Psychology is the study of the human mind and its functions, mostly the ones that affect behavior in a given context. Psychology is a wide field of study that uses different approaches to look at a certain behavior, causes and effects. The different perspectives can be used to correct the behavior. There are six psychological perspectives namely: biological, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanism, cognitive and evolutionary. Each of the perspectives can be used in certain contexts to arrive at a conclusion. Mostly, they come to a similar conclusion though in some cases, results may differ. Psychology is used in various aspects of life, mostly to try and understand why people think and behave the way they do. This paper will look at two psychological articles that tackle the same topic but the results differ. The core topic in both cases is the factors influencing the outcome of psychotherapy.
For years scientists, scholars and psychologists have been trying to determine the causes of depression in society so as to establish an elaborate, effective and efficient models of treatment of the same. They have been able to come up with many findings from numerous researches that have shaped the way treatment is approached specific to the individual. In most researches carried out by psychologists, they tend to use groups of individuals so as to be able to establish common factors among them. They can then use this factors to predict outcomes of a psychotherapy in future and determine how best they can overcome challenges. Based on the findings, many approaches different approaches can be used to treat depression. The psychologist chooses the best approach that suits the context based on their prior experiences or knowledge.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Kim, J. E., Zane n. w., and Blozis S. A. (2012). Client Predictors of Short-term Psychotherapy Outcomes among Asian and White American Outpatients. Journal of clinical psychology 68(12) , 1287-1302
The research was about a group of sixty people, both male and female, form a community agency that deals with mental health. They were a mixture of Asian Americans and White Americans studied for some time. The study looked at the predictor’s of the outcomes of psychotherapy to the clients. Some of the variables of the study included the demographics: age, gender, ethnicity, marital status. Level of education and occupation (economic status) (p4). The study also looked at coping strategies by the individuals. It was found out that women actively use coping to regulate emotions than their male counterparts. Some coping strategies such as avoidance may lead to further development of the problems since clients hold onto it for long, eventually sinking into distress (p11).
Lynn P. Rehm (1982). Outcome of Self-Control Therapy for Depression with Subpopulations
The article looks at the outcomes of self-control therapy for depression in women aged between 18 to 60 years. The women have a moderate to severe depression describable as nonpsychotic, nonbipolar Major Affective Disorder. Women who qualified had to meet other criteria such as: they were not on in any form of depression psychotherapy, did not have any life threatening illnesses and were not on antidepressants or tranquilizers at the time of study. As Rehm puts it, the study aimed to assess alternatives forms of self-control. They include: increasing the activity level, use of positive statements or use of increased activity level and positive statements combined. The results of the study showed that there was no significance relationship between demographics and depression therapy outcomes. However, there was a positive relationship between the self-control model and the outcome of the 10 week programme.
Models of self-control are concerned with the ways in which people manage their behavior in order to obtain long-term goals. For example, how a person works and controls themselves in the presence or absence of a psychologist. Psychologists can use incentives to help clients attain positive behaviors. They can also employ close monitoring programmes to enhance full adherence by the clients to programmes they mutually agreed upon. Incentives may include rewarding those who practice positive ways of life.
It was found out that self-control approach had a strong link to the outcome of the psychotherapy programmes. Those who practiced and improved their ways of life by adopting positive strategies such as talking and acting positively, engaging in active talk and being honest to their programmes responded quickly to the therapy and recovered from depression sooner than their counterparts who did not practice positivity.
Comparisons
In both articles, research is conducted on groups of individuals to determine possible effects of coherent characteristics on the outcome of psychotherapy for depression. The findings in both seem to be consistent with the fact that more advanced variables such as language, coping and self-control have more profound effects on the outcome of a psychotherapy treatment. They also generally agree that primary variables such as demographic and economic characteristics of the clients play a minor role or even no role in determining the outcome of such therapy though there is a slight difference in the two articles.
Both articles look at the previous episodes of depression among the clients. Rehm secludes those who are currently on psychotherapy programmes from his study. Kim et al also acknowledge the role of previous episodes son the outcomes of the therapy programmes. In both cases, those who suffered depression prior to the study had better or poorer chances to recover quickly than those who did not. For those who had better chances, it was because of knowledge and experience they had gained before mostly due totherapies they went through.
Contrasts
The articles above have significant differences throughout the studies. Rehm’s study solely looks at women aged between 18 to 60 years of age while Kim et al look at a combination of both women and men. Kim’s study also takes into account people from different races such as the Asina Americans and White Americans. According to Rehm’s study, the individual characteristics of an individual do not have significant effects on the outcome of the therapies. This seems to be a different point of view as compared to Kim et al whose study identify racial differences in response to and recovery from depression. Most of the Asian Americans in the study chose to use another language, not English, during the programme. The results is a poor outcome due possibilities Kim et al attribute to coping strategies.
In Rehm’s study, there is an assumption that a Self –Control approach will always lead to positive results; people coming out of depression. This too seems to be different from Kim et al viewpoint in which they have considered the coping strategies that may or may not lead to successes. Where coping strategies are positive, the outcomes of the programmes are usually positive, people recover from their depression states. In cases where coping strategies are not positive such as avoidance, outcomes tend to be negative and the situation worsens as the individual falls into distress. According to Rehm’s, demographic characteristics such as gender do not affect the outcome of psychotherapy programmes and if they do, there is little significance. Kim et aldo have a different version however as they found that women actively use coping to regulate emotions than their male counterparts.
References
Kim, J. E., Zane n. w., and Blozis S. A. (2012). Client Predictors of Short-term Psychotherapy Outcomes among Asian and White American Outpatients. Journal of clinical psychology 68(12) , 1287-1302
Lynn P. Rehm (1982). Outcome of Self-Control Therapy for Depression with Subpopulations
