Psychology and Mental Health Issues - Essay Example

Psychology and Mental Health Full Psychology and Mental Health The Mental Health Center Jane works at provides a platform for the psychological care giving for the emotionally challenged. It houses both chronic patients as well as cured patients under the rehabilitation process. A diverse spectrum of behavioral instances as far as human personality is concerned is presented for the avid observer. Jane herself, is a graduate student of Psychology, and has taken up work at this Center to develop insight and experience to further her interests in clinical psychology. Understanding of certain fundamental theories of personality in psychology is integral to her work at this center, as this would give her the bare minimum level of familiarization and association required to deal and interact with the patients. Though there are multiple theories of personality in psychology and each one presents a concrete and convincing stance as to why it is more applicable to the study of humans, yet the study of the two most popular and widely studied theories is essential to her cause - namely the Psychoanalytical and Behaviorist Models of personality. Subsequently, it is important for her top primarily identify with e crux and basis of the theories; what is the orientation of respective schools of thought. After duly understanding these two theories, the most important part is to relate with the application of the same. It shall be most pertinent for her to convert the theoretical knowledge learnt from the models, to be able to link it in real-time, with the symptoms and actions presented by people in actuality. The Fundamentals of Theories The psychoanalytic theory presented by Freud and the Behaviorist one, presented by Watson, form the basis of understanding personality in humans. Speaking as a whole, the former focuses largely on the processes that are hidden and away from the naked eye; ideas, concepts and cognitive processes that shape personality are essentially considered to be away from conscious control. Whereas, the latter supports analyzing personality 'at the face of things.' It attempts to objectively qualify behavior, not only in terms of understanding it, but also in the context of changing it. Psychoanalysis The father of this school of thought was the infamous Sigmund Freud, who about a century ago changed the entire perspective on how humanity used to view the structure of personality. Though largely controversial, yet ironically the words his critics use to highlights defects in him, are also given to the scientific world by Freud himself. By far, his greatest of contributions to the science of psychology is the concept of 'unconscious', and his attempt to interpret dreams. Before him, for centuries, understanding behavior was considered to be the job of physiologists and philosophers. It was after him, that truly the birth of an individual science of psychology came into existent, which had concepts, theories and hypotheses, which were specific to the specialization of this science alone. "Traditional psychoanalysis is quite complex and time consuming," (Brown, 2000, p. 121). The concept of understanding the realm of the unconscious, however, is crucial for Jane. This one factor alone, can provide her more insight into human behavior than volumes of books. The unconscious, essentially, is the grand storehouse of all the hidden desires of human beings. All the uncomfortable feelings, violent motives, repressed sexual feelings, aggressive tendencies and the like, all are a part of the unconscious. Interesting, however powerful these emotions are in their entirety, they never show their effect directly. They come in hidden and indirect ways, and are underlying the normal actions and expressions that humans emit. The structure of personality, as defined by Freud is also one of the milestones in psychology. He divided this structure into three parts: Id, Ego and Super Ego. The Id primarily contains the biological drive of the individual. All the primal needs, including hunger thirst, sex, excretion and sleep are governed by Id. It works on the pleasure principles, and wants to satisfy its needs no matter what the circumstances. The Ego is the psychological linkage between the Id and Super Ego and maintains harmony between the two. The Super Ego, is the sociological drive which draws the parameters and limits of behaviors and describes the values and norms for behavior. The stress that Freud gave on childhood was unprecedented in his time as far as affecting personality is concerned. He gave various stages of development in the early years, and helped explaining the concept as to how important events in those times can be defining for the entire period of life. The Behaviorist Model Unlike the more defining position Freud has in the realm of psychoanalysis despite the works of contemporaries, there is no one name in the behaviorist school of thought that highlights its works. There are multiple contributions, each with varying parameters unto understanding behavior. The essence for all of them is the study, evaluation and change of behavior from an objective point of view - to take things as they are, and gradually associate, enhance or diminish behavior from the same. It draws support from the fact that every visible behavior has an underlying reason behind it, and if this reason is appropriately understood, it can be manipulated and molded as desired. Feist believes that "Broadly considered, behavior potential refers to the possibility that a particular response will occur at a given time and place," (1985, p. 239). The primary work done in this regard was by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist studying the digestive system of dogs. Bizarrely though, the most significant of theories of learning are a consequence of studies on dogs. His concept is termed as classical conditioning, whereby he realized that the dogs would elicit a response to a stimulus which initially should not have been there. This is because the initial stimulus that caused the response was paired wit a neutral factor that initially was not supposed to elicit that response. This theory is now integral in teaching and learning. The second most worth mentioning works in the behaviorist school are those of Skinner. "Skinner proposes a 'functional analysis' of the organism as a behaving system," (Mischel, 1971, p. 72). His concept termed as operant or instrumental learning, and he was primarily a propagator of the reinforcement theory. His hypothesis was simple but potent. He claimed that any behavior can be learnt by means of repetition or reinforcement. This also advocates the cause for unlearning, whereby things can be forgotten if negative reinforcement is provided. Every thing acquired, he believed, was because there was a good enough motivation and/or incentive to do so. If the same would be increased or decreased, a desired change in behavior could be observed. Bandura's and Rotter's work separately on social learning is the most recent and contemporary of concepts in this model. He elucidates the concepts of learning by modeling, by means of watching and acquiring by example. Children, he believed, learned everything by means of observation; viewing their parents, siblings and other human being performing some things. That is how he believed human adapted to the various behavioral habits and patterns. Subsequently, if appropriate 'models' are presented to adults who sound convincing and noteworthy, they can formulate a change in their behaviors as well. They believe there is always room for improvement or change. Application of the Psychoanalytical Model The application with regards to psychoanalysis is both intense and complex. Understanding behavioral dynamics by virtue of the unconscious and hidden feelings is not only a science, it is an art! Jane needs to look out for objective evidence unto the id, ego and super ego among her patients. What she needs to stop, is whether an individual is biologically driven in his behavior, or whether there is a huge regard for social values, or if there is a constant struggle to maintain equilibrium in the challenges of life. Once the source of the defining portion in the structure of personality is identified, then the patient can be dealt at that particular level. Wittig suggests that "Smoking and fingernail biting may result from fixation at the oral age" (2002, p. 114). The concept of defense mechanisms is very vital. These are basically unconscious means of self-protection that a person has developed throughout the life cycle. Some people are repressive about their feelings, some remain in denial about what trauma they have seen, others scapegoat the feelings they possess unto others, people with free-floating anger victimize everyone due to only one source, and the list goes on. Again, identifying with them gives a much vivid understanding of how to deal with humans. Transference and counter transference form a very essential constituent of psychoanalytic study. Transference basically refers to the relationship that is formed between the client and the therapist, of which the latter should be very conscious. This generates bias into the treatment process, and the patient starts to get either positive or negative impressions about the therapist. The opposite, in counter transference is when the therapist starts to get more than sympathetic towards the patient, and is termed as counter-transference. Both these should be avoided at all costs. Application of the Behaviorist Model As regards treatment, behaviorist methods are the most popular among therapists around the world for the simple reason that they are one of the most tangible and quantifiable of methodologies. Tracking down the performance of a patient in this method is much more feasible. The classical system, for example, presents intelligible concepts such as systematic desensitization and aversive therapy - which primarily involve a step wise and gradual introduction and elimination of stimuli for the patient respectively. It is believed, that this gradual affiliation of the client with his/her circumstances is likely top present a positive impact on learning and unlearning. On the contrary, flooding is an example whereby sudden outburst of stimuli is presented to the patient, and his reaction is expected to change instinctively. Operant learning, on the other hand, being ardent supporters of the reinforcement concept apply the very same; positive stimuli are introduced whenever a behavior is sought to be repeated, and negative situations are created when a response is not desired. This has surprisingly reliable and quick results. Punishment is another major concept in this school, which allows for the introduction of an uncomfortable stimulus that should adversely affect learning. Mischel states, "After observing segments of aggressive films, children were more willing to hurt others" (1986, p. 296). As in children, adults as well react very positively to social learning, the therapist themselves and the family of the patient can practice and present forth the type of behavior that is desired within the patient. Through gradual processing and continued effort, the expected change in the patient is likely to take place. This comes in response to being socially 'out of place', whereby a patient wants to do something only to remains part of the social circle. Subsequently, the therapist can play a very positive role in this regard by being a model herself. References Brown, R. (2000). Therapeutic Counseling. New York: Brooks/Cole. Feist, J. (1985). Theories of Personality. Japan: Holt-Saunders. Mischel, W. (1971). Introduction to Personality. New York: HRW, 2nd edition. Mischel, W. (1986). Introduction to Personality. New York: HRW, 4th edition. Wittig, A. (2002). Introduction to Psychology. Ohio: McGraw Hill. Read More