Treatment, Intervention, Prevention, and Supervision
Match treatment to target
Psychodynamic: transference, working through, insight. Person-centered (Rogers): congruence, unconditional positive regard, empathic understanding. Behavioral: exposure for fear (in vivo generally stronger than imaginal; systematic desensitization pairs a graduated hierarchy with relaxation; flooding is prolonged intense exposure with response prevention); contingency management and token economies; skills training. Cognitive/CBT: Beck's cognitive triad; identifying and testing automatic thoughts and schemas using homework and behavioral experiments. DBT (Linehan) targets borderline personality features-mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness-and prioritizes reducing self-harm. ACT: psychological flexibility, acceptance, values. IPT: grief, role disputes, role transitions. Family systems: Bowen (differentiation), Minuchin (structure, boundaries), Haley (strategic).
Groups
Yalom's therapeutic factors include universality, instillation of hope, altruism, catharsis, interpersonal learning, and cohesiveness.
Prevention
Primary/universal prevents onset in a healthy population; secondary/selective targets those at risk; tertiary/indicated treats existing disorder and prevents relapse. A school-wide anti-bullying program is universal.
Supervision
Supervisors carry legal and ethical responsibility for supervisee work, must disclose the supervisory relationship and who has access to information, evaluate rather than only support, and address incompetence and impairment. Boundary crossings are not automatically violations; multiple relationships are unethical when they risk exploitation or harm.
Rule of thumb
Identify the target symptom first, then select the treatment with the strongest evidence for that specific disorder. Distractors are usually well-known therapies aimed at the wrong target.