Psychotherapy Health Article

KEY TERMS

Behavioral therapy—A collection of techniques for treating mental disorders based upon changing abnormal behavior rather than attempting to analyze its fundamental basis. It is particularly used in phobic or obsessional disorders, and seeks to eliminate symptoms rather than uncovering the underlying psychological cause.

Magnetism—(Animal magnetism) A discredited theory put forth by Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer, stating that all persons possess magnetic forces that can be used to influence magnetic fluid in other people and therefore effect healing. Mesmer opened a clinic in Paris in 1778, and appeared to cure people apparently suffering from hysterical conditions, such as emotionally caused paralysis.

Neurosis—A term commonly used to describe a range of relatively mild psychiatric disorders in which the sufferer remains in touch with reality. Neurotic disorders include mild depression; anxiety disorders (including phobias and obsessive compulsive disorders); somatization disorders; dissociative disorders; and psychosexual disorders.

Personality disorder—A group of conditions characterized by a general failure to learn from experience or adapt appropriately to changes, resulting in personal distress and impairment of social functioning.

BOOKS

Clayman, Charles B., M.D. American Medical Association Home Medical Encyclopedia. New York: Random House, 1989.

Coleman, James C. Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1972.

Engler, Jack, and Daniel Goleman. The Consumer's Guide to Psychotherapy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

Taber, Clarence Wilbur. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. F. A. Davis Co., 1997.

OTHER

American Group Psychotherapy Association. "About Group Psychotherapy." http//www.agpa.org (1999).

CNN. "A Century Later, Science Still Grapples with Freud." http//www.cnn.com.

Electric Library. "Group Psychotherapy." p//www.encyclopedia.com (1999).

Lucidcafe. "Sigmund Freud, Austrian Originator of Psycho-Analysis." http//www.lucidcafe.com.

Joan Schonbeck