Week 1 Post 2: Psychological Therapies

     In psychological therapies, there are four foundational models that determine different ways to analyze behavior. The Biological Model (focused on biological determinants), Psychodynamic Therapy (focused on the relationship between the therapist and client), Behavioral Therapy (focused on actions and behaviors), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (the role of thoughts within emotions and actions). Models of abnormality, close in name to the four foundational models, include Biological Model (emphasis on brain, biochemicals, neuroanatomy), Behavioral Model (focused on maladaptive behaviors adopted from one's environments), Cognitive Model (cognitive distortions and dysfunctions in thought processes) and Psychodynamic Model (focused on illness from repressed emotions of past experiences). Common processes used in psychological therapy include classical conditioning (identifying the trigger and response), operant conditioning (learning through reinforcement and punishment) and cognitive restructuring (learning to reevaluate unhelpful thoughts). The process of finding coherent therapies to practice often follows the American Psychological Association's guidelines: successful Randomized Control Trials (RCT's) and a proof of efficiency.

    The reason behind specific psychological therapies well explains the reason why psychology will always be an ongoing study; constantly finding patterns, connections and similarities in mental health. It is evident that through the Biological Models, mental health struggles can be rooted in family and what is passed down from generations through DNA. This connects to the Psychodynamic Model through the focus of what issues from the past are showing in today's mental health, for example, generational trauma. The Behavioral Model can also defend the idea of mental health trends traveling through time and generations, like the role (or lack there of) of family in one's environment. The Cognitive Models and Therapy are specifically focused on dysfunction in thoughts, more scientifically, the brain. The definitions of cognitive therapies seem to connect to the most common practices that cater to the way a client thinks-- analyzing thoughts with classical conditioning and essentially relearning how to think healthily with operant conditioning and cognitive restructuring.