Jean Piaget

Born in Switzerland, Jean Piaget sought to answer one question in his life work: How does knowledge grow? He studied his three children and thousands of other children to answer this question. Piaget spent his time watching children play and playing with them. He told them stories and listened to their stories, asking them questions about why things are as they are. He invented problems for them to solve and asked them what they dreamt about.

What did Piaget discover? He discovered that knowledge builds as children grow. Children develop logic and think differently at different ages. Psychologists regard Piaget’s discovery as revolutionary and insightful. Piaget’s theory challenged the behaviourists’ view that the environment determines behaviour. Piaget stressed a child’s active role in gaining knowledge. For these contributions, many consider Piaget the greatest child psychologist of the twentieth century.

Unit 16 Psychological Therapies

Grammar

Reported Speech

Reading and Speech Practice

Task 1. Read the title of the text and try to guess what the text is about judging by the title? What do you know or what have you heard about the subject you are going to read about?

Task 2. Find information on different psychological therapies. Discuss with your partner your ideas about:

a) Eclectic approaches;

b) Psychoanalysis;

c) Humanistic Counseling;

d) Cognitive-behavioural therapies;

e) Behavioural therapies.

Task 3. Read the text and match each heading with the correct paragraph.

Eclectic approaches; Psychoanalysis; Humanistic Counseling; Cognitive-behavioural therapies; Behavioural therapies.

A R Y

Psychological therapies

________Psychoanalytical therapy claims that mental disorders arise as a result of the unresolved conflict between the components of the individual’s personality. This conflict is unresolved because it is ‘unconscious’ or ‘repressed’, in other words the individual is not aware of its existence. If we are unaware of the existence of ‘conflict’ then it stands to reason that we are unable to do anything about it.

The aim of psychoanalysis is to bring this conflict into one’s conscious awareness so that it can be dealt with and ultimately resolved. This is a long-term process involving techniques such as ‘free association’ (or talking about whatever comes to mind), ‘dream analysis’ and ‘hypnotherapy’. All of these techniques enable the individual to become aware of conflicts that in some cases date back to early childhood. Once these conflicts are brought into awareness they can then be ‘worked through’ until the individual’s ‘problem’ is resolved.

________Behaviourists regard human behaviour as a series of learned responses to external stimuli. Abnormal behaviour is seen as a particular example of learned behaviour, that is one that is maladaptive. Taking the example of a phobia, a behaviourist explanation would suggest that the phobic person has previously learned to associate the feared object with negative consequences.

The aim of behavioural techniques is to ‘unlearn’ this negative association through techniques such as a ‘systematic desensitisation’. The technique works by substituting the learned response of ‘fear’ for the alternative response of relaxation’. By teaching the individual to relax the phobic object can then be introduced gradually until a stage is reached when the individual can face the object without experiencing any fear. The person has then been ‘desensitised’ to the object in a ‘systematic’ way.

________Behavioural techniques such as systematic desensitisation tend to focus almost exclusively on maladaptive or ‘abnormal’ behaviour and pay little if any attention to the individual’s thinking or reasoning processes. Cognitive-behavioural therapies attempt to combine both behaviour modification techniques and procedures aimed at identifying and changing negative or maladaptive beliefs. This means that if a therapist is working with an anxious service-user he or she would approach the problem from the following two complementary angles. The individual might be taught relaxation techniques, that is behavioural methods, in

order to cope with anxiety symptoms such as panic attacks if and when they happen. In addition, the therapist would try to resolve the negative and/or irrational beliefs held by the service-user that could be precipitating the panic attacks in the first place. By combining these two approaches the therapist is able to deal with the immediate problems of the panic attacks and also to probe more deeply into the reasons behind these attacks to enable the service-user to appreciate the psychological basis of their problem.

________Humanistic counseling is based on what is known as ‘the phenomenological approach’ as individuals are seen as possessing a natural tendency towards growth and self-fulfillment. Within this framework mental illness is understood as arising out of ‘frustration’ as a result of circumstances ‘blocking’ the individual’s progress towards fulfilling their potential. This means that the goal of humanistic therapy is to try to get the individual ‘back on course’ in terms of psychological development. The therapist’s role is to help the individual to explore his or her own thoughts and emotions. It is thought that this will enable the individual to arrive at solutions to particular problems. This will then result in the resolution of psychological difficulties. Through a process of self-disclosure and self-examination a new perspective is offered. It is argued that the consequence leads to a change in their maladaptive or abnormal behaviour.

________This involves combining techniques from each of the main psychological approaches to therapy to provide a comprehensive ‘all round’ therapeutic framework tailored to the service-user’s specific needs. One particular situation in which an eclectic approach can be used is in the case of ‘family therapy’. The rationale behind this type of therapy lies in the belief that individual problems are often caused or exacerbated by communication or relationship difficulties within the family. These difficulties mean that individual therapy is of limited value because, after each therapeutic session, the service-user returns to the ‘disturbed’ family situation and is then back to ‘square one’. In family therapy the whole family meets with one or two therapists who observe the interactions and relationships within what is known as ‘the family system’. In this way each family member can be made aware of how the individual relates to the others and how this interaction may be contributing to the family’s problems.

Key: 1. Psychoanalysis; 2. Behavioural therapies; 3. Cognitive-behavioural therapies; 4. Humanistic Counseling; 5. Eclectic approaches.

Task 4. Are the following sentences true or false? Correct the false sentences with the right information and discuss your answers with your partner.

1. An eclectic approach can be used is in the case of hypnotherapy (true/false). 2. Cognitive-behavioural therapies provide a comprehensive ‘all round’ therapeutic framework tailored to the service-user’s specific needs. 3. Eclectic approaches combine both behaviour modification techniques and procedures aimed at changing maladaptive beliefs. 4. Behaviourists aim to put an end to negative associations through techniques such as a ‘systematic desensitisation’. 5. Psychoanalytic techniques enable the individual to distract from conflicts. 6. The goal of humanistic therapy is to try to radically change the individual’s psychological development. 7. None of the therapies believe that individual problems are often caused or exacerbated by communication or relationship difficulties within the family. 8. Psychoanalysts claim that any conflict is unresolved because it is ‘unconscious’ or ‘repressed’.

Key: 1.false (family therapy); 2. false (Eclectics approaches); 3. false (Cognitive-behavioural therapies); 4. true; 5. false (to become aware of); 6. false (to get the individual ‘back on course’ in terms of psychological development); 7. false (family therapy); 8. true.

Task 5. Find the English words or expressions that are used in the text to give the following meaning in Russian.

1. Приходить в голову, на ум_________________________________________ 2. Уделять внимание________________________________________________ 3. Отрицательные последствия_______________________________________ 4. Взаимодополняющий_____________________________________________ 5. Логическое/рациональное обоснование; принцип, лежащий в основе____________________________________________________________ 6. Мышление, рассуждение__________________________________________ 7. Утверждать, заявлять_____________________________________________ 8. Доказывать, аргументировать______________________________________ 9. Восходить к_____________________________________________________ 10. Подойти к_____________________________________________________ 11. Реализовать собственный потенциал_______________________________ 12. Методика______________________________________________________ 13. Неразрешенный________________________________________________ 14. Достичь стадии/этапа___________________________________________

Key: 1. to come to mind; 2. to pay attention; 3. negative consequences; 4. complementary; 5. rationale; 6. reasoning; 7. to claim; 8. to argue; 9. to date back to; 10. to approach; 11. to fulfill one's potential; 12. technique; 13. unresolved; 14. to reach a stage.

Task 6. Match the equivalents.

1. to arise	A. to change
2. unconscious	B. to provoke
3. to substitute	C. to come to understand
4. to modify	D. to result in
5. to precipitate	E. to find solutions
6. to probe into	F. to result from
7. to appreciate	G. to replace
8. to attempt	H. repressed
9. to arrive at solutions	I. to explore
10. to arise out	J. to aggravate
11. to exacerbate	K. to try
12. to lead to	L. to occur

Key: 1L; 2H; 3G; 4A; 5B; 6I; 7C; 8K; 9E; 10F; 11J; 12D.

Task 7. Replace the words in bold with their opposites to make them true to the text.

1. An eclectic approach provides a one-sided therapeutic framework tailored to the service-user’s specific needs. 2. Individual problems are mitigated by communication or relationship difficulties within the family. 3. In individual therapy the whole family meets with one or two therapists. 4. Clients with emotional problems often exhibit adaptive behavior. 5. Rational beliefs held by the service-user can precipitate their panic attacks. 6. Behaviourists regard human behaviour as a series of inherited responses to external stimuli. 7. A ‘repressed’ conflict means that the individual is aware of its existence. 8. Psychoanalytic conflict resolution is a short-term process. 9. Negative associations can prevent panic attacks.

Key: 1. comprehensive; 2. exacerbated; 3. family; 4. maladaptive; 5. irrational; 6. learned; 7. unaware; 8. long-term; 9. precipitate.

Task 8. Fill in the appropriate words from the list below.

Goal/aim, technique, approach, methods, reasons behind, tendency towards, rationale behind, value.

1. People possess a natural ___1___ growth and self-fulfillment. 2. Humanistic counselling employs ‘the phenomenological __2___’. 3. The ___3___ this type of therapy lies in the belief that individual problems are often caused by communication difficulties within the family. 4. This behavioural ___4___ tends to focus almost exclusively on maladaptive or ‘abnormal’ behavior. 5. The __5__ of psychoanalysis is to bring this conflict into one’s conscious awareness. 6. Behavioural ___6___ include relaxation techniques. 7. The therapist tried to probe more deeply into the ____7___ these panic attacks. 8. Some people think that individual therapy is of limited ___8___.

Key: 1. tendency towards; 2. approach; 3. rationale behind; 4. technique; 5. aim; 6. methods. 7. reasons behind; 8. value.

Task 8. A. Find online information on the concepts below.

Antipsychotic drugs, systemic desensitization, active listening, free association, insight, empathy, eclectic approach, unconditional positive regard, counterconditioning; aversive conditioning; transference, operant conditioning; dream analysis.

B. Now match the words from this list to their definitions.

1.	links an unpleasant state with unwanted behaviour in an attempt to eliminate the behaviour.
2.	is a therapist’s consistent expression of acceptance of the patient, no matter what the patient says and does.
3.	are medications to reduce agitation and hallucinations by blocking the activity of dopamine in the brain.
4.	is a technique to help a patient overcome irrational fears and anxieties.
5.	is empathetic listening, a listener acknowledges, restates, and clarifies the speaker’s thoughts and concerns.
6.	is the apparent sudden realization of the solution to the problem.
7.	is a method used to examine the unconscious; the patient is instructed to say whatever comes to his or her mind.
8.	is a capacity for warmth and understanding.
9.	is a method that combines various kinds of therapy or combinations of therapy.
10.	is a technique used by psychoanalysis to interpret the con tent of patients’ dreams.
11.	pairs the stimulus that triggers an unwanted behaviour with a new, more desirable behavior.
12.	is the process, experienced by the patient, of feeling toward an analyst or therapist the way he or she feels or felt toward some other important figure in his or her life.
13.	is when undesirable behavior is not reinforced, while desirable behaviour is reinforced.

C. Find and suggest the Russian equivalents for these terms.

Key: 1. aversive conditioning (аверсивное обусловливание, выработка условнорефлекторного отвращения); 2. unconditional positive regard (безоговорочное положительное отношение, принятие человека таким, какой он есть); 3. antipsychotic drugs (антипсихотическое/нейролептическое средство); 4. systemic desensitization (системная десенситизация); 5. active listening (активное слушание); 6. insight («озарение», догадка, инсайт); 7, free association (свободная ассоциация); 8. empathy; 9.eclectic approach (эклектический подход)в. 10. dream analysis (анализ сновидений); 11. counterconditioning (противообусловливание, стимулирование замены нежелательной реакции желательной); 12. transference; 13. operant conditioning (оперантное обусловливание).

Task 9. Choose the letter of the correct term or concept below to complete the sentence.

a. eclectic approach; f. systemic desensitization

b. empathy g. aversive conditioning

c. insight h. antipsychotic drugs

d. free association i. active listening

e. unconditional positive regard

1. Patients with schizophrenia are often treated with ___________. 2. A technique in which people are urged to imagine a feared situation in order to extinguish the fear is called ___________. 3. Some psychotherapists use a(n) ___________ to therapy, using different methods. 4. In a communication technique called __________ the client-centred therapist tries to echo back the feelings the client has expressed. 5. _________, or people’s understanding of their unconscious motives , is the first step toward gaining control over their behaviour. 6. An effective psychotherapist has _____________ or a capacity for warmth and understanding. 7. In a technique called _____________, individuals learn to associate negative feelings with the behavior they want to avoid. 8. Talking about everything that comes to mind is called __________ . 9. Client-centred therapy is conducted in an atmosphere of emotional support called ____________ .

Key: 1. antipsychotic drugs; 2. systemic desensitization; 3. eclectic approach; 4. active listening; 5. insight; 6. empathy; 7. aversive conditioning; 8. free association; 9. unconditional positive regard.

Task 10. Review the graph below, then, answer the questions that follow: