Lecture 3 History of Clinical Psychology

8/13/2019 Lecture 3 History of Clinical Psychology

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History of Clinical Psychology

Lecture 3


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Have tried to understand andexplain behavior that is bizarre

Explanations involved magical

forces/supernatural phenomena

Possessed by demons, spirits and

treatment involved exorcisms


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Treatment of Mentally-Ill

Socially isolated

Demonized

Institutionalized in sanitariums/mental

hospitals often for a life-time in conditions that

were in-humane

Treatment began to gradually change by late

18th and early 19th century with movements

led by Europeans and Americans Philippe Pinel,Benjamin Rush, William Tuke, and Dorothea Dix

Pushed for more humane living conditions and

treatments


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Empirical Tradition of Clinical Psychology as a

Profession

Clinical psychology has roots that extendback before the field of psychology began --

roots in philosophy, medicine, and other

sciences 1879 marks the beginning of modern

psychology, Wilhelm Wundt established 1st

laboratory in Germany that studied mentalhealth processes -- used empirical methods

to understand human behavior -- use of

observation and experimentation


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Lightner Witmer -- 1st clinical

psychologist & headed the University ofPennsylvania program; Used scientific

method to diagnose and treat a client

Emphasis on scientific approach tounderstanding human behavior and

diagnosis of problems

Not trained in clinical application

Less emphasis on treatment


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Beginning of debate between clinical

psychology as a science versus clinicalapplication (scientific research emphasis

vs. treatment or clinical application)

Belief that scientific evidence should be

the basis for clinical practice


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WitmersInfluence:

Established the first psychological clinic

Proposed a new profession named clinicalpsychology

Served as founder and editor of the first journa

in the field called, The Psychological Clinic

Influenced and anticipated future

developments in clinical psychology, includingan emphasis on children, use of clinical

interventions, collaboration with other

professions in providing treatment


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The Psychometric Tradition

Began early in the fields of astronomy

and anatomy

Studied individual differences

By 19th century, German anatomist FranzGall had interest in individual differences

Developed phrenology, the study of

mental characteristics and the shapes ofheads -- practice of assessing personality

by reading bumps or variations in the

skull


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Assumptions of Phrenology

Each area of the brain is associated witha different function

The more developed each area of the

brain, the strong and better thefunctioning of the area of the brain

Pattern of over or underdevelopment of

each faculty is reflected in corresponding

bumps or depressions in the skull


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Interest in individual differencescontinued and was heavily influenced by

Charles Darwins Origin of Species,specifically that individual differencesoccur within and between species and

natural selection takes place in part onthe basis of those characteristics


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Galton:

Galton was influenced by ideas put forth by his

cousin Darwin; used these ideas to try explaindifferences in mental abilities; use of

quantitative methods to understand

differences among people; pursued interests insensory acuity, motor skills, and reaction time

Tried to distinguish from low and high

intelligence on the basis of individual ability

Measured individual differences using mental

imagery, word association test


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James McKeen Cattell furthered the tradition of

studying individual differences and studied

differences in intelligence; developed a batteryof 10 tests and wanted to discover the

constancy of mental processes and use the

findings to determine the selection and trainingof people as well as in the detection of disease

Credited with merging individual mental

measurement with the new science of

psychology

First to use the term mental test

Primarily used sensorimotor measurements


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Alfred Binet

Frenchman who was interested in

mental measurement

Founded the first psychology laboratory

in France

Developed measures of complex mental

ability in normal and abnormal children

to help with remediation of mentallyretarded children


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Expanded measurement to include areas

such as comprehension, attention,suggestibility, etc..

Believed that intelligence should be

measured using higher mental processesnot just sensorimotor processes

Created the first true psychological test

of mental ability with his colleague

Theodore Simon


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Standard-Binet:

Introduction of modern day of

intelligence testing

Adapted by Lewis Terman at Stanford

University Standardized items on Americans and is

currently in its 5th revision

Believed that intelligence was inheritedand a strong predictor of ones success

and wanted to use IQ tests as a means to

identify appropriate job placement


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Was so popular that current APA

President at that time Robert Yerkes used

it to develop the Army Alpha and ArmyBeta tests to classify army recruits (high

officer material vs. rejects)


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World War I and Intelligence Tests:

Raised status of psychologists Grounded psychology and no longer seen

as lofty and soft

Help to solidify differences in society

based on innate ability/intelligence

Used to justify racial, ethnic, and genderdiscrimination


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Binet-Simon Test of Intelligence:

Created a 30-item test of intelligence;Focused on three areas which were:

Judgment, Comprehension, and Memory

Items on test were arranged in order ofdifficulty from least to most difficult

In later revision of test:

Included more items on the test

Items grouped by the ages at which

children passed them


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Scientific Method vs. Clinical

Application:

Need for clinical

applications/treatments not just

research driven

Early psychologists very reluctant to

shift from research to applied

psychology


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Three Factors that influenced move

towards clinical application:

Psychological testing of intelligence as

well as personality and psychopathology

Emergence of child guidance clinics andthe use of treatment of social as well as

educational problems

Eagerness to learn psychoanalysiswhich was the predominant approach to

psychotherapy being used by

psychiatrists, particularly in Europe


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Gradually introduced psychoanalysis in the

United States

Psychologists were trained in

psychoanalysis

World War II enhanced the idea oftreatment due to the large number of

soldiers and their families impacted by

trauma Saw the beginning of the reign of the

psychoanalytic approach to the treatment

of abnormal behavior


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Psychoanalytic Approach:

Founded by Sigmund Freud

Believed abnormal behavior was rooted

in past unconscious conflict that is being

replayed over in the present

Viewed human nature as that of being in

constant conflict which takes place at the

unconscious level


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Derived from constant struggle between

desire to satisfy inborn sexual andaggressive instincts and need to respect

the rules and realities imposed by the

outside world Human mind is place where your try to

reconcile the wants with the cans and

dos

Conflict leads to anxiety which a person

tries to defend against it


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There are Psychoanalytic Approach

Fundamentals

Basic Instincts Unconscious Motivation

Psychic Determinism

Energy Model


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Basic Instincts: Freud believed we have 2

basic instincts:

Sex and Aggression

Everything we as humans do can be

understood as manifestations of the lifeand death instincts:

Life is referred to as libido -- Death

referred to as thanatos Like others in the psychological traditions

-- followed ideas put forth by Darwin



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Unconscious Motivation:

We control sexual and aggressive urges

by placing them in the unconscious

These urges take on a life of their own

and become the motivated unconscious

Psychic Determinism:

Nothing happens by chance or accident All behaviors, thoughts, emotions are

expression of our mind


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Energy Model:

Idea that all humans are energy systems

that can be transformed but not destroyed

Levels of Consciousness Conscious -- current awareness

Preconscious -- not aware of material but

its retrievable (via ordinary retrieval)

Unconscious -- not aware of material but it

is not retrievable (via ordinary retrieval)


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Do we have an unconscious?

If so, how do we tap into it?



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Here are the techniques for

revealing the unconscious:

Free Association

Dream Analysis

Projective Techniques

Recovered Memories



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Structure of the Personality:

Id: Most primitive part of the mind; what we

are born with

Sources of all drives and urges

Operates according to the pleasure principle

(I want it and I want it now); think about ababy who wants to satiated when

thirsty/hungry; wants food and wants it

now; desire for instant gratification


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Operates according to primary process

thinking, which is thinking without logical

rules of conscious thought; does not

necessarily operate in reality



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Ego:

Part of the mind that constrains the id to

reality

Develops around the age of 2 to 3

Operates according to the reality principle andsecondary process thinking

Secondary process thinking refers to the

development of problem solving mechanismsthat satisfy the demands of the environment,

id, and superego

Mediates between id su ere o



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Superego:

Part of mind that internalizes the values,

morals, and ideals of society

Develops by the age of five

Not necessarily bound by reality

Determines what is right and what iswrong, use the emotion of guilt to enforcevalues, morals, etc.

Anxiety arises when the ego does noteffectively modulate the demands of the idand superego


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Therapeutically -- therapist is like an

explorer that attempts to bring to the

surface these unconscious conflicts thatneed to be resolved, use the carthartic

method combined with hypnosis to help

people release them from their fears,anxieties, inhibitions, etc.. Long-term --

want patients to gain insight (awareness

into ones unconscious), which is theultimate goal of psychoanalytic therapy.



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The Humanistic Approach:

Developed as an alternative topsychodynamic approach

Had a fundamental difference with

psychodynamic view of human nature

Believes humans are creative and unique

individuals who strive for growth and

understanding and want to realize their

maximum human potential; termed the

actualizing tendency


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Phenomenology-behavior is determined

by the perceptions and experiences ofthe behaving person

Therapeutic treatment is very client-

centered, whereby the client is activelyinvolved in treatment (unconditional

positive regard)



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y f y gy

Humanistic Perspective of Psychopathology:

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow keyfigure in Humanistic Perspective

Rogers approach was client centered.

Importance lies in the clients construal oflife.

Actualizing Tendency

Empathic Listening

Unconditional Positive Regard


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Maslows Approach-He stressed the

importance of focusing on the positive

qualities in people, as opposed to

treating them as a 'bag of symptoms

Hierarchy of Needs


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Humanistic Perspective of Psychopathology:

Lack of unconditional positive regard, lowself-esteem; Incongruence between self

and experience

Results in anxiety, defensiveness, anddistortion

Therapists convey empathy and

unconditional positive regard to counter

the notion of the world as a hostile and

difficult place



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Behavioral Perspective of Psychopathology:

View human nature and development ofpsychopathology as a learnedphenomenon through a process of

conditioning,reinforcement/punishmentand observation

Derived from the scientific approach

Key figures in the behavioral traditioninclude Pavlov, Watson, Jones, Wolpe, &Skinner


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Classical Conditioning, where pairing of aneutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus

yields a conditioned response; further byWatson with Baby Albert

Jones helped to reduce fear by using social

learning e.g., showed other children playingwith furry animals to reduce anxiety

Wolpe introduced systematic

desensitization to reduce fear Behavior learned through a system of rewards

and punishments put forth by Skinner



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The Cognitive Perspective:

Believed that behavior and development ofpsychopathology was not just a result oflearning but how we interpret or makemeaning about life events

Key figures are Piaget (cognitive developmentof children), Chomsky (languagedevelopment), Albert Ellis (Rational-Emotive

Therapy), and Aaron Beck (Cognitive Therapy)have been instrumental in constructing thecognitive approach to the explanation and

treatment of abnormal behavior)


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Psychological problems come aboutbased on peoples beliefs (assumptions,explanations, attributions) about events.

For example, a depressed person mayassume that a bad grade on an examdemonstrated that she is stupid and

must drop out of school



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Cognitive Perspective of Psychopathology:

Albert Ellis broke down emotionaldisturbance as follows:

A= Activating Event (Bad grade)fact,event,

behavior, or attitudeB= Belief person holds about the activating

event (I am stupid and otherwise not cut

out for college)C= Consequence of having this belief

system which in this case would be

depression


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Critical to this theory is B: If you have

maladaptive belief, then you will havenegative emotional response. Can nothave negative emotional response

without negative cognitions/thoughtTherapist is charged with the task to help

clients change negative thoughts through

use of various behavioral techniques thatalter thoughts and improve emotionalstate of being

Lecture 3 History of Clinical Psychology

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