Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

biomedical therapy 
Therapy that relies on drugs and other medical 
procedures to improve psychological functioning.
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Therapists use some 400 different varieties of psychotherapy, approaches to therapy 
that focus on psychological factors. Although diverse in many respects, all psycho-
logical approaches see treatment as a way of solving psychological problems by 
modifying people’s behavior and helping them gain a better understanding of them-
selves and their past, present, and future. 
In light of the variety of psychological approaches, it is not surprising that the 
people who provide therapy vary considerably in educational background and train-
ing (see Figure 1 ). Many have doctoral degrees in psychology (that is, they have 
attended graduate school, learned clinical and research techniques, and held an 
internship). But therapy is also provided by people in fi elds allied with psychology, 
such as psychiatry and social work. 
Regardless of their specifi c training, almost all psychotherapists employ one of 
four major approaches to therapy: psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and human-
istic treatments. These approaches are based on the models of personality and psy-
chological disorders developed by psychologists. Here we’ll consider the 
psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive approaches in turn. In the next module, 
we’ll explore the humanistic approach as well as interpersonal psychotherapy and 
group therapy, and we will evaluate the effectiveness of psychotherapy.
Key Concepts 
What are the goals of psycho-
logically and biologically 
based treatment approaches?
What are the psychodynamic, 
behavioral, and cognitive 
approaches to treatment?