Question

1. Define psychotherapy,

What does culture play a role in treatment?

Compare psychoanalysis with modern psychodynamic therapy.

What are the major categories of biomedical therapy?

Answer 1

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing.

Problems helped by psychotherapy include difficulties in coping with daily life; the impact of trauma, medical illness or loss, like the death of a loved one; and specific mental disorders, like depression or anxiety. There are several different types of psychotherapy and some types may work better with certain problems or issues. Psychotherapy may be used in combination with medication or other therapies.

q.2 Everyone resides within a culture. Most consistently, folks understand culture as being a part of racial or ethnic groups. Culture; however, can be thought of more broadly to not only encompass ethnicity, but also other social locations. There are familycultures, academic cultures, workplace cultures, culture of femininities and masculinities, religious cultures, and so on.

Cultural ways of being influence how we see ourselves in the world and also how we engage with others. Culture influences our expectations about how person-to-person interactions will occur. Additionally, culture influences how we understand health and healing. A brief and simple example: When people choose to visit a medical doctor when physically ill. Based on people's culture, some individuals choose to interface with medical professionals, while other folks may choose other options such as prayer, homeopathic remedies, fasting, etc. There are diverse cultural expectations related to health and healing that dictate how people understand health, illness, and what works to address these issues.

There are also expansive ways and approaches in psychotherapy that take into account varying cultural ways of being and understandings of health and healing. For example, Afrocentric approaches to therapy emphasize authenticity, balance, interconnectedness, and cultural awareness (Gregory & Harper, 2001). Many of these approaches address the relationship between the mind, body, and spirit. Afrocentric approaches to psychotherapy move beyond the Rogerian notion of “self-actualization” to a broader understanding of collective and community healing and becoming.

Acknowledging the role of culture in people's lives takes into account real cultural experiences, meaning that as a psychologist I do not assume that everyone has the same life experience and narrative even if folks share certain aspects of identity. Not all men are the same. Not all African American men from Sacramento are the same. Not all homosexual folks are the same. This stance requires an openness to let people explore and be all of who they are. These experiences can be directly addressed in psychotherapy where people can bring all of themselves including diverse beliefs, values, and experiences all within a context of care and respect. By working with a therapist who provides space and acknowledgement of your unique culture and values, there is greater opportunity to be heard, validated, and have a strong foundation to engage in relevant change processes.

q.3

According to many therapists who practice this therapeutic orientation, the terms "psychoanalysis" and "psychodynamic therapy" are often used interchangeably. However, the basic distinction is more relevant in the context of therapy.

Psychoanalysis in particular has two meanings. First, it is a theory for understanding clinical presentations, and perhaps even people in general. It is also used to describe a form of intensive psychotherapy in the most classic sense, which involves long-term treatment, often for years. The treatment takes place several times a week, with the patient on a couch and conducted by a therapist who is a certified psychoanalyst.

Psychoanalytic theory, in part developed based on the intensive form of therapy described above, guides the practice of psychodynamic therapy to a large extent, but not completely.

Psychodynamic therapy is psychoanalytic for the most part and makes assumptions about how the mind works that are based on psychoanalytic theory. But the technique is radically different from a traditional psychoanalysis treatment. It is brief—15 sessions would not be unusual—and often similar in number of sessions to CBT. It is mostly delivered once per week and takes place face-to-face. The therapist may not be a certified psychoanalyst, but is someone who trained in psychoanalysis or psychodynamic therapy and considers that his or her therapeutic orientation. In APA's Div. 39 (Psychoanalysis) the term "psychoanalysis" covers the whole range of psychoanalytically ­oriented ­therapy, research and treatment.—Amy Novotney

q.4

Pharmacotherapy (Medication)

Biological therapies include four classes of psychiatric medications: antipsychotics, antidepressants, anti-cycling agents, and hypnoanxiolytics.

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment method sometimes used for psychiatric disorders that do not respond to other forms of treatment.

Psychosurgery

Psychosurgery, a group of procedures aimed at disrupting neural pathways, has declined over the years due to better psychiatric medications.