1. What have been the major changes in psychotherapy this century?
There are several advances in psychotherapy this century. First, the cost of psychotheraphy has lessen. In the 19th century , only rich and semi-psychotic people can get psychotheraphy treatment, but nowadays millions of people are getting treated by psychotherapists and most of them, 80%, feel that psychotheraphy helps. Many got treated by psychotheraphy with the aid of technology, computer materials help advance psychotherapy. Another major change is that psychologists in the past helped clients by using a set of method, but in this century, therapists combine different methods of therapy and practice them as their own unique way of treating patients. In this century, research shown that religious beliefs help with the psychotherapy treatment.
2. Twenty breakthroughs are identified. Which 5 do you think are the most important? Justify your answer. Identify what perspective is being taken by the psychologist.
2.1 One of the most important breakthroughs in psychology is that of Ellen Langer in April 1982. Langer discovered that being intellectual will help a person live a healthier life. This was proven by her experiment. Her breakthrough played an important part in human creations. It encourages people to live a life full of thoughts, which result in new ideas and other breakthrough later on. Ellen Langer is a neuroscience psychologist.
2.2 Another significant breakthrough is that of Judith Rodin, a neuroscience psychologist, in December 1984. Judith’s breakthrough showed that people can be hungry by seeing certain food. She also discovered that food obsessions are controlled by certain hormones. This helps the food and the diet industries to come up with new research that help women, who usually feel fat.
2.3 Elizabeth F. Loftus’s breakthrough in 1984 showed that eyewitnesses in court case can be very unreliable. Before her discovery, jurors rely mainly on the eyewitnesses, because they believe that eyewitnesses have the real view of the case. There are many factors that can change the view of eyewitnesses. Loftus belongs to the cognitive psychology perspective because she research on how the brain gathers and arranges information.
2.4 Another very important breakthrough is by Robert Epstein, recently in July 1996. Robert Epstein’s breakthrough deals with the creativity of young minds. He came up with the method to boost creativity, which is very helpful to young children because if they have creativity, they tend to live a better life by discovering things that will help others. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists, once said that imagination (creativity) is more important that knowledge. Robert Epstein can be categorized into the developmental perspective because he dealt with the development of children throughout life and how creativity can help.
2.5 The last of my five most important psychological breakthroughs is that of Hans Selye. Hans Selye used the neuroscience perspective to research on how stress can impact human. This is very important since people in this century face stress as a daily routine. Selye’s discovery is helping millions of people to cope with stress.
