11/17 notes

Psych in the news:

-note taking: hand vs cpu?:
-by hand is better; study where students took notes on a TED talk and half would
take notes on a cpu vs handthose who took notes by hand did better on
conceptual questions
-those who typed wrote twice as many words than those who wrote
-more verbatim, worse grades
-Hand written notes reflected what you think
I. Assumptions
Assumption- is therapy aimed at treating symptoms or underlying cause?

Ex: viral vs bacterial disease: viral (cold or flu), cant cure the cause, only reduce the symptoms,

does not address cause; bacterial (strep throat), you kill the cause behind it because just treating
symptoms will not get rid of it
Symptoms versus causes Symptom substitution: if a person has a disorder, could symptoms appear in some other way
Ex: person has a fear of coffee cups, we just treat symptoms of anxiety; even if they do/do not

take the drug, they start shaking uncontrollably one symptoms substituting for another
It exists sometimes; varies from therapy to therapy

Patient-therapist relationship: Transference

When you meet someone new and they remind you of someone else somehow you end up

treating them like that other person no matter how hard you try not to; taking stuff from the past
relationship and applying it to the new relationship
We can deliberately evoke transference from patient in hopes that they will project things onto

you
Ex: patient suddenly feels that theyve fallen in love with psychologist, or patient thinks that

psychologist has fallen in love with them

Psychologist tries to understand this process in their mind
Counter-transference- therapist may find themselves having feelings about the patient (this

person is irritating, charming, boring, etc)

1) what is happening 2) does this have to do with me or is this the person evoking something

from me
First bought up by Freud: therapy cannot work unless theres some kind of transference

II. Dominant approaches

Insight methods- ultimately aimed at patient getting insight to their own problems
Psychoanalysis
Trying to get unconscious processes to emerge
Involves sessions over course of a couple years, expensive

Patient tells you stuff, therapist (has power) and offers insights and analysis
Freud believed dreams could tell you things: symbolism, unconscious thoughts to come out
More flexibility/more options to patient, more opportunities for unconscious things to come out

Humanistic: Client-centered

Active Listening
***Survey Time
Symptom reduction methods
Cognitive/Behavioral
Medical procedures: Triphening, electroconvulsive shock (ECT), and drugs
III. Therapy effectiveness
***Who's in the expert chair? Leah Wang, that's who***
Which therapy works best?
How to choose a therapist
***In the clinician's office: Managing daily stressors***