A Tripartite Learning Conceptualization of Psychotherapy

Synonyms

Behavior therapy; Cognitive-behavioral therapy; Counseling; Psychoanalysis; Psychological treatment

Definition

Psychotherapy is a complex interpersonal interaction, relationship, and method of treatment between a licensed mental health professional (most often a psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker) and a patient aimed at understanding and healing the patient’s emotional distress and suffering, most often evident by symptoms of anxiety or depression. Psychotherapy predicated upon learning theory assumes that a patient’s maladaptive coping behaviors that have been unsuccessfully invoked by the patient to deal with his or her distress are learned behaviors that can, therefore, be unlearned through psychological treatment. The Tripartite Learning Conceptualization of Psychotherapy holds that there are multiple forms of learning involved in both the learning and unlearning of behavioral problems. In essence, there are three principal learning processes that are involved in...