I. Topic: Identification of Different Forms of Therapy

II. Purpose: To help students learn differences in the approaches in different therapies to solve personal problems.

III. Description: Problem-Solving Worksheet

IV. Procedure:

1. Hand out the worksheet to the students in your class and have them complete the assignment, either in class or as a take-home assignment. When students are finished, discuss their responses together as a class in the attempt to further their understanding of how practitioners of different forms of therapy approach treatment in different ways

Correct Answers:

Therapist 1: Rational Emotive Therapy
Therapist 2: Psychoanalysis
Therapist 3: Client- or Person-Centered Therapy
Therapist 4: Systematic Desensitization

Instructions: Below are 4 brief descriptions of how different therapists might approach a problem for which you have sought their help. Your task is to state or describe what kind of therapy each therapist is using to help you solve your problem.

Therapist 1:

Your therapist counsels you that it is impossible for you to be loved or cared for by all people who are significant at your job and in your community. She further urges you to abandon the irrational approach you take to interpreting the events that occur in your life.

Therapist 2:

Upon entering his office, your therapist asks you to sit down and be comfortable. He then tells you that you should speak freely, and not to worry about censoring any thoughts you may have during the therapy session. He sits behind you to minimize any eye contact--he does not wish to serve as an authority figure during your session. At one point he cautions you about becoming defensive and suggests that you might be unconsciously attempting to block his access into gaining insight into the inner workings of your thought processes.

Therapist 3:

After spending some time with your therapist, it becomes obvious to you that she believes you are making unrealistic comparisons between the person you are and the person that you would like to be. You find that she mirrors many of your statements, as if asking you to reflect upon what you have just said. At the same time, you are convinced that she holds you in high esteem, no strings attached.

Therapist 4:

After confessing to your therapist that you are horribly afraid of bees, he works with you to construct a hierarchy of stimuli that are increasingly fearful to you. Lowest in the hierarchy is reading the word buzz and the highest on the list is seeing a bee flying close to your face. Once the hierarchy is completed, he teaches how to feel relaxed to these stimuli, starting first with the stimuli to which you are least afraid.