Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay
Psychotherapy and Biology
Before the question of whether psychotherapy has a biological basis, we must first understand what psychotherapy means. Psychotherapy is “any alteration in an individual’s interpersonal environment, relationships, or life situation brought about especially by a qualified therapist and intended to have the effect of alleviating symptoms of mental or emotional disturbance” (Merriam-Webster, 2018).
There is an increasing consensus with evidence provided by neuroscience, psychology, and the cognitive sciences the psychotherapy does have a biological basis (Prosser, Helfer, & Leucht, 2016). The combination of these three sciences developed the free-energy principle which acknowledges that the environments we inhabit are complex and ever changing and the brain must constantly adapt to these changes (Prosser, Helfer, & Leuch, 2016). The free-energy framework claims that the brain attempts to adapt to the changing environment by minimizing prediction error, and by doing this the brain changes how the structure of the environment is encoded in the brain sometimes causing mental disorders (Prosser, Helfer, & Leucht, 2016). Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay.
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Psychotherapy has also been shown to change activity levels in the prefrontal cortex. According to a UCLA study on depression people with this condition had abnormally high activity in the prefrontal cortex (Deen, 2015). The researchers found that the patients who participated in interpersonal therapy had a decrease in prefrontal cortex activity (Deen, 2015). The author continues with a study preformed in the Netherlands with individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It was found the people with CFS have a decrease in the gray matter in the brain but after several sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy there was a significant increase in gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex (Deen, 2015).
Influences on Psychotherapy Treatment
There are many factors that influence a person’s value of psychotherapy including socioeconomic status, race and racial beliefs, racial match, and religious factors. Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay. With many factors potentially influencing the clients perspective of psychotherapy it is important that the practitioner become culturally competent.
Racial factors can hinder quality care for the mental health patient. In some studies racial match of clients can be associated with an increase in the utilization of mental health services and promote favorable outcomes (Meyer & Zane, 2013, p. 3). The increase in more favorable outcomes could be because the ethnic minority clients may view ethnically similar psychotherapists as a more credible source of help because the assume a shared culture or values (Meyer & Zane, 2013, p. 3) Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay.
As stated before, there are many factors that can influence the value a person placed on psychotherapy, even the words used can increase the value a client places on therapy. Regarding the Navajo and psychotherapy, they see it as a practice pertaining to illness and healing and the terminology used becomes important (Lewis-Fernández, 2011, p. 5). When the word belief is applied to aspects of therapy it carries the connotation of falsehood, instead of saying what is your belief on mental illness and psych therapy one should use the terms values, attitudes on, view, but never beliefs (Lewis-Fernández, 2011, p. 6). Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay In this example of culture and how it influences psychotherapy it would be very important to be culturally competent in the Navajo culture because just the verbiage used could alter the outcome of psychotherapy.
References
Deen, S. (2015). How Psychotherapy Changes the Brain. American Psychiatric Association .
Lewis-Fernández, R. (2011). Commentary on “Elements of Psychotherapy in Navaho Religion”: A Perspective from Contemporary Cultural Psychiatry. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 74(4), 293-300. doi:10.1521/psyc.2011.74.4.293 Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay
Merriam-Webster. (2018, February 24). PSYCHOTHERAPY. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychotherapy
Meyer, O. L., & Zane, N. (2013). THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND ETHNICITY IN CLIENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT. Journal of Community Psychology, 41(7), 884-901. doi:10.1002/jcop.21580
Prosser, A., Helfer, B., & Leucht, S. (2016). Biological v. psychosocial treatments: A myth about pharmacotherapy v. psychotherapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 208(04), 309-311. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.115.178368 Nurs 6640 week 1 discussion – Psychotherapy and Biology Sample essay