Search

Pain, from its origin through its treatment and in its subsequent maintenance, is influenced by psychosocial factors. For this reason, psychotheraphy is also used in pain treatment. The use of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is dominant. The paper describes the history of CBT and its three basic approaches: behavioral, (operant), cognitive, and cognitive-behavioral. The indications to CBT and the most frequent problems in treatment are isolated. Basic CBT techniques in chronic pain treatment, namely the cognitive restructuration and the practice of skills for pain and stress management (education, adaptive positive self-instruction, relaxation and imagination, increasing activity, exposition, structured problem solving, and relapse coping) are specified. Particular fields of chronic pain which represent the goal of multidisciplinary program of pain treatment including CBT are examined. The author structures basic assumptions of successful program: direct and indirect positive reinforcement of pain behavior, positive reinforcement of required behavior, improvement of physical condition, cognitive reframing, education, training in CBT in pain treatment, and conforming to the CBT principles. The paper sumarizes the efficiency of CBT in chronic pain treatment in adult patients, describes problems in its monitoring and suggests some innovations for increasing its use [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper gives an overview of current developments in discourse analysis, including its most prominent trends, protagonists, theories, and concepts. The paper emphasizes diversity of approaches to discourse analysis and gives specific examples of their application to research in health psychology, feminist psychology, and counselling and psychotherapy. In this way, the paper aims to document the relevance of discourse analysis for psychological research and, by implication, for psychological theory and practice. The debate includes Potter's and Wetherell's approach to discourse analysis, rhetorical psychology, discursive psychology, conversation analysis, poststructural discourse analysis and critical discursive psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forgiveness is one of the psychological phenomena, which did not received adequate attention in psychological studies for a long time. The situation is changing due the rise of applied positive psychology and thus the topic is the subject of interdisciplinary studies in the world. This paper points to the considerable potential of the process of forgiveness as one of the intervention techniques in counseling and psychotherapy, which aims to improve the psychological health of the client. Forgiveness can be one of the options how to reduce the negative affective aspect of suffering - the psychological injury of a victim. First, it is pointed to the essence of forgiveness in counseling and psychotherapy, then, the forgiveness is defined regarding the phases of forgiveness and the process of forgiveness is described according R. D. Enright. The process models of forgiveness in counseling and psychotherapy are presented regarding the health aspect of forgiveness and non-forgiveness. In the conclusion, some results of studies dealing with intervention programs of process model of forgiveness in the field of quality of life, namely physical and mental health, are mentioned. Besides that, the author tries to outline the strengths and weaknesses of the process of forgiveness in counseling and psychotherapy based on three approaches to forgiveness in psychotherapy. The hope turns out that this phenomenon will become the subject of deeper psychological study not only abroad but also in the Czech and Slovak Republics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]