A therapist encourages her patient to continue avoiding the phobic object, in order to create an insight about the problems associated with such behaviour.
Which of the following techniques is she using?
C. The technique of paradoxical injunction developed from work of Gregory Bateson. Here, a therapist suggests that the patient intentionally engages in the unwanted behaviour, as described in the question. Though this seems to be counterintuitive, the therapy can create new insights for some patients. It is sometimes used in family therapy. Triangulation is one of the processes concerning family dynamics wherein the child is roped into conflicts between the mother and father and a triad is sustained. Reframing is also called positive connotation. It refers to redefining and relabelling all negatively expressed feelings and behaviours as positive. It is used in family therapy. Covert sensitization refers to a behavioural method of reducing the frequency of unwanted behaviour by associating it with the imagination (covert) of unpleasant consequences.
Reference:
Sadock BJ and Sadock VA. Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry, 10th edn. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2007, pp. 142 and 943.
Which of the following groups has a high level of leadership activity with highly specific therapy goals?
D. Group therapies can be classified according to the objectives of the group and how the group is led or managed (leadership). Highly specific, target-oriented groups include structured groups for drug use or alcohol use, activity groups such as occupational therapy groups, etc. These groups have a high level of leader input. Psychodrama, music therapy, and systems-centred groups are some less-specific therapies but are highly directed by the leader or therapist. Problem-solving therapy and psychoeducational groups are highly specific but have a low level of therapist activity. Support groups, art therapy, interpersonal therapy, and groups such as Tavistockmodel analytic groups have a low level of leader activity and have low specificity with respect to treatment goals.
Which of the following disorders and defence mechanisms is correctly paired?
D. Various defence mechanisms are used by patients and so-called normal populations at different times. People can have a style or pattern of predominant defence mechanisms. Traditionally, the psychodynamic school has proposed certain defences to be associated with certain diseases: obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) with isolation of affect, undoing, and reaction formation; anorexia with denial, displacement, and rationalization; hysteria with conversion and repression; somatoform disorders with somatization; fugue with dissociation; schizoid personality with fantasy; borderline personality with splitting, projective identification, and introjection.
Which of the following is not a major principle of a therapeutic community?
D. The four major principles on which a therapeutic community is based are exemplified by the Henderson hospital model. According to this model, the major components (with a mnemonic CPD-R) are:
Instillation of hope is necessary for any supportive psychotherapy but has not been described as one of the four major principles behind therapeutic communities.
Which of the following can reduce prejudice against a minority group?
B. Social psychologists have put forward various explanations to answer the question ‘how to reduce prejudice?’ Allport developed the ‘contact hypothesis’ to explain that when people of equal social status stay in close contact and pursue a common goal, the differences between them can disappear. It is well established that ‘autistic hostility’ between members of two groups exists due to lack of sufficient knowledge about the members of the opposite group. This ignorance leads to reinforcement of negative stereotypes, for example ‘We are hard working; they are lazy’. This is also known as a ‘mirror-image phenomenon’. The assumption that everyone in the opposite group is the same, called ‘illusion of out-group homogeneity’, also reduces with improved social contact, but it is important to note that this does not relate to a necessary increase in personal friendships between opposite group members. Imposing strongly one-sided conditions for negotiations will reduce perceived equality status, leading to maintenance of prejudice. Self-experience of prejudice by the members of one group can reduce the prejudiced behaviour exhibited by these members towards others. This was demonstrated by Elliott in the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment. When groups are set common goals to pursue, cooperation instead of competition ensues. This aids in reducing prejudice.
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