has started hearing the voices of two “ghosts” who talk to each other and comment on her behavior. Disturbed by this, she has come to see you.

Jack A parent comes in distressed about her seven-year-old child, Jack. He is argumentative with adults, talks incessantly, always forgets to bring home his homework, blames his little brother for all his misbehavior, and constantly does things without thinking, such as jumping off of high places or running out into the street. Jack has already had a concussion and broken his arm. The school doesn’t know what to do with him, and he is constantly being sent to the principal’s office. His mother says he’s great in sports and can be sweet and sensitive, but lately he’s driving her crazy.

Milly Milly graduated from college and has not been able to find a job. She’s always been a high achiever, so she feels like a failure, living at home and relying on her parents for support. Over the past three months, she’s been crying every day, sleeping all the time, and has put on about twenty pounds. Her friends call, but she doesn’t feel like doing anything. She doesn’t have any money to go out anyway. She feels utterly hopeless about her situation.

Joey Joey just entered preschool and his teachers are expressing concern about him. Though he knows his numbers and letters, he has no interest in the other children. When it is time to play, he walks around, talking to himself. His teacher said he seems to be repeating scenes from Disney movies word-for-word. When they switch activities, he cries and is difficult to

PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Assignment

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soothe. The only toys he plays with are the cars, but rather than push them around like the other children, he lines them up in a row and gets very upset if someone moves one.

Bonnie Bonnie works as a nurse but is terrified of contamination. Though she wears gloves all the time and washes her hands assiduously, she is afraid she’s going to contract a disease from one of her patients and die. When you look at her hands, you note that they appear like they’ve been rubbed raw. She says she’s coming in because her anxiety is really starting to affect her not only at work, but at home now too.

© Debra Vos and Indian Hills Community College

PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Handout

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What are Today’s Psychotherapies?

There are many kinds of psychotherapy, with each having certain common characteristics.

Psychotherapy is a systematic interaction between therapist and a client that applies psychological

principles to affect the client’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in an effort to help the client overcome

psychological disorders, adjust to problems in living, or develop as an individual.

There are six major forms of psychotherapies based on different theories of human nature. They are

Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, Behavioral, Cognitive, and Group therapies.

The first formal psychotherapy to emerge was psychoanalysis, developed by Sigmund Freud. In this type

of therapy the aim is to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness where the patient can deal

with them. When energy devoted to id-ego-superego conflicts is released, the patient’s anxiety lessens.

This type of therapy is hard to refute because it cannot be proven or disproven. It takes a long time and

is very expensive.

Humanistic Therapies, are considered a more modern approach to therapy that boosts self-fulfillment

by helping people grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance. An example of this type of therapy is the

Client-Centered method developed by Carl Rogers. When using this type of therapy, the therapist listens

to the needs of the patient in an accepting and non-judgmental way, addressing problems in a

productive way, and building his or her self-esteem. The therapist engages in active listening and

echoes, restates, and clarifies the patient’s thinking, acknowledging expressed feelings.

Behavior Therapy applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. To treat phobias

or sexual disorders, behavior therapists do not delve deeply below the surface looking for inner causes.

Sometimes Exposure Therapy is used by exposing patients to things they fear and avoid. Through

repeated exposures, anxiety lessens because the habituate to the things feared. Operant Conditioning

can also be used to modify behavior. Desired behaviors are rewarded and undesired behaviors are

either unrewarded or punished.

Cognitive Therapy teaches people adaptive ways of thinking and acting based on the assumption that

thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions. Aaron Beck suggests that depressed

patients believe they can never be happy and thus associate minor failings like failing a test in life as

major causes for their depression. Beck further believes that cognitions such as “I can never be happy”

need to change in order for depressed patients to recover. This change is brought about by gently

questioning patients. Cognitive therapists often combine the reversal of self-defeated thinking with

efforts to modify behavior. Cognitive-behavior therapy aims to alter the way people act and alter the

way they think.

Group Therapy is often used which normally consists of 6-9 people attending a 90- minute session that can help more people and costs less. Clients benefit from knowing others have

PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Handout

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similar problems. Couple therapy helps couples enhance their relationship by improving their communication skills and helping them manage conflict. Family Therapy treats the family as a system. Family members are guided toward positive relationships and improved communication. Biological therapies, also known as drug therapy, applies what is known of people’s biological structures and processes to the improvement of psychological disorders. Antianxiety drugs are usually prescribed for outpatients who complain of generalized anxiety or panic attacks. People with schizophrenia are often given antipsychotic drugs. People with major depression often take antidepressant drugs. These drugs are also helpful for some people with eating disorders, panic disorder, OCD, and social phobias. Today, Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is primarily used for patients with major depression who do not respond to antidepressants. People typically obtain one ECT treatment three times a week for up to 10 sessions. A side effect of ECT is memory loss. Lobotomies have long since been discontinued in the United States. The prefrontal lobotomy, has been used with people with severe disorders. A pick like (ice pick) instrument severs the nerve pathways that link the prefrontal lobes of the brain to the thalamus. It is intended to sever thought from emotion and enable severely disturbed patients to regain control. A current psychosurgery is the gamma knife surgery. Physicians beam streams of radiation deep into the skull, destroying spots of tissue believed to be overactive in severe OCD. When analyzing the effectiveness of psychotherapies, we have to realize that there is some common ground that includes a hope for people, a new perspective, and an empathic, trusting, and caring relationship. It is proven that evidence-based psychotherapies have survived overtime along with drug therapies.

© Debra Vos and Indian Hills Community College

PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Assignment

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Case Study – Applying Psychological Perspectives

Purpose: To examine, apply, and compare contemporary perspectives in psychology.

Directions: After reading the case study below, define or explain the historical or contemporary

psychological perspective. Then, apply each perspective to the case, determining how we could better

understand this person.

• Identify which issues each therapist would most likely address with the client.

• Use terminology associated with the different therapeutic orientations such as free

association, reality testing, aversive conditioning, etcetera, to explain how each therapist

would implement treatment.

• Use complete sentences free of spelling and grammatical errors to fully explain your

answers.

Case: Jodie is a 57-year-old woman who suffers from depression. She was raised in a one-parent home

in a rural community in the Midwest. Her mother died when she was nine years old and her father was

an alcoholic. Her dream was to become a historian and work in a museum. Instead of going to college,

she got pregnant and married. She recently lost her job as a sales clerk and has difficulty keeping any

friends. She is currently divorced from her fourth husband and has two grown children that live miles

away. She believes there is no use in trying to find a job or in meeting new people because it always

results in failure. She believes therapists are quacks and currently, chooses to drink heavily every day.

Behavioristic Perspective:

Cognitive Perspective:

Biological/Physiological Perspective:

Sociocultural Perspective:

Psychodynamic Perspective:

Humanistic Perspective:

PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Assignment

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Instructor Rubric:

Criteria

Exceeds Expectations

Meets Expectation

Needs Improvement

Inadequate

Did not complete

Identify and define

key issue/s and/or

problem/s in

response

Clearly, accurately, and

appropriately

identifies/defines

theories/key issue/s and/or

problem/s in response.

Identifies and defines

most or all theories/key

issue/s and/or

problem/s. Some minor

inaccuracies or

omissions may be

present, but do not

interfere with meaning

of response.

Identifies and defines

some theories/key

issue/s and/or

problem/s. May have

some inaccuracies,

omissions or errors

present that interfere

with meaning of

response.

Most or all theories/key

issues/ and/or

problem/s are not

identified or defined or

are identified and

defined inaccurately.

Meaning in response is

unclear.

Did not

complete.

Tallies for this Section

Apply a Multi-

Dimensional approach

to thinking/Makes

connection with

content from course

Clearly applies a multi-

dimensional approach to

response. Synthesizes

various perspectives.

Makes course content

connections in response.

Acknowledges multiple

approaches. Some synthesis

of perspectives. Somewhat

connects course content to

issue or problem in

response.

Somewhat simplified

position with some

sense of multiple

approaches. Minor or

vague synthesis of

perspectives. May not

acknowledge content

from course in

response.

Student’s position is

grounded in a singular,

often personal

perspective. Position

may be simplistic and

obvious. No course

content connections to

issue or problem.

Did not

complete.

PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology Learning Unit 10: Assignment

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Tallies for this Section

Demonstrate Sound

Reasoning and

Conclusions

Overall, reasoning is logical

and creative, consistent,

complete, and often

unique.

Conclusion is complex

and/or detailed, well

supported, creative,

complete, and relevant ·

Overall, reasoning is mostly

logical, complete, and

consistent. Demonstrates

some unique or creative

insight.

Conclusion is generally

complete, supported, and

mostly consistent and

relevant

Reasoning contains

elements of logic and/or

creative insight, but not

fully resolved. May have

minor inconsistencies or

omissions.

Conclusion is relevant

but abbreviated or

simplified, not fully

supported, and/or

contains minor

inconsistencies.

Reasoning is illogical,

simplistic, and

inconsistent or absent.

Conclusion is

simplistic and stated

as an absolute, or

inconsistent with

evidence or

reasoning. Lack of

coherent or clear

conclusion.

Did not

complete.

Tallies for this Section

© Jennifer Hess and Indian Hills Community College