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Short term dynamic psychotherapy goes to Hollywood: The treatment of performance anxiety in cinema
Author(s) -
McCullough Leigh,
Osborn Kristin A.R.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20042
Subject(s) - phobias , psychology , feeling , anxiety , shame , psychotherapist , desensitization (medicine) , anger , closeness , affect (linguistics) , grief , social psychology , psychiatry , communication , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematical analysis , receptor , mathematics
This article uses characters in popular films to demonstrate the theory and application of short term dynamic psychotherapy (STDP) in the treatment of performance anxiety. The reader is taught to identify affect phobias that are hypothesized to underlie performance anxiety. Similar in function to external phobias, affect phobias or internal phobias involve the avoidance of feelings (e.g., fear about feeling anger, shame about showing grief, pain about closeness), which thwarts adaptive responding and generates numerous behavioral problems. STDP treatment focuses on the restructuring of defenses, conflicted affects, and attachments. The resolution of the affect phobia requires systematic desensitization of affective responses (i.e., exposure and desensitization of underlying conflicted feelings). When patients learn to access adaptive forms of feelings, performance anxiety can often be resolved. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session.