Approach
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Theory Description
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Key Figure(s)
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Theory
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Psychodynamic
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First 6 years determine personality development, psychosexual stages, unconscious motivation
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Sigmund Freud
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Psychoanalytic
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Psychodynamic
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Mistaken beliefs due to perception of the past, Inferiority/Superiority, clients are not sick but 'discouraged', finding meaning to create purposeful life
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Alfred _____
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Adlerian
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Experiential / Relationship-Oriented
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Philosophically based, nature of human condition, choice and responsibility of freedom, self-awareness, ultimate concerns, Logotherapy
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Viktor Frankl
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Existential
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Experiential / Relationship-Oriented
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Humanistic, client has capacity for self-healing and growth given positive conditions, actualizing tendency, importance of therapist-client relationship
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Carl Rogers
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Person-Centered
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Experiential / Relationship-Oriented
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Experiential, wholeness and awareness, body-mind integration, person understood in context of relationship with their environment (field theory), I/Thou
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Fritz and Laura Perls
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Gestalt
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Cognitive Behavioral
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Empirical, learning determines how we act, conditioning, social learning, change does not require insight into past
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B.F. Skinner, Arnold Lazaruz, Albert Bandura
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Behaviorism
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Cognitive Behavioral
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Empirical, evidence based; stresses role of thinking and beliefs on how we feel and act, thoughts have causal role in depression, problem focused & action oriented, REBT
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Albert Ellis and A.T. Beck
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Cognitive Behavioral
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Cognitive Behavioral
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Short-term, love and belonging is our primary need, choice theory, realism, responsibility for the present, and right-and-wrong
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William Glasser and Robert Wubbolding
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Reality Therapy / Choice Theory
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Systems / Postmodern
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Egalitarian, Systemic, traditional therapies tend to be andro- and ethno-centric, sociopolitical constraints on women, empowerment, therapist self-disclosure
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Many; Jean Baker Miller, Carolyn Zerbe Enns, Oliva Espin, Laura Brown, etc.
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Feminist Theory
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Systems / Postmodern
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No single truth, anything is possible, social constructionism, solution-focused, short-term, client is expert in their own life
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Many; Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg, Michael White, David Epston, etc.
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Postmodern
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Systems / Postmodern
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Systemic, interactions, people are part of living systems, changing the individual requires understanding and working with their family
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Many; Adler, Murray Bowen, Virginia Satir, Carl Whitaker, Salvador Minuchin, Jay Haley, Cloe Madanes
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Family Systems
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Other
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Combines techniques and commonalities from a variety of theories
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Many
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Integrative
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