Question

1. Discuss the elements of psychotherapy and give a clinical example of each.
2. Explain the biological basis of anxiety and discuss in general the priorities for treatment using the practice treatment hierarchy.

Answer 1

Ans) Psychotherapy is a generic label for a large and growing number of interventions, which share certain and defining characteristics, such as being intended to be therapeutic, being based on psychological principles and their derivative treatment methods, and being delivered by trained professionals.

- The basic elements of psychotherapy are simple—a patient, the distress or illness experienced by the patient, a therapist, and the treatment that the therapist provides—but psychotherapy occurs in a wide variety of forms and settings, involves a wide diversity of practitioners, and is conducted according to widely divergent theories about the causes and cures of psychological illness and distress. Since psychotherapy process research takes all these variations as its subject, a brief overview of the field it studies may serve as an introduction.

- Anxiety disorders are treatable. Effective treatments have been developed, and algorithms have been refined. However, more work needs to be directed toward merging of our knowledge of the biological mechanisms of anxiety with treatment in order to more accurately predict and improve treatment response.

- Dynamic models of anxiety—such as the ABC model—can be helpful in understanding the interplay between processes responsible for development and maintenance of the symptoms over time and between biological and psychological factors affecting them.

- In order to better administer existing efficacious treatments in real-world health care environments, such as in primary care, and to inform the public via media outlets. We should continue to test alternative therapies for treating and preventing anxiety disorders and to help patients whose anxiety is resistant to conventional treatments.

- Finally, we need to consider the patient’s feelings about mental illness and address their responses early in treatment. All of these measures will enhance the care of patients with anxiety.