NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Psychology Chapter 5: Therapeutic Approaches
These Class 12 Psychology Chapter 5 solutions cover Therapeutic Approaches, the chapter that explains how psychotherapists help people overcome psychological distress. Updated for the NCERT 2026–27 session, the page reproduces all Review Questions verbatim from the textbook and answers each in exam-ready CBSE style. You will learn the nature and process of psychotherapy, the importance of the therapeutic relationship (alliance), how therapies are classified (psychodynamic, behaviour and existential), the techniques of behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy (RET, Beck and CBT), humanistic–existential therapy (logotherapy, client-centred and gestalt), alternative therapies such as yoga and meditation, and the rehabilitation of the mentally ill. Below you also get key terms, extra practice, MCQs, Assertion–Reason questions and FAQs.
Chapter 5, Therapeutic Approaches, describes the methods psychotherapists use to relieve psychological distress. Psychotherapy is a voluntary, confidential relationship between a trained therapist and a client, aimed at changing maladaptive behaviour, reducing distress and improving adjustment. The healing power of therapy rests on the therapeutic alliance — a trusting, contractual, time-limited relationship marked by empathy and unconditional positive regard. Therapies are classified as psychodynamic, behaviour and existential (the ‘third force’) on the basis of the assumed cause, method, relationship, benefit and duration. The chapter then explains behaviour therapy (behavioural analysis, antecedent and consequent operations, negative reinforcement, aversive conditioning, token economy, systematic desensitisation, modelling), cognitive therapy (Ellis’s RET with ABC analysis, Beck’s work on cognitive distortions, and CBT), humanistic–existential therapy (Frankl’s logotherapy, Rogers’s client-centred therapy, Perls’s gestalt therapy), the factors that contribute to healing, ethics in psychotherapy, alternative therapies (yoga, meditation, Vipasana) and the rehabilitation of the mentally ill through occupational, social-skills, cognitive-retraining and vocational interventions.
Key Concepts & Terms
Psychotherapy: a voluntary, professional relationship between a trained therapist and a client that helps the client solve psychological problems by changing maladaptive behaviour, lessening distress and improving adjustment to the environment.
Therapeutic alliance (relationship): the special, trusting and confiding bond between client and therapist; it is contractual and of limited duration, and is the chief vehicle for change in any therapy.
Empathy: understanding the plight of another by feeling as that person feels and seeing the situation from her/his perspective; different from sympathy (compassion without feeling like the other) and intellectual understanding (cold, without feeling).
Unconditional positive regard: the therapist’s total, non-judgmental acceptance and warmth towards the client, which does not depend on what the client reveals or does.
Psychodynamic therapy: traces problems to intrapsychic conflicts from unfulfilled childhood desires and fears; uses free association and dream analysis to give the client emotional insight.
Behaviour therapy: treats psychological distress as faulty learning; uses behavioural analysis to find malfunctioning behaviours, their antecedents and maintaining factors, then changes them with antecedent and consequent operations.
Key behavioural techniques: negative reinforcement, aversive conditioning, positive reinforcement, differential reinforcement, token economy, systematic desensitisation (Wolpe), and modelling/vicarious learning, based on the principle of reciprocal inhibition.
Cognitive therapy: locates distress in irrational thoughts and beliefs. Ellis’s Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) uses the antecedent–belief–consequence (ABC) analysis; Beck’s theory traces negative automatic thoughts to faulty core schemas and cognitive distortions, aiming at cognitive restructuring.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT): the most popular present-day therapy; a short, efficacious bio-psychosocial approach that combines cognitive therapy with behavioural techniques for anxiety, depression, panic and more.
Humanistic–existential therapy: sees distress as arising from loneliness, alienation and a frustrated need for self-actualisation; includes Frankl’s logotherapy (meaning making), Rogers’s client-centred therapy and Perls’s gestalt therapy.
Alternative therapies: non-conventional treatments such as yoga, meditation, acupuncture and herbal remedies; yoga (asanas, pranayama, SKY, Kundalini) and mindfulness-based Vipasana meditation help with stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD.
Rehabilitation: empowering severely ill patients (e.g., schizophrenia) to become self-sufficient through occupational therapy, social-skills training, cognitive retraining and vocational training.
Catharsis: the healing process of emotional unburdening that occurs when the client describes her/his problems in the early sessions of therapy.
Review Questions — Full Solutions
All questions below are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT textbook’s end-of-chapter Review Questions section. Answers are original, written in exam-ready style.
1. Describe the nature and scope of psychotherapy. Highlight the importance of therapeutic relationship in psychotherapy.
ANSWERNature of psychotherapy: Psychotherapy is a voluntary relationship between the person seeking treatment (the client) and the trained person who treats (the therapist). Its purpose is to help the client solve her/his psychological problems through psychological means. The relationship is conducive to building trust so problems can be discussed freely. Psychotherapy aims at changing maladaptive behaviours, decreasing personal distress and helping the client adapt better to her/his environment.Common characteristics: all psychotherapies involve (i) systematic application of principles drawn from a theory of therapy, (ii) practice only by persons trained under expert supervision, (iii) a therapist and a client who seeks and receives help, and (iv) a confidential, interpersonal and dynamic therapeutic relationship.Goals (scope): reinforcing the client’s resolve for betterment, lessening emotional pressure, unfolding potential for positive growth, modifying habits, changing thinking patterns, increasing self-awareness, improving interpersonal relations and communication, facilitating decision-making, helping the client become aware of life choices, and relating to the social environment more creatively.Importance of the therapeutic relationship: The special bond between client and therapist is the therapeutic relationship or alliance, and it is the chief vehicle for change. It has two components — the contractual nature (two willing individuals entering a partnership to overcome the client’s problems) and the limited duration (it lasts until the client can manage independently). The high level of trust lets the client unburden and confide freely. The therapist strengthens this by being accepting, empathic, genuine and warm, offering unconditional positive regard and keeping strict confidentiality. Without this trusting, professional and healing relationship, no real change is possible.
2. What are the different types of psychotherapy? On what basis are they classified?
ANSWERTypes: Psychotherapies are grouped into three broad systems — psychodynamic, behaviour, and existential (humanistic–existential) psychotherapies. Chronologically, psychodynamic therapy emerged first, followed by behaviour therapy, and the existential therapies (the ‘third force’) emerged last.Basis of classification — they differ on six parameters:(i) Cause of the problem: psychodynamic – intrapsychic conflicts; behaviour – faulty learning of behaviours and cognitions; existential – questions about the meaning of one’s life and existence.(ii) How the cause arose: psychodynamic – unfulfilled childhood desires and unresolved fears; behaviour – faulty conditioning, learning and beliefs; existential – present feelings of loneliness, alienation and futility.(iii) Chief method of treatment: psychodynamic – free association and dream analysis with interpretation; behaviour – altering faulty conditioning and challenging faulty thinking; existential – a positive, accepting, non-judgmental environment in which the therapist is a facilitator.(iv) Nature of the relationship: psychodynamic and behaviour therapies assume the therapist understands and can solve the client’s problem; existential therapies assume the therapist merely provides a warm, empathic relationship in which the client explores her/his own problems.(v) Chief benefit: psychodynamic – emotional insight; behaviour – adaptive behaviour and thought patterns; humanistic – personal growth.(vi) Duration: classical psychoanalysis may last years (recent versions 10–15 sessions); behaviour, cognitive-behaviour and existential therapies are shorter, completed in a few months.
3. Discuss the various techniques used in behaviour therapy.
ANSWERBehaviour therapy applies learning-theory principles to reduce arousal, alter behaviour through classical or operant conditioning, and use vicarious learning. After a careful behavioural analysis (finding malfunctioning behaviours, their antecedents and maintaining factors), the therapist selects techniques and sets up antecedent operations (changing what precedes a behaviour) and consequent operations (changing what follows it). Major techniques are:1. Negative reinforcement: following an undesired response with a consequence the person wants to escape or avoid, so the wanted behaviour increases (e.g., learning to put on warm clothes to escape unpleasant cold).2. Aversive conditioning: repeatedly pairing an undesired response with an aversive consequence, e.g., giving an alcoholic a mild electric shock while smelling alcohol, so the smell becomes aversive and the person gives up alcohol.3. Positive reinforcement: rewarding a rarely occurring adaptive behaviour to increase the deficit (e.g., a favourite dish prepared whenever a child completes homework on time).4. Differential reinforcement: increasing wanted and reducing unwanted behaviour together — either by positively reinforcing the wanted behaviour and negatively reinforcing the unwanted one, or, more humanely, by reinforcing the wanted behaviour and simply ignoring the unwanted one.5. Token economy: giving a token each time a desired behaviour occurs; tokens are collected and later exchanged for a reward such as an outing or a treat.6. Systematic desensitisation (Wolpe): used for phobias and irrational fears. The therapist and client build a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations; the relaxed client imagines the least fearful scene first and, over sessions, more severe scenes, based on the principle of reciprocal inhibition (relaxation inhibits the weaker anxiety), gradually desensitising the client to the fear.7. Modelling (vicarious learning): the client learns adaptive behaviour by observing a role model or the therapist, with small changes rewarded until the model’s behaviour is acquired.Relaxation procedures such as progressive muscular relaxation and meditation are also used to lower the arousal that maintains faulty behaviour.
4. Explain with the help of an example how cognitive distortions take place.
ANSWERCognitive distortions are ways of thinking that are general in nature but distort reality in a negative manner. According to Aaron Beck, childhood experiences provided by the family and society create core schemas — deep systems of beliefs and action patterns — in the individual.Example: A child who is neglected by her/his parents develops the core schema “I am not wanted.” Later in life a critical incident occurs — the person is publicly ridiculed by a teacher in school. This incident triggers the dormant core schema “I am not wanted,” leading to negative automatic thoughts such as “nobody loves me,” “I am ugly,” “I am stupid,” “I will not succeed.”These automatic thoughts are characterised by cognitive distortions, which form dysfunctional cognitive structures that produce errors of cognition about social reality. Their repeated occurrence leads to feelings of anxiety and depression. In therapy, the therapist uses gentle, non-threatening questioning (“Why should everyone love you?”) to help the client gain insight into these schemas and achieve cognitive restructuring, which reduces anxiety and depression.
5. Which therapy encourages the client to seek personal growth and actualise their potential? Write about the therapies which are based on this principle.
ANSWERThe humanistic–existential therapies encourage the client to seek personal growth and actualise their potential. They hold that psychological distress arises from loneliness, alienation and an inability to find meaning and fulfilment in life, and that humans have an innate drive towards self-actualisation. When this drive is curbed by family and society, distress results; healing comes from removing obstacles to self-actualisation. The main therapies based on this principle are:Existential therapy / Logotherapy (Victor Frankl): ‘Logos’ means soul, so logotherapy is treatment for the soul. It helps patients find meaning and responsibility in life even in life-threatening circumstances (the process of meaning making). Frankl spoke of a ‘spiritual unconscious’ and treated existential/neurotic anxiety of spiritual origin; the therapist is open, emphasises the here and now, and discourages transference.Client-centred therapy (Carl Rogers): brings the concept of the self, with freedom and choice, into therapy. The therapist offers empathy and unconditional positive regard in a warm relationship so the client feels secure enough to explore feelings; through reflection (rephrasing the client’s statements), the client becomes integrated and grows into her/his real self, with the therapist as a facilitator.Gestalt therapy (Friederick ‘Fritz’ Perls and Laura Perls): ‘gestalt’ means whole. It increases self-awareness and self-acceptance by teaching the client to recognise bodily processes and blocked-out emotions, often by acting out fantasies about feelings and conflicts; it can also be used in group settings.
6. What are the factors that contribute to healing in psychotherapy? Enumerate some of the alternative therapies.
ANSWERFactors contributing to healing:1. Techniques adopted by the therapist and their proper implementation — e.g., relaxation procedures and cognitive restructuring in the behavioural/CBT system largely heal an anxious client.2. The therapeutic alliance between therapist and client has healing properties because of the regular availability, warmth and empathy of the therapist.3. Catharsis — in the early interview sessions the client emotionally unburdens her/his problems; this emotional unburdening itself has healing properties.4. Non-specific factors that operate across different systems and clients: patient variables (motivation for change, expectation of improvement) and therapist variables (positive nature, absence of unresolved conflicts, good mental health).Some alternative therapies: yoga (asanas, pranayama, Sudarshana Kriya Yoga and Kundalini Yoga), meditation (including mindfulness-based Vipasana meditation), acupuncture, and herbal remedies. In the past 25 years yoga and meditation have become popular treatments for psychological distress — for stress, anxiety, PTSD, depression, OCD and insomnia.
7. What are the techniques used in the rehabilitation of the mentally ill?
ANSWERTreatment of psychological disorders has two components — reducing symptoms and improving the level of functioning or quality of life. In severe disorders such as schizophrenia, reducing symptoms alone may not improve quality of life, because patients suffer negative symptoms (disinterest, lack of motivation). Rehabilitation aims to empower such patients to become productive, self-sufficient members of society. The techniques are:1. Occupational therapy: patients are taught skills such as candle making, paper-bag making and weaving to help them form a work discipline.2. Social-skills training: patients develop interpersonal skills through role play, imitation and instruction so they can function in a social group.3. Cognitive retraining: the basic cognitive functions of attention, memory and executive functioning are improved.4. Vocational training: once the patient improves sufficiently, s/he is helped to gain the skills needed to undertake productive employment.
8. How would a social learning theorist account for a phobic fear of lizards/cockroaches? How would a psychoanalyst account for the same phobia?
ANSWERSocial learning / behavioural account: A social learning theorist would explain the phobia as the result of faulty learning. The fear could be acquired through classical conditioning (the lizard or cockroach paired with a frightening or disgusting experience), through operant conditioning (avoidance of the creature is negatively reinforced because it reduces anxiety, so the fear persists), or through vicarious learning/modelling — observing parents, siblings or others react with fear and disgust and imitating that reaction. The fear is maintained because escape and avoidance keep providing relief; it would be treated by behavioural techniques such as systematic desensitisation and modelling.Psychoanalytic account: A psychoanalyst would view the phobia as a symptom of an underlying intrapsychic conflict rooted in unfulfilled childhood desires and unresolved childhood fears. The anxiety from a repressed conflict in the unconscious is displaced onto a harmless external object — the lizard or cockroach — which then symbolically represents the real, hidden source of fear. The phobia therefore serves as a defence that keeps the true conflict out of awareness, and treatment would involve free association and dream analysis to bring the conflict to consciousness and gain emotional insight.
9. What kind of problems is cognitive behaviour therapy best suited for?
ANSWERCognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is the most popular present-day therapy and research has conclusively established it as a short and efficacious treatment for a wide range of psychological disorders. It is best suited for problems such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks and borderline personality disorder, among others.CBT adopts a bio-psychosocial approach: it addresses the biological aspects through relaxation procedures, the psychological aspects through behaviour-therapy and cognitive-therapy techniques, and the social aspects through environmental manipulations. This combination makes it a comprehensive, easy-to-use technique applicable to a variety of disorders, with proven efficacy.
Extra Practice Questions
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. Define empathy and distinguish it from sympathy.
ANSWEREmpathy is the ability to understand another person’s plight by feeling as that person feels and seeing the situation from her/his perspective — putting oneself in the other’s shoes. In sympathy one feels compassion and pity for another’s suffering but is not able to feel like the other person. Empathy enriches the therapeutic relationship and transforms it into a healing relationship.
Q2. What is a token economy?
ANSWERToken economy is a behavioural technique in which a person with behavioural problems is given a token as a reward each time a wanted behaviour occurs. The tokens are collected and later exchanged for a meaningful reward, such as an outing for the patient or a treat for a child, thereby strengthening the desired behaviour.
Q3. State the ABC of Rational Emotive Therapy.
ANSWERIn Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), the first step is the antecedent–belief–consequence (ABC) analysis. The antecedent (A) event that caused distress is noted, the client’s irrational belief (B) that distorts reality is identified, and the consequence (C) — negative emotions and behaviours — is examined. The therapist then refutes the irrational beliefs through gentle, non-directive questioning.
Q4. What is meant by unconditional positive regard?
ANSWERUnconditional positive regard is the total, non-judgmental acceptance and warmth that the therapist shows towards the client. It does not depend on what the client reveals or does in the sessions; even if the client confesses ‘wrong’ things, the therapist continues to show the same positive feelings, so the client feels secure enough to explore her/his feelings.
Q5. Name two yogic/meditative techniques mentioned in the chapter and one benefit of each.
ANSWER(i) Sudarshana Kriya Yoga (SKY) — a rapid-breathing technique found to be a low-risk, low-cost adjunct for stress, anxiety, PTSD and depression, and shown by NIMHANS research to reduce depression. (ii) Vipasana (mindfulness-based meditation) — helps prevent repeated episodes of depression by enabling patients to process emotional stimuli better and avoid processing biases.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. Explain the nature and components of the therapeutic alliance and its role in change.
ANSWERThe therapeutic alliance is the special relationship between client and therapist; it is neither a passing acquaintance nor a permanent relationship. It has two components. The first is its contractual nature — two willing individuals enter a partnership aimed at helping the client overcome her/his problems. The second is its limited duration — it lasts only until the client can deal with her/his problems and take control of life. The alliance is trusting and confiding: the high level of trust lets the client unburden and confide psychological and personal problems. The therapist nurtures it by being accepting, empathic, genuine and warm, conveying that s/he is not judging the client — this is unconditional positive regard. The therapist also keeps strict confidentiality and never exploits the client’s trust, since it is a professional relationship. Because this human relationship is the central vehicle for change, the warmth, empathy and regular availability of the therapist directly contribute to healing.
Q2. Describe systematic desensitisation and the principle of reciprocal inhibition on which it is based.
ANSWERSystematic desensitisation is a technique introduced by Wolpe for treating phobias and irrational fears. The therapist first interviews the client to elicit fear-provoking situations and, together with the client, prepares a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking stimuli, with the least anxiety-provoking stimulus at the bottom. The therapist relaxes the client (using relaxation procedures such as progressive muscular relaxation) and asks the client to imagine the least anxiety-provoking situation; the client is told to stop imagining the scene at the slightest tension. Over sessions the client is able to imagine progressively more severe fear-provoking situations while staying relaxed, and so becomes systematically desensitised to the fear. It works on the principle of reciprocal inhibition, which states that the presence of two mutually opposing forces at the same time inhibits the weaker force. Here the relaxation response is built up first and a mildly anxiety-provoking scene is imagined; the relaxation (the stronger force) overcomes the weaker anxiety, so the client can tolerate progressively greater levels of anxiety.
Q3. Compare the psychodynamic, behaviour and existential systems of psychotherapy.
ANSWERThe three systems differ on several parameters. On the cause of distress, psychodynamic therapy blames intrapsychic conflicts, behaviour therapy blames faulty learning of behaviours and cognitions, and existential therapy blames unanswered questions about the meaning of one’s existence. On method, psychodynamic therapy uses free association and dream analysis with interpretation, behaviour therapy alters faulty conditioning and challenges faulty thinking, and existential therapy provides an accepting, non-judgmental environment in which the therapist is a facilitator. On the relationship, psychodynamic and behaviour therapists assume they understand and can solve the client’s problem, whereas existential therapists only provide a warm, empathic space for the client to explore her/his own problems. On benefit, psychodynamic therapy values emotional insight, behaviour therapy values adaptive behaviour and thought, and humanistic therapy values personal growth. On duration, classical psychoanalysis may last years while behaviour, cognitive-behaviour and existential therapies are completed in months. Yet all share a common goal — relieving distress through psychological means — with the therapist, the relationship and the process of therapy acting as agents of change. The table below summarises the comparison.
Parameter
Psychodynamic
Behaviour
Existential
Cause of problem
Intrapsychic conflicts
Faulty learning
Lack of meaning in existence
Chief method
Free association, dream analysis
Conditioning, behavioural analysis
Accepting, non-judgmental environment
Therapist’s role
Interprets, solves
Identifies and corrects faults
Facilitator only
Chief benefit
Emotional insight
Adaptive behaviour/thought
Personal growth
Duration
Years (classical)
A few months
A few months
MCQs & Assertion–Reason
1. Psychotherapy is best described as:
(a) a permanent friendship (b) a voluntary, professional relationship between client and trained therapist (c) only drug treatment (d) an involuntary procedure
2. The total, non-judgmental acceptance of the client by the therapist is called:
For each Assertion–Reason question, choose: (A) Both true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion; (B) Both true but the Reason is not the correct explanation; (C) Assertion true, Reason false; (D) Assertion false, Reason true.
A-R 1. Assertion: The therapeutic relationship is central to any form of psychotherapy.
Reason: It is a trusting, confidential and dynamic relationship that acts as the vehicle for change.
A-R 2. Assertion: Empathy and sympathy mean the same thing.
Reason: In empathy one is able to feel like the other person, whereas in sympathy one feels pity but cannot feel like the other person.
A-R 3. Assertion: Systematic desensitisation works on the principle of reciprocal inhibition.
Reason: The presence of two mutually opposing forces at the same time inhibits the weaker force, so relaxation overcomes anxiety.
A-R 4. Assertion: In existential therapy the therapist interprets the client’s unconscious conflicts for her/him.
Reason: Existential therapists merely provide a warm, empathic relationship in which the client explores her/his own problems.
A-R 5. Assertion: Rehabilitation is required for patients with severe disorders such as schizophrenia.
Reason: Such patients often have negative symptoms like disinterest and lack of motivation, so reducing symptoms alone may not improve their quality of life.
Answer key: 1-(A), 2-(D), 3-(A), 4-(D), 5-(A).
Exam Tips & Common Mistakes
How to score full marks in this chapter
Memorise the six parameters on which therapies are classified and be able to fill them for psychodynamic, behaviour and existential systems — a comparison table earns full marks. Always pair a technique with its theorist (Wolpe’s systematic desensitisation, Ellis’s RET, Beck’s cognitive distortions, Frankl’s logotherapy, Rogers’s client-centred therapy, Perls’s gestalt therapy). For behaviour-therapy answers, give a worked example for each technique. Define empathy, unconditional positive regard, catharsis and the therapeutic alliance precisely, since they recur in long answers. Remember CBT’s bio-psychosocial approach and its list of suited disorders.
Common mistakes to avoid
Confusing empathy (feeling like the other) with sympathy (pity without feeling like the other).
Mixing up negative reinforcement (escaping an aversive state) with punishment or with aversive conditioning.
Attributing techniques to the wrong theorist — e.g., crediting RET to Beck or client-centred therapy to Ellis.
Saying existential therapists interpret or solve the client’s problems — they are only facilitators.
Confusing restoration of symptoms with rehabilitation; rehabilitation targets functioning and self-sufficiency.
Leaving out examples in behaviour-therapy and cognitive-distortion answers, which lose marks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chapter 5 of Class 12 Psychology about?
Chapter 5, Therapeutic Approaches, explains the nature and process of psychotherapy, the therapeutic alliance, the psychodynamic, behaviour and existential systems of therapy, behaviour and cognitive techniques, humanistic–existential therapies, alternative therapies such as yoga and meditation, and the rehabilitation of the mentally ill.
How many questions are in the Class 12 Psychology Chapter 5 exercise?
The end-of-chapter Review Questions section of Therapeutic Approaches contains 9 questions, all reproduced verbatim and answered step by step on this page in CBSE exam-ready style.
What is the difference between empathy, sympathy and intellectual understanding?
In intellectual understanding the person grasps another’s situation but feels nothing. In sympathy one feels compassion and pity for the suffering but cannot feel like the other person. In empathy one understands the other’s plight and actually feels like the other person, seeing things from her/his perspective — this enriches the therapeutic relationship into a healing one.
