Topic: Compare and contrast the definition of Adventure Therapy with at least three (different) approaches to mental health treatment.
According to Gass, Gillis, and Russell, “Adventure Therapy is the prescriptive use of adventure experiences provided by mental health professionals, often conducted in natural settings that kinesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels.” This definition has three main elements. First, the definition calls for "prescriptive use. . .provided by mental health professionals." This means that AT is utilized by professionals to conduct intentional therapy based on client needs. Second, the adventure activities are "often conducted in natural settings." This is the main unique element that sets AT apart from other approaches to mental health treatment. Finally, AT is meant to "kinesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels." These three elements are the basis of psychology and therapy. AT claims to engage patients thoughts, feelings, and actions through the use of active experiences. As aforementioned, the primary aspect of the AT approach that sets it apart from others, is the utilization of adventure activities as the means to asses the patient and bring about positive growth and change.
According to Gass, Gillis, and Russell, “Adventure Therapy is the prescriptive use of adventure experiences provided by mental health professionals, often conducted in natural settings that kinesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels.” This definition has three main elements. First, the definition calls for "prescriptive use. . .provided by mental health professionals." This means that AT is utilized by professionals to conduct intentional therapy based on client needs. Second, the adventure activities are "often conducted in natural settings." This is the main unique element that sets AT apart from other approaches to mental health treatment. Finally, AT is meant to "kinesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels." These three elements are the basis of psychology and therapy. AT claims to engage patients thoughts, feelings, and actions through the use of active experiences. As aforementioned, the primary aspect of the AT approach that sets it apart from others, is the utilization of adventure activities as the means to asses the patient and bring about positive growth and change.
Other approaches to mental health treatment include psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioral therapy, and group therapy. Here are definitions of each:
“Psychoanalytic treatment
explores how. . . unconscious factors affect current relationships and
patterns of thought, emotion and behavior. Treatment traces theses patterns
back to their historical origins, considers how they have changed and developed
over time, and helps the individual to cope better with the realities of their
current life situation” (About Psychoanalysis).
"Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, people with mental illness can modify their patterns of thinking to improve coping" (Duckworth & Freedman).
"Group therapy is a type of psychotherapy that involves one or
more therapists working with several people at the same time" (Cherry).
Overall, AT is similar to these treatment approaches do to the fact that they all have the same underlying goal, which is to help the patient grow cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally. Psychoanalysis focuses on the unconscious and the past in discovering patterns associated with these three elements. CBT also focuses on these patterns and the negative, destructive connections between the elements. The thing about AT is that it can utilize psychoanalysis, CBT, group therapy, and an array of other treatment approaches but other approaches cannot utilize AT, for then it would be AT.
References
Cherry, K. (2013). What is Group
Therapy? Retrieved from: http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/f/group-therapy.htm
Duckworth, K., & Freedman, J. L.
(2012, July). Treatment and Services: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
Retrieved from: http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=About_Treatments_and_Supports&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7952
Gass, M. A., Gillis, H. L., & Russell, K. C. (2012). Adventure therapy: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
About Psychoanalysis. (2013). http://www.apsa.org/About_Psychoanalysis.aspx#What
The three types of therapy that you mentioned, cognitive behavioral, psychoanalytic, and group therapy, are all have a direct influence on adventure therapy. I think that group therapy is distinct in the fact that most adventure therapy sessions are conducted in a group, rather than individually. Therefore, when correlating associating therapies to adventure therapy, group therapy is strongly related to AT, the exception being when it is an individual session, of course.
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