Treatments of Abnormality

Biological or Medical 

1. Drugs – these can help to control neurotransmitter levels in the brain which could be causing the mental health issues. E.g. Anti-depressants, Anti-psychotics.
2. Electroconvulsive therapy – Electrodes are placed on specific areas of person’s skull and a small electrical current is passed through. This is usually performed 3 times a week fro 10-12 sessions but can only be used if other treatments have failed.
3. Psycho surgery – people with certain mental health issues can have the section of the brain that is thought to be affecting their disorder removed, lesioned or ablated.

Psychotherapies 

1. Dream analysis – involves looking at the dream content for hidden meanings and symbolism, that usually are repressed thoughts.
2. Free association – the patient is allowed to talk and the therapist will pick out what is causing the issue by concentrating on certain words or phrases.
3. Projective techniques – the patient looks at a stimulus material and describes what they see. The therapist will have to interpretate these into thoughts and associations that are causing the issue.
4. Hypnosis – therapy control their patient’s mind to access unconscious thoughts that reveal the conflicts within.

Behavioural 

1. Token economy – changing the patient’s behaviour by using reward and punishment techniques to teach the right one.
2. Systematic desensitisation – an hierarchy of fear is constructed and the patient will work through it using relaxation techniques to overcome a phobia.
3. Flooding – a patient confronts their fear directly and cannot escape the situation until they have relaxed and their phobia has dissipated.

Cognitive 

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – it aims to encourage patients to examine the beliefs and expectations underlying their happiness and to replace negative thoughts with more positive ones.

• It requires the patient to become aware of their negative thoughts.
• The client and patient need to decide how the beliefs can be tested in order to see the consequences of their faulty thoughts.