Read the case study and answer the five questions that follow:
Nikita and Ritika are twins. Nikita is intelligent, friendly and popular among her friends. Ritika is shy, withdrawn and feels inferior to her sister. As a child, she felt her parents neglected her and was deeply hurt when they made comparisons. As she grew, these feelings of rejection were reinforced when teachers made statements like, "Look how well Nikita is doing! Why can't you be like her?" Ritika's feelings of rejection only strengthened with time. With the passage of time, Ritika was convinced that she is not good enough and would always be a failure in life.
Which of the following is NOT correct about the given psychotherapies.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → In behaviour therapy the focus is on the past, the present is irrelevant
Option (1) In psychodynamic therapy the therapist is an interpreter — Correct statement. The psychodynamic therapist is taken to understand the client’s intrapsychic conflicts better than the client, so it is the therapist who interprets the client’s thoughts and feelings to her/him.
Option (2) In existential therapy the therapist is a facilitator — Correct statement. Existential therapy provides a positive, accepting and non-judgmental setting in which the client talks about the problems and the therapist acts as a facilitator; the client reaches the solutions through personal growth.
Option (3) In behaviour therapy the focus is on the past, the present is irrelevant — Incorrect statement (the answer). Behaviour therapy works the other way round. It is focused on the behaviour and thoughts of the client in the present. The past matters only to the extent of understanding where the faulty patterns came from; it is not relived, and the faulty patterns are corrected in the present.
Option (4) Psychodynamic therapy is the oldest therapy — Correct statement. Among the modern psychological models, the psychodynamic model is the oldest and most famous, and psychodynamic therapy grows out of it.
NCERT (2025-26): “Behaviour Therapy … Behaviour therapies postulate that psychological distress arises because of faulty behaviour patterns or thought patterns. It is, therefore, focused on the behaviour and thoughts of the client in the present. The past is relevant only to the extent of understanding the origins of the faulty behaviour and thought patterns. The past is not activated or relived. Only the faulty patterns are corrected in the present.…” “…The existential therapy provides a therapeutic environment which is positive, accepting, and nonjudgmental. The client is able to talk about the problems and the therapist acts as a facilitator. The client arrives at the solutions through a process of personal growth.…” “…Psychodynamic therapy assumes that the therapist understands the client’s intrapsychic conflicts better than the client and hence it is the therapist who interprets the thoughts and feelings of the client to her/him so that s/he gains an understanding of the same.…” “Factors Underlying Abnormal Behaviour … The psychodynamic model is the oldest and most famous of the modern psychological models.…” |