Key Points Background Throughout history people have gathered in groups to survive and to accomplish challenging tasks. It is natural that they can heal best in groups. Group psychotherapy rests on the assumption that people need to move from a…
Key Points Modern family therapy represents a diverse collection of innovative theories and creative techniques that have materialized into several distinct schools. Important distinctions among schools include the following: their characterizations of the locus of power for change; expected schedule…
Key Points Like family therapy, couples therapy is founded on systemic ideas. A couple's evaluation should include exploration of the presenting problem, as well as challenging and re-framing of the couple's problems. “The relationship” takes the role of the patient…
Key Points Short-term therapies typically last 12 to 36 sessions and focus on a single problem or symptom (called the focus or sector) by actively excluding less pivotal issues. Brief therapies differ from each other in how the focus is…
Key Points Research evidence supports the effectiveness of most psychotherapies. Psychotherapy training during residency includes competency in five basic psychotherapies. Child and adolescent psychotherapy includes more integrative strategies than does adult psychotherapy. All psychotherapies will require greater accountability under proposed…
Key Points Physicians are constantly appraising the coping styles of their patients, and these appraisals dictate both diagnosis and treatment. Though there are multiple definitions of coping, coping with chronic illness is best defined as the behavioral style that patients…
Key Points Neuropsychological assessment is a method of evaluating behavior that relies on administration of norm-referenced, standardized tests. A major goal of neuropsychological assessment is to determine whether, and to what extent, a patient's cognitive status has been altered. This…
Key Points Background Psychological assessment is a professional consultation service aimed at providing clinicians with a more complex and empirically-based picture of their patients across a number of relevant clinical domains (e.g., intellectual and neurocognitive functioning, psychopathology and clinical diagnosis,…
Key Points Background Diagnostic rating scales provide validated measures of symptom severity in psychiatric disorders. Rating scales may be employed in both clinical and research settings. History The format of psychiatric rating scales varies widely in content, length, and administration.…
Key Points Development is not a linear process; it proceeds unevenly throughout the life cycle with periods of great activity and periods of relative quiescence in particular areas. Development is a process of complex interactions between genes and the environment…