Pick Disease of the Brain : Treatments

There is no specific treatment for Pick's disease. Certain antidepressants may help manage mood swings related to Pick's disease, but further research is needed. Sometimes patients with Pick's take the same medications used to treat other types of...

As of early 2004, two NIH sponsored clinical trials were recruiting patients with frontotemporal dementia. Both were operating out of the National Institute of Neurological disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in Bethesda, MD. The Memory and Aging Center ...

Behavioral therapy, or behavioral modification, is a psychological technique based on the premise that specific, observable, maladaptive, badly adjusted, or self-destructing behaviors can be modified by learning new, more appropriate behaviors to replace them.

A treatment approach, based on the principles of operant conditioning, that replaces undesirable behaviors with more desirable ones through positive or negative reinforcement. Behavior modification is based on the principles of operant conditioning, which were developed by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner (1904-1990). In his research, he put a rat in a cage later known as the Skinner Box, in which the rat could receive a food pellet by pressing on a bar. The food reward acted as a reinforcement by strengthening the rat's bar-pressing behavior. Skinner studied how the rat's behavior changed in response to differing patterns of reinforcement. By studying the way the rats "operated on" their environment, Skinner formulated the concept of operant conditioning, through which behavior could be shaped by reinforcement or lack of it. Skinner considered his discovery applicable to a wide range of both human and animal behaviors and introduced operant conditioning to the general public in his 1938 book The Behavior of Organisms. DID SKINNER RAISE HIS OWN CHILD IN A SKINNER BOX? This famous urban legend was perpetuated by a photo that appeared in Life magazine of behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner's two-year-old daughter standing up in a glass-fronted box. The box was, in fact, a climate-controlled, babysized room that Skinner built, called the "aircrib." The aircrib was made of sound-absorbing wood, had a humidifier, an air filter, and was temperature-controlled by a thermostat. Dissatisfied with traditional cribs, Skinner built the box to keep his new daughter warm, safe, and quiet without having to wrap her in clothes and blankets. Skinner was quoted in New Yorker magazine as saying his daughter "...spent most of the next two years and several months there, naked and happy." Deborah was so happy in the box, Skinner reported, that she rarely cried or got sick and showed no signs of agoraphobia when removed from the aircrib or claustrophobia when placed inside. The box-like structure and people's misunderstandings about behavioral psychology contributed to the misconception that Skinner was experimenting on his daughter and also probably prevented the crib from becoming a commercial success. People got the impression that Skinner was raising his child in a box similar to the kind he used to study animal behavior—with levers for releasing food. Today, behavior modification is used to treat a variety of problems in both adults and children. Childhood disorders for which behavior modification has been successfully used include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder B. F. Skinner (ADHD), phobias, enuresis (bedwetting), and separation anxiety disorder (SAD). One behavior modification technique widely used with children is positive reinforcement, which encourages certain behaviors through a system of rewards. Rewards can include items the child wants, such as toys or comic books, or privileges, such as half hours allotted to play video games or watch television. They can be earned in small increments through a system of tokens, such as stickers or stars, that can eventually be exchanged for a specific reward. For example, a child in treatment for social phobia may earn a star for each day he or she greets a certain number of people, or a child with separation anxiety may earn a sticker for not crying when left with a babysitter. In behavior therapy, it is common for the therapist to draw up a contract with the child setting out the terms of the reward system. This positive reinforcement technique has been used to treat a wide variety of disorders in children, ranging from minor adjustment or developmental problems to autism. In addition to rewarding desirable behavior, behavior modification can also discourage unwanted behavior, through either negative reinforcement, or punishment, such as removal of television privileges, or the removal of reinforcement altogether, called extinction. Extinction

Behavior modification is a treatment approach, based on the principles of operant conditioning, that replaces undesirable behaviors with more desirable ones through positive or negative reinforcement .

A goal-oriented, therapeutic approach that treats emotional and behavioral disorders as maladaptive learned responses that can be replaced by healthier ones with appropriate training. In contrast to the psychoanalytic method of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), which focuses on unconscious mental processes and their roots in the past, behavior therapy focuses on observable behavior and its modification in the present. Behavior therapy was developed during the 1950s by researchers and therapists critical of the psychodynamic treatment methods that prevailed at the time. It drew on a variety of theoretical work, including the classical conditioning principles of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who became famous for experiments in which dogs were trained to salivate at the sound of a bell, and the work of American B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), who pioneered the concept of operant conditioning, in which behavior is modified by changing the response it elicits. By the 1970s, behavior therapy enjoyed widespread popularity as a treatment approach. Over the past two decades, the attention of behavior therapists has focused increasingly on their clients' cognitive processes, and many therapists have begun to use cognitive behavior therapy to change clients' unhealthy behavior by replacing negative or self-defeating thought patterns with more positive ones. Behavior therapy was used experimentally as early as 1924 to treat phobias in a three-year-old. In the 1960s it drew the attention of child psychiatrists and therapists after being used successfully with institutionalized children when all other treatment methods had failed. Behavior therapy is especially well suited for use with children whose activities are restricted in ways that make it relatively easy to achieve the environmental control necessary for its success. Also, it is generally completed within a shorter time frame than traditional psyehodynamic therapy.

A reinforcer is a stimulus that follows some behavior and increases the probability that the behavior will occur. For example, when a dog's owner is trying to teach the dog to sit on command, the owner may give the dog a treat every time the dog sits when commanded to do so. The treat reinforces the desired behavior.

The treatment of mental or emotional disorders and adjustment problems through the use of psychological techniques rather than through physical or biological means.

Psychotherapy can be defined as a means of treating psychological or emotional problems such as neurosis or personality disorder through verbal and nonverbal communication. It is the treatment of psychological distress through talking with a specially trained therapist and learning new ways to cope rather than merely using medication to alleviate the distress. It is done with the immediate goal of aiding the person in increasing self-knowledge and awareness of relationships with others. Psychotherapy is carried out to assist people in becoming more conscious of their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychotherapy's longer-term goal is making it possible for people to exchange destructive patterns of behavior for healthier, more successful ones.

Psychotherapy can be defined as a means of treating such psychological or emotional problems as neurosis or personality disorder through verbal and nonverbal communication. It is the treatment of psychological distress through talking with a specially trained therapist, and learning new ways to cope rather than merely using medication to alleviate the distress. It is done with the immediate goal of aiding the person in increasing self-knowledge and awareness of relationships with others. Psychotherapy is carried out to assist people in becoming more conscious of their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychotherapy's longer-term goal is making it possible for people to exchange destructive patterns of behavior for healthier, more successful ones.

Contrary to what many people believe, psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, phobias or stress doesn't have to be a long and costly process. Feeling better doesn't require a lifetime of intensive psychotherapy.

The treatment of mental or emotional disorders and adjustment problems through the use of psychological techniques rather than through physical or biological means. Psychoanalysis, the first modern form of psychotherapy, was called the "talking cure," and the many varieties of therapy practiced today are still characterized by their common dependence on a verbal exchange between the counselor or therapist and the person seeking help. The therapeutic interaction is characterized by mutual trust, with the goal of helping individuals change destructive or unhealthy behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. For a child, psychotherapy can bolster hope and self-esteem, improve mastery and coping abilities, change maladaptive behavior patterns, and facilitate normal developmental processes. Childhood emotional and behavioral problems that have been treated through psychotherapy include adjustment problems at school; attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; anxiety and depression; conduct problems; obsessive-compulsive behavior; eating disorders; enuresis; autism; child abuse; and post-traumatic stress disorder. Severe problems that require immediate professional attention include severe, uncontrollable anxiety; hallucinations and other bizarre behavior; dangerous actions such as arson and other forms of violent aggression; and suicidal behavior. A major distinguishing feature of psychotherapy for children is the role played by the parents, who choose the therapist (in most cases), provide information that aids in the initial assessment, and may be asked to participate in therapy sessions. While therapists generally respect the privacy of children, as they respect that of adult clients, patient confidentiality may be breached if circumstances warrant notifying a parent about activities or feelings that pose a potential danger to the child. Most of the basic therapeutic approaches used with adults are also used with children, but they are adjusted for the child's age, mental and emotional development, and language skills. It is common for experienced therapists to combine several different approaches or techniques. The most effective therapy for a child may be either time-limited (generally six months or less) or long-term, depending on the severity of his or her problems.

Psychotherapy integration is defined as an approach to psychotherapy that includes a variety of attempts to look beyond the confines of single-school approaches in order to see what can be learned from other perspectives. It is characterized by an openness to various ways of integrating diverse theories and techniques. Psychotherapy integration can be differentiated from an eclectic approach in that an eclectic approach is one in which a therapist chooses interventions because they work (the therapist relies solely on supposed efficacy) without looking for a theoretical basis for using the technique. The rationale of efficacy is reasonable, but it often is based on imprecise memories of past experience without any reference to theory or research data. In contrast, psychotherapy integration attends to the relationship between theory and technique.