Aaron T. Beck

Aaron T. Beck 

 

Aaron T. Beck was born on July 18, 1921, in Rhode Island. He graduated from Brown University in 1942 and was an exemplary student, achieving magna cum laude and earning the William Gaston Prize for Excellence in Oratory and the Francis Wayland Scholarship. He continued his studies at Yale Medical School and earned his medical degree from there in 1946. Beck spent most of his career studying psychoanalysis, and in the 1960’s, began exploring other therapeutic techniques. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Beck struggled to find a way to help his depressed clients better capture their emotions. He realized that many of his depressed clients experienced recurring negative thoughts and that as long as they believed these thoughts to be true, they would continue to have symptoms of depression. He theorized that in order to change the symptoms, he must change their distorted thinking. This belief led to the development of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In an effort to better gauge the symptoms of depressed individuals, he initially conducted research into the psychoanalytic theories of depression. He developed a different theoretical-clinical approach that he labeled cognitive therapy. Since 1959 he has directed funded research investigations of the psychopathology of depression, suicide, anxiety disorders, panic disorders, alcoholism, drug abuse, personality disorders, and schizophrenia and of cognitive therapy of these disorders. His current work focuses on disseminating empirically tested cognitive therapy treatments into community settings to investigate the efficacy and effectiveness of these therapies when implemented in real-world settings. He has developed the Beck Initiative, an innovative collaborative relationship with the City of Philadelphia's Department of Mental Health/Mental Retardation Services to train community therapists to conduct cognitive therapy. In addition, he is investigating cognitive therapy treatment for schizophrenia. He has been listed as one of the “10 individuals who shaped the face of American Psychiatry” and the most influential psychotherapist among American psychologists. 

Cognitive Triad Therapy: It is a triad of types of negative thought present in depression proposed by Aaron Beck. 

The triad involves negative thoughts about

1. The self (i.e., self is worthless)
2. The world/environment (i.e., world is unfair)
3. The future (i.e., future is hopeless)

Beck's negative triad holds that depressed people have negative thoughts about themselves, their experiences in the world, and the future.  For instance, a depressed person might think, "I didn't get the job because I'm terrible at interviews. Interviewers never like me, and no one will ever want to hire me." In the same situation, a person who is not depressed might think, "The interviewer wasn't paying much attention to me. Maybe she already had someone else in mind for the job. Next time I'll have better luck, and I'll get a job soon." Beck also identified the following cognitive distortions, which can contribute to depression: arbitrary inference, selective abstraction, overgeneralization, magnification and minimization^.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that addresses dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic process. The name refers to behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and to therapy based upon a combination of basic behavioral and cognitive research. CBT is effective for the treatment of a variety of conditions, including mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance abuse, tic, and psychotic disorders. Many CBT treatment programs for specific disorders have been evaluated for efficacy; the health-care trend of evidence-based treatment, where specific treatments for symptom-based diagnoses are recommended, has favored CBT over other approaches such as psychodynamic treatments.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), is a form of psychotherapy in which the therapist and the client work together as a team to identify and solve problems. Therapists use the Cognitive Model to help clients overcome their difficulties by changing their thinking, behavior, and emotional responses. Cognitive therapy has been found to be effective in more than 1000 outcome studies for a myriad of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and substance abuse, among others, and it is currently being tested for personality disorders. It has also been demonstrated to be effective as an adjunctive treatment to medication for serious mental disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Cognitive therapy has been extended to and studied for adolescents and children, couples, and families. Its efficacy has also been established in the treatment of certain medical disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypertension, fibromyalgia, post-myocardial infarction depression, noncardiac chest pain, cancer, diabetes, migraine, and other chronic pain disorders.

Abnormal Psychology: The History of Mental Illness

IB Psychology: Abnormal Psychology


Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT): also known as the electroshock is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Nowadays it is not used, but sometimes use it for a treatment for severe depression that has not responded to other treatment. It was first introduced first by an Italian neuropsychiatrist  Ugo Cerletti  and Lucio Bini. With ECT 70 percent of the patients are womens, and mostly there is a significant risk of memory loss. ECT is safe and among the most effective treatments available for depression. With ECT, electrodes are put on the patient's scalp and a finely controlled electric current is applied. The current causes a brief seizure in the brain. ECT is one of the fastest ways to relieve symptoms in severely depressed or suicidal patients. It's also very effective for patients who suffer from mania or other mental illnesses. ECT is generally used when severe depression is unresponsive to other forms of therapy. Or it might be used when patients pose a severe threat to themselves or others and it is dangerous to wait until medications take effect. ECT has the process of doing it. First of all the patient is given a muscle relaxant and is put to sleep with a general anesthesia. Electrodes are placed on the patient's scalp and a finely controlled electric current is applied. This current causes a brief seizure in the brain. Because the muscles are relaxed, the visible effects of the seizure will usually be limited to slight movement of the hands and feet. Patients are carefully monitored during the treatment. The patient awakens minutes later, does not remember the treatment or events surrounding it, and is often confused. The confusion typically lasts for only a short period of time.When used, ECT is usually given up to three times a week for a total of two to four weeks.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, ECT can be beneficial in the following situations:

• when a need exists for rapid treatment response, such as in pregnancy
• when a patient refuses food and that leads to nutritional compromise
• when a patient's depression is resistant to antidepressant therapy
• when other medical ailments prevent the use of antidepressant medication
• when the patient is in a catatonic stupor
• when the depression is accompanied by psychotic features
• when treating bipolar disorder
• when treating mania
• when treating patients who have a severe risk of suicide
• when treating patients who have had a previous response to ECT
• when treating patients with atypical psychosis
• when treating patients with major depression
• when treating schizophrenia

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: It is an empirically supported treatment that focuses on patterns of thinking that are maladaptive and the beliefs that underlie such thinking. For Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, it has demonstrated its usefulness for a wide variety of   problems, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, and psychotic disorders. The underlying concept behind  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that our thoughts and feelings play a fundamental role in our behavior. For example, a person who spends a lot of time thinking about plane crashes, runaway accidents and other air disasters may fund themselves voiding air travel. The goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to teach patients that while the cannot control every aspect of the world around them, they can take control of how they interpret and deal with things in their environment. Cognitive behavior therapy has become increasingly popular in recent years with both mental health consumers and treatment professionals. Because CBT is usually a short-term treatment option, it is often more affordable than some other types of therapy. CBT is also empirically supported and has been shown to effectively help patients overcome a wide variety of maladjusted behaviors. Cognitive behavior therapy has been used to treat people suffering from a wide range of disorders, including anxiety, phobias, depression and addiction. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy  is one of the most researched types of therapy, in part because treatment is focused on a highly specific goal and results can be measured relatively easily. Cognitive behavior therapy is often best suited for clients who are comfortable with introspection. In order for  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy  to be effective, the individual must be ready and willing to spend time and effort analyzing his or her thoughts and feelings. Such self-analysis can be difficult, but it is a great way to learn more about how internal states impact outward behavior. Cognitive behavior therapy is also well-suited for people looking for a short-term treatment options that does not necessarily involve pharmacological medication. One of the greatest benefits of cognitive-behavior therapy is that it helps clients develop coping skills that can be useful both now and in the future.




Serotonin-Norepinephrine Re-uptake Inhibitors:  Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors s are a class of medications that are effective at easing depression symptoms. Serotonin-Nor-epinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors are also sometimes used to treat other mental health conditions such as anxiety. Serotonin and Norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors ease depression by affecting chemical messengers used to communicate between brain cells. Most antidepressants work by changing the levels of one or more of these naturally occurring brain chemicals. Serotonin-Nor-epinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors block the absorption of the neurotransmitters. Changing the balance of these chemicals seems to help brain cells send and receive messages, which in turn boosts mood. Medications in this group of antidepressants are sometimes called dual re-uptake inhibitors. 

Abnormal Psychology: Mental Ilness

Anxiety Disorder: Specific Phobia
The term "phobia" refers to a group of symptoms brought on by certain objects or situations.
A specific phobia, formerly called a simple phobia, is a lasting and unreasonable fear caused by the presence or thought of a specific object or situation that usually poses little or no actual danger. Exposure to the object or situation brings about an immediate reaction, causing the person to endure intense anxiety (nervousness) or to avoid the object or situation entirely. The distress associated with the phobia and/or the need to avoid the object or situation can significantly interfere with the person's ability to function. Adults with a specific phobia recognize that the fear is excessive or unreasonable, yet are unable to overcome it.
Symptoms of specific phobias may include:

• Excessive or irrational fear of a specific object or situation.
• Avoiding the object or situation or enduring it with great distress.
• Physical symptoms of anxiety or a panic attack, such as a pounding heart, nausea or diarrhea, sweating, trembling or shaking, numbness or tingling, problems with breathing (shortness of breath), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, feeling like you are choking.
• Anticipatory anxiety, which involves becoming nervous ahead of time about being in certain situations or coming into contact with the object of your phobia. (For example, a person with a fear of dogs may become anxious about going for a walk because he or she may see a dog along the way.)

Children with a specific phobia may express their anxiety by crying, clinging to a parent, or throwing a tantrum.
The exact cause of specific phobia is not known, but the etiology (causes) of specific phobia is extensively studied. However, the mechanism that lies behind the development of specific phobia is extremely complex and involves a combination of several factors.


Affective Disorder: Major Depressive Disorder

A person who suffers from a major depressive disorder must either have a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities consistently for at least a 2 week period. This mood must represent a change from the person's normal mood. Social, occupational, educational or other important functioning must also be negatively impaired by the change in mood. For instance, a person who has missed work or school because of their depression, or has stopped attending classes altogether or attending usual social engagements. A depressed mood caused by substances (such as drugs, alcohol, medications) is not considered a major depressive disorder, nor is one which is caused by a general medical condition. Major depressive disorder generally cannot be diagnosed if a person has a history of manic, hypomanic, or mixed episodes (e.g., a bipolar disorder) or if the depressed mood is better accounted for by schizoaffective disorder and is not superimposed on schizophrenia, a delusion or psychotic disorder. Typically the diagnosis of major depression is also not made if the person is grieving over a significant loss in their lives (see note on bereavement below).
Clinical depression is characterized by the presence of the majority of these symptoms:

• Depressed mood most of the day,   nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feeling sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). (In children and adolescents, this may be characterized as an irritable mood.)
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day
• Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.
• Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day
• Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day
• Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day
• Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day
• Recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide

In addition, for a diagnosis of major depression to be made, the symptoms must not be better accounted for by Bereavement, i.e., after the loss of a loved one, the symptoms persist for longer than 2 months or are characterized by marked functional impairment, morbid preoccupation with worthlessness, suicidal ideation, psychotic symptoms, or psychomotor retardation.

symptoms
reqiurements for diagnosis
causes
risk factors

Cultural Dimensions of Behavior

Cultural Dimensions of Behavior

• Power distance index shows very high scores for Latin and Asian countries, African areas and the Arab world. On the other hand Anglo and Germanic countries have a lower power distance (only 11 for Austria and 18 for Denmark).

For example, the United States has a 40 on the cultural scale of Hofstede’s analysis. Compared to Guatemala where the power distance is very high (95) and Israel where it is very low (13), the United States is in the middle.

In Europe, power distance tends to be lower in northern countries and higher in southern and eastern parts: for example, 90 for Romania, 57 for Spain vs. 31 for Sweden and 35 for the United Kingdom.

• Regarding the individualism index, there is a clear gap between developed and Western countries on one hand, and less developed and eastern countries on the other. North America and Europe can be considered as individualistic with relatively high scores: for example, 80 for Canada and Hungary. In contrast, Asia, Africa and Latin America have strong collectivistic values: Colombia scores only 13 points on the IDV scale, and Indonesia 14. The greatest contrast can be drawn comparing two extreme countries on this dimension: 6 points for Guatemala vs. 91 points score for the United States. Japan and the Arab world have middle values on this dimension.

• Uncertainty avoidance scores are the highest in Latin American countries, Southern and Eastern Europe countries including German speaking countries, and Japan. They are lower for Anglo, Nordic, and Chinese culture countries. However few countries have very low UAI. For example, Germany has a high UAI (65) and Belgium even more (94) compared to Sweden (29) or Denmark (23) despite their geographical proximity.

• Masculinity is extremely low in Nordic countries: Norway scores 8 and Sweden only 5. In contrast, Masculinity is very high in Japan (95), and in Europ  ean countries like Hungary, Austria and Switzerland influenced by German culture. In the Anglo world, masculinity scores are relatively high with 66 for the United Kingdom for example. Latin countries present contrasting scores: for example Venezuela has a 73 point score whereas Chile’s is only 28.

• High long term orientation scores are typically found in East Asia, with China having 118, Hong Kong 96 and Japan 88. They are moderate in Eastern and Western Europe, and low in the Anglo countries, the Muslim world, Africa and in Latin America. However there is less data about this dimension.

• There is even less data about the sixth dimension. Indulgence scores are highest in Latin America, parts of Africa, the Anglo world and Nordic Europe; restraint is mostly found in East Asia, Eastern Europe and the Muslim world.

How Stereotypes Defeat the Stereotyped.

STEREOTYPE THREAT

When some members of stigmatized are faced with stressful situations, expect themselves to do worse. And through these expectations it produces stress and threaten cognitive function, which is called the 'stereotype threat.'

This effect usually occurs in a variety of aged difference, and it dampens their performance. The purpose of the stereotype threat was to examine the aging effects on memory. From the experiment, we have known that people who have just entered their seventh decade are more sensitive to stereotype threat than those who have already been considered old for a decade. We can also notify that the power of stereotype is so strong that it can overwhelm many of our other traits, and your only as good as you expect to be. 

However, the good news is that research has shown that positive stereotype reinforcement may be just as powerful as any negative threat. 

From this we can impact this question. Are these lies? sure. They are psychological equivalent of political spun. The cold facts are that as you age, you will begin to lose your capacity for working memory, just as you will lose muscle mass, eye strength and balance. We call this aging, and none of us will escape it. But the new study reminds us of the power of belief; people can be persuaded to believe either positive or negative stereotypes, and it can have a real impact on their performance in life. 

For example, Women perform worse on math tests when they think the test will produce gender differences. (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999)

Analyzing Culture

Five Dimensions of Culture, and South Korea

1.)    Power Distance (PDI): It is the extent to which the powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. All societies in the individual are not equal. In South Korea, at a score of 60 PDI, it is a hierarchy society.

2.)    Individualism (IDV): It is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. In individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family one, but in collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. South Korea with a score of 18, it is considered a collectivist society. It is where societies fosters a strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group.

3.)    Masculinity / Femininity (MAS): In the high score it indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement, and success, however, a low score will show caring for others and quality at life. A score of 39 in South Korea show that we are a feminist country and we work in order to live.

4.)    Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI):  This is the way the society deals with the fact that the future can never be known. It is when the cultures feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and creates ritual beliefs to avoid these situations. As a score of 85 UAI score, South Korea is one of the most uncertainty avoiding countries in the world. Theses kinds of countries contain a rigid code of beliefs.

5.)    Long Term Orientation (LTO): The long-term orientation dimension is closely related with the teachings of Confucius and can be interpreted as dealing with society’s search for virtue. It is basically, where the society shows the sensible future perspective. South Korea obtaining a score of 75, it is considered as one of the long-term oriented societies. Usually, people live their lives guided by virtues and practical good examples.