BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION IMPACT ON A PERSON’S MENTAL HEALTH 13
Behavioral Modification Impact on a Person’s Mental Health
Nicole Sherwood
COM/156
Anne Cox
April 30, 2014
Behavioral Modification Techniques Impact on a Person’s Mental Health
Psychology as a science studies the normal and abnormal functioning of individuals their emotions and thinking patterns, as well as, the mental functioning of human beings. From its definition, one can determine that psychology helps individuals solve problems related to negative behaviors that can have negative effects on a person’s health. Psychology as a science divided into various subfields that apply diverse techniques has developed to assist bettering behaviors in individuals who contribute to different aspects of society. Various subfields of psychology aim to explain the reasoning for human behaviors while others like behaviorists do not consider that understanding the problem and its basis will help an individual change those maladaptive behaviors.
However, what is considered maladaptive behaviors? By definition are those “behaviors, which are conceptualized as signs or symptoms of some underlying disease process” (Wedig& Nock, 2008, p. 518). The need to change them strives in the possibilities of bettering a person's life by helping that person unlearn behaviors that are learned. A therapist will diagnose the problem and “use learning principles to change undesired behaviors for more appropriate behaviors” (Huffman, 2002, p. 544). In doing so, a behavioral therapist will take concepts from Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Modeling in helping patients increase their adaptive behaviors while decreasing maladaptive behaviors. The individual condition determines the most proper form of therapy to be offered; while one patient may require individual therapy others could require group or family therapy, or even do well by seeking online therapy. In addition, in matching the proper treatment to the patient psychologist can take on various forms, while some behavior modification techniques are effective for some conditions others are more effective in helping change others. Therefore, people should seek assistance without being concerned with the impression's society might have on their conditions. Judging the effectiveness of treatment varies from individual to individual and is affected by aspects such as commitment, cultural and gender diversity, and the long lasting effects of some techniques. Researchers have determined that being mentally healthy is as relevant as being physically healthy those benefits are of multifarious consequences that provide a more balanced living to most people. All the aforementioned aspects will be discussed in great detail aiming to create awareness on the influence that behavioral therapy has on helping individuals deviate from inadequate behaviors that can be present in multiple aspects of their lives.
Application of Psychology on a Daily Basis
Psychology as a science can be applied into various daily experiences. Psychology application has divided into various subfields and techniques, which have come to be of assistance in multiple aspects of society. Psychology subfield can be applied in various areas of health and human services
Psychology sub-fields and their applications and benefits
Each one of the major subfields of psychology following defined have a unique approach to particular problems. However, all these subfields share the commonality of focusing on studying and explaining human thoughts and behaviors. For instance, abnormal or clinical psychology deals with human psychopathology and abnormal behavior, covering disorders such as depression, phobias, obsessions, and compulsions to certain behaviors, and helping to evaluate, diagnose, treat some mental disorders. Behavioral psychology or behaviorism is the subfield of psychology that dominated this science in the 1950s and states that behaviors are learned through conditioning. Behavioral therapies are still being used in various areas like education to help achieving expectations by implementing according reinforcements. Biopsychology is the branch of psychology that deals with the influences exercised by the brain into human behavior, and identifies how physical and chemical processes affect the structure of the brain. Cognitive psychology focuses on human internal states like motivation, problem solving, decision-making, thinking and attention, the subfield can help determine patterns are existing on higher mental processes. Comparative psychology studies animal behaviors to help understanding human psychology. Cross-cultural psychology studies how cultural factors influence human behavior in diverse societies, and how those behaviors differ in other societies. Developmental psychology deals with the human lifespan aiming to explain how and why people change from conception to death. Educational psychology concerns with educational problems and students concerns to help children develop emotionally (Huffman, 2002, p. 8).
Experimental psychology uses scientific methods to research the brain and behavior and explain diverse concepts dealing with developmental issues, behavioral problems and social issues. Forensic psychology is the area of psychology that deals with correlating psychology and legal proceedings. Health psychology focuses on studying the influences that biology, psychology, behavior and social factors have on human health and illness. This subfield of psychology helps to promote human health, with treatment and prevention of disease and illness. Personality psychology concentrates in studying the unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, which comprises a person’s personality. Social psychology tries to explain and understand social behavior when dealing with various groups, interactions, communication and decision making processes. Industrial and organizational psychology helps with the application of psychology into the factors affecting human behavior in the workplace (Huffman, 2002, p. 8). As previously presented there are multiple subfields in the science of psychology that provides the application of these major principles of psychology in multiple aspects of human life.
Maladaptive and Abnormal Behaviors
There is so much questioning on why people engage in certain behaviors, which can lead that person to be diagnosed with a behavioral disorder. By definition maladaptive behaviors are defined as signs or symptoms of some underlying disease process (Wedig& Nock, 2008, p. 518). Other experts define maladaptive behaviors as those behaviors that restrain a person’s ability to act in determined situations. These behaviors prevent people from acting in regular situations that require to be handled on a daily basis. People use diverse dysfunctional escapes to deal with those behaviors with the purpose of dealing with anxiety. However, experts consider that maladaptive behaviors serve the purpose of obtaining a desired end involving in goal-directed behaviors. In certain cases, they serve as a means to escape negative emotional states or to influence other behaviors.
A study from Wedig & Nock (2008) on the functional assessment of maladaptive behaviors: A preliminary evaluation of binge eating and purging among women confirmed that maladaptive behaviors are used for intrapersonal and interpersonal reinforcement. This means that people uses those behaviors as temporary reliefs from their anxieties rather than dealing with the problem in the long run that can serve to reinforce the causes of their problems. Some of the most common maladaptive behaviors are avoidance of the factors that trigger the anxiety on a person, excessive use of means that provide temporary coping for fear and anxiety. People call also withdraw from the conflict caused by the situation and quit working against the situation and comes to accept that the condition requires changes; otherwise, recovering from the situation will never take place, which means that a person will never meet the demands of daily life.Abnormal behaviors are not very dissimilar to maladaptive behaviors.
Abnormal behaviors are those patterns of emotion, thought, and actions that are considered pathological due to statistical infrequency, disability or dysfunction, personal distress, and/or violation of norms. This means that behaviors can be judged as abnormal when comparing that person’s behaviors to those of others and the frequency in which those behaviors take place. A person can be considered abnormal when his or her emotions, thoughts or actions interfere with that person’s ability to cope with regular daily events. A person’s capacity or regular functioning without stress can also help determine if a person’s behaviors can be considered abnormal or not. Lastly, abnormal behavior is also identified by comparing behaviors with those accepted by social and cultural norms of society, which can influence a person’s behavior leading to the violation of norms. The latter can be affected by the cultural perceptions of the society in which the individual lives.
An example of abnormal behavior is substance abuse. A person can have the urgency to drink a daily basis until passing out this can be considered abnormal behavior when comparing it to the behaviors of others. Being afraid of something can cause a person to behave abnormally as such fear can impede a person’s normal processes in real life. When a factor causes a person such high levels of stress that can also be considered abnormal behavior, and breaking social rules can also be considered abnormal, a person who acts to satisfy his or her urgencies can be involved in serious crimes for disregarding the rights of others.
The provided examples many times go undiagnosed as being maladaptive or abnormal because denial and social stigma affect the possibilities of diagnosis and treatment of many conditions (Brady, Tolliver and Verduin, 2007, p. 217). All the referenced behaviors can have serious effects on a person’s life; consequently, require to be changed by the use of behavior modification techniques.
Behavior Modification Techniques
Behavior Therapies “use learning principles to change undesired behaviors for more appropriate behaviors. Behavioral therapies are used to change maladaptive behaviors”(Huffman, 2002, p. 544). Among the most used techniques to change behaviors.
Classical Condition Techniques
These techniques comprise Pavlov’s principles in which therapists associate two stimuli to decrease maladaptive behaviors by creating new associations that will help to replace the faulty behaviors. Two techniques based on this approach are the systematic desensitization and aversion therapy. The first process involves three steps, the patient is taught to deep relaxation. Following the therapist help the patient construct a ranking listing of factor producing the patient anxiety. Then the patient is exposed to those factors causing anxiety and when exposed to the factor and feeling anxious, the patient stops the exposure to the factor and returns to relaxation, followed by new exposure to the factor. This technique seeks that the fear or anxiety response is extinguished. The aversion therapy also uses principles of classical conditioning, which creates additional anxiety. This means that the therapist matches an aversive stimulus and matches it to maladaptive behavior. (Huffman, 2002, pp. 544-546)
Operant Conditioning Techniques
These strategies to change behavior involve the use of shaping and reinforcement to increase adaptive behaviors, and punishment and extinction to decrease maladaptive behaviors. The target behavior is defined; the patient is rewarded for the approximation to the target behavior. Shaping can be used to deal with acquiring social skills, in which the therapy helps the patient rehearse skills that will later be used in social skill events. Behavioral research also has helped people learn to stop being abused and stand for him or herself. Adaptive behaviors can be taught by providing tokens as incentives to change behaviors. Other techniques such as punishment and extinction can be used to decrease deviant behaviors. In these cases, the penalty is applied trying to vanish abnormal behaviors; in the second approach rewards are removed seeking the extinction of inadequate behaviors. (Huffman, 2002, pp. 547-548)
Modeling
As the concept states is the imitation of proper behavior by learning them. Observing proper behaviors can lead to the learning of new adaptive behaviors, one of the most applied modeling techniques is participant modeling, which involves live modeling and gradual practice. (Huffman, 2002, p. 548)
Matching Behavioral Therapy with Condition
“Psychological treatment can take various forms according to the individual’s condition”(Papalia, Old & Feldman, 2007, pp. 383-384). The most interesting fact about therapy is that treating the individual being diagnosed is not the most appropriate form to extinguish a behavioral problem. There are instances in which family therapy is considered the most appropriate as a family therapy can help change maladaptive family patterns because the problem of one family member also affects the rest of the family. In other occasions, group therapy is the most used therapy as it is the less expensive and provides opportunities for group support, feedback, information, and behavior rehearsal. Lastly, online therapy, regarded, as e-therapy is the result of technology development in mental health. Therapists will provide psychological advice and support over the Internet. Online therapy can take place by the use of e-mail, conferencing, or online chat. Despite its critics “psychiatric interviews conducted by telepsychiatry appear to be reliable, and patients and clinicians report high levels of satisfaction with telepsychiatry”(Frueh,Deitsch, Santos, Gold, Johnson, Meisler, Magruder, & Ballenger, 2000, pp. 1522-7). However, the best form of therapy for each condition is determined by the therapist based on the assessment made of the condition (Papalia et al., 2007, pp. 383-384).
Evaluating Behavior Modification Techniques Long Lasting Effects
“Behavior modification therapy has been considered effective to treat various behavioral disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), among other conditions”(Huffman, 2002, p. 548-558 and Morrison-Valfre, 2005).
Seeking Assistance
Seeking assistance as previously mentioned is affected by denial and stigma. To these factors one need to add that the recovery is unique for each, and requires that professionals determine the extent and the most adequate therapy for the patient. (Bascetta, 2006). Behavioral therapy is considered an effective treatment for multiple conditions such as anxiety of moderate intensity, and it has been considered an effective method to treat depression.
Long Lasting effects
Many experts concord that the behavior therapy can be effective to treat multiple conditions such as phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, autism, mental retardation, and delinquency. Some critics consider that the therapy cannot have long lasting effects if all the therapy does to be to change a symptom for another one. However, a study from Gloster, Hauke, Hofler, Einsle, Fydrich, Hamm, Sthrohle & Wittchen (2013) evaluating the Long-term stability of cognitive behavioral therapy effects for panic disorder with agoraphobia: a two-year follow-up study, concluded that most patients maintain clinically meaningful changes two years following treatment across multiple outcome measures that approximately 1/3 of patients still experienced some residual problems, the current study concords with other findings that praise behavioral therapy as effective.