Intro to Clinical Psychology
Historically, some could say the father of modern scientific psychology is Wilhelm Wundt, a German psychologist who founded the first major laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879. There he examined the mind like any other science, deducing it to a series of chemical reactions and interacting physical components. In 1881, he began the first journal for psychological research.
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One of his students, Lightner Witmer invented the term "clinical psychology," co-founded the American Psychological Association (along with Stanley Hall) and opened up a groundbreaking laboratory in Pennsylvania. He focused on helping children with learning disabilities and studying how to evoke change in people with limited mental resources. By contrast, Sigmund Freud's focus was more on deep psychotherapy and behavior therapy.
There are four main perspectives of clinical psychology: psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral and systems/family therapy. First, psychodynamic psychotherapy developed out of the works of Sigmund Freud and sought to make the unconscious desires come to the surface, rather than remain suppressed. Popular interventions include free association and the examination of transference and defenses. The history of mental illness is examined through the exploration of childhood memories.
The humanistic perspective of psychology was based around the work of Carol Rogers, Victor Frankl and Rollo May. Rogers argued that people needed congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathetic understanding as mental health treatment. The humanist perspective seeks to help the person towards self-actualization and connecting with their natural born potential.
The cognitive behavioral perspective looks at the interaction between how we think, feel and act. Psychology experts believe that we interpret the world through schemas (set patterns of thinking and categorizing information) that sometimes results in behavioral problems. To uncover irrational thinking, professionals try desensitization, Socratic questioning, relational dialectics therapy or note taking.
In systems or family therapy, psychology therapists focus on the interaction of the family and their interpersonal dynamics. Interventions include a spouse, parent, sibling or close friend. While some of the intervention involves a group discussion, homework assignments are often given to help patients keep working, thinking and assessing outside of their therapy sessions.
Other areas of clinical psychology center around philosophical notions of reality, processing information and developing behavioral and cognitive beliefs. Therapy perspectives include: Existential, Gestalt, Post Modern and Transpersonal. Existential psychotherapy teaches patients to accept responsibility by showing how humans make choices in how to relate with others.
These choices are based upon past history, coping mechanisms, personal identity, interpersonal relationships and the quest for deeper meaning. Post Modern psychology examines how a person's reality is shaped by language, history and social context. In this view, there is no definitive "truth" that can be uncovered since everything is subjective. Transpersonal therapy helps patients transcend their earthly consciousness to find a deeper spirituality.
The clinical psychology profession has grown from 20,000 to 63,000 practitioners between 1974 and 1990. Research of medical symptoms and mental health treatment is paramount to successful recovery. Ideally, a patient will participate in psychotherapy and behavior therapy sessions, in addition to visiting a medical doctor for physical issues. In the instance of severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, it is especially important that the patient consider anti-psychotic medication, career counseling and support groups to cope.
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Today's Tip On Schizophrenia
Roughly, one out of every one thousand people develops a schizophreniform disorder - meaning that they exhibit a short term form of schizophrenia. Two thirds of the people with the disorder go on to develop a life-long mental illness. These symptoms of schizophrenia can be caused by genetics, brain chemistry or environmental factors. Some people are literally pushed to the brink of insanity due to stress from social interactions. Others have an imbalance of neurotransmitters that may lead to disorganization in the brain. To treat schizophrenia of any type, the good news is that taking an anti-psychotic schizophrenia drug is usually very effective in treating the symptoms, and allows most sufferers to live a relatively normal life.
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