2 replies to peers 200 words.
Sally Madanat Peer 1
Anxiety Disorders and PTSD
In the first video, Dr. Monson’s method for the couple dealing with PTSD is cognitive behavioral therapy. The female patient suffers from PTSD due to a traumatic motorcycle accident; since then, she has been dealing with uncertainty and avoidance, which often triggers a negative response. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps the patient develop skills to manage negative emotions and behaviors and healthily deal with them. Some of the techniques used with CBT are cognitive restructuring, journaling, systemic desensitization, and patient education (American Psychological Association, 2017). During those sessions, the patient is focused on how their thoughts change their actions and how to turn them into positive thoughts. Dr. Monson expressed the importance of reducing the symptoms of PTSD by facing a fear that the patient has—avoiding a certain situation that produces fear can hinder the patient’s ability to get better. It can also cause the patient to regress backward. The patient will be able to move forward once they face that fear properly; they will be able to find ways to help them cope and aid those feelings and decrease PTSD symptoms. In the second video, Dr. Beutler uses a method called system treatment selection for his female patient who is unable to cope properly with the number of responsibilities she has. STS is combined with therapy, treatment strategies, and psychotherapeutic interventions. It is divided into four domains: patient predisposing qualities, treatment context, relationship variables, and intervention selection—this of course, depends on the patient’s coping style, resistance level, and level of distress. STS consists of 8 to 24 sessions; it varies with the patient’s level of functional impairment and readiness to change. Dr. Beulter expressed to his patient the importance of experiencing panic attacks and learning how to reduce those symptoms, similar to what Dr. Monson told her patients with PTSD. Communication is key: once the patient feels like they are about to experience a PTSD episode or a panic attack, it is best to communicate with the people they interact with every day to help reduce symptoms; another similarity between Dr. Beutler and Dr. Monson. Although both psychologists have similar methods to help their patients, their approach differs. Dr. Monson has her patient talk about her experience and how it impacted her life and her husband; she states how she was an independent woman who loved to commute to work and see her friends, and the accident resulted in her feeling like she had no control over her life, especially when she is a passenger in a vehicle. Dr. Butler exposes his patient to anxiety and has her do exercises where she imagines different scenarios to help alleviate her symptoms; she then explains the feelings she has during each scenario.
The treatments in the textbook differ from Dr. Monson and Dr. Beutler’s emphasis. The textbook states that patients should focus on their breathing if they are experiencing a panic attack instead of hyperventilating and exacerbating the symptoms (Barlow, 2021). A treatment that is notable in the text that the psychologists did not mention is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), a controversial therapy that evolved from personal experience (Barlow, 2021); this technique is often used in patients who suffer from PTSD. This involves lateral eye movement that facilitates cognitive processing of the traumatic event, which should help the patient face their fear (Barlow, 2021).
References:
American Psychological Association. (2017). What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
American Psychological Association.
to an external site.
Barlow, D. H. (2021).Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step-by- step treatment manual, 6th ed. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Savannah Vincent
Peer 2
In both videos we see the therapists working in the beginning to get background information on their clients to best understand how to approach talking to them and treatment. One similarity between the two videos is the beginning exploration by both therapists into what the clients have experienced and what kind of symptoms and problems they have faced. I believe both therapists approached the beginning in a way that they felt would best help them get to know their clients and their underlying problems. In the first video, an outpatient clinical office setting is used for treatment, and we read how individuals can go through therapist-directed exposure which I believe is close to what the therapist is attempting to do here as he is trying to have her raise her panic levels and then talking her down and instructing her how to raise and lower her panic at will that way she can take these techniques out of the office setting and use them when the therapist is not present (APA PsychTherapy, 2011). A difference we see between the video and the example is that the textbook describes the setting as the “natural environment” for the use of therapist-directed exposure although I believe that this technique was effective in this situation (Barlow, 2021).
One main difference between the two approaches made by the therapists is that the therapist working with the woman who suffers from anxiety attacks led more of the conversation with questions and explained more while she listened. In contrast, the therapist working with the couple allowed them to lead the conversation about their experiences, feelings, and knowledge (APA PsychTherapy, 2016). Another difference between the treatment of the individuals comes from how the clients are reacting or participating in the session, in one video we see how the client wants tools for coping with the struggles of their life but not treatment for underlying issues that are causing these panic attacks. In the other video, we see the couple seeking treatment from the therapist wanting change and hoping to reach into those underlying issues. In the treatment with the woman who has panic attacks the therapist takes on a more honest and straightforward approach when talking to the client as he realizes she is a little more resistant to treatment, while in the video for PTSD, the therapist takes on a very calm, soothing tone and approach to best help the clients. In the textbook, we read about cognitive processing therapy and how a client will work through a session by identifying how an event may have been altered in their mind to allow blame and self-doubt (Barlow, 2021). A main difference in the video surrounding PTSD and this example of treatment is the therapist focused more on allowing the clients to self-identify their struggles and possible ways they can help themselves as well as ways to work through in phases and how to abolish negative feelings and shutting down actions they may experience I think this therapist took an approach more similarly related to stress inoculation training.
References
APA PsychTherapy. (2016). Couples Therapy for Coping After a Traumatic Event. American Psychological Association. DOI: 10.1037/v00542-001.
to an external site.
Links to an external site.
APA PsychTherapy. (2011). Treatment of Anxiety and Panic with Systematic Treatment Selection. American Psychological Association. DOI: 10.1037/v00170-001.
to an external site.
Barlow, D. H. (2021). Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders (6th ed.). Guilford Publications, Inc..
