Psychological perspectives for health and social care free essay sample

I am going to explain the different psychological approaches in health and social care practice. Firstly I am going to explain the psychological approach of the application of the behaviourist perspective which involves changing and shaping behaviour. By using positive and negative reinforcement, Skinner believed he could change/train any animal or human to change behavior patterns and this is achieved by changing or shaping behavior. Shaping behavior is achieved by writing a plan. There are four main steps to shape behavior which includes Identifying problem behaviors. But not all behaviors require a behavior management plan. Analyzing behavior. Behaviour’s do generally have a trigger or situation that causes the behaviorand a consequence. To develop an effective behaviour plan, you need to know what sets off the behaviour and what the behavior accomplishes. This means spending time watching the individual before even thinking as writing a plan. Then you need to select an approach because An effective behavior management plan must have positive reinforcement to support good behaviour, what reward would the individual wish to receive. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychological perspectives for health and social care or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Then you need to develop clear goals/targets. A plan should have clear goals (and achievable ones) when the individual has mastered a skill or is behaving well they understand this (because they have had positive feedback) and can move on to the next goal/target. Secondly, I am going to explain the psychological approach of the application of the social learning theory. Bandura points out that we do not have to wait to receive positive or negative reinforcement in order to understand how to do things. Bandura argues that the society we live teaches us, we learn by watching and every one of us. For example television, magazines, friends and family then we copy them. The role models we are most likely to learn from are the same sex models, the same sex models showing gender appropriate behaviour, models who have reinforced their behaviour, high status models and significant models. The social learning theory can help us in every day situation by media campaigns or televisions advertisements or programs can be used to change behaviour. By using a powerful role model like a celebrity it is hope to change attitudes or behaviour. E. g. drug, cigarette or alcohol use. The third one I am going to explain the psychological approach of the application of the psychodynamic perspective to health and social care. Freud believed that our minds were made up of three different parts- id, ego and the superego. The id works on the pleasure principle, the ego works on the reality principle and the superego works on the mortality principle. Problems arise when there is a clash between these three different elements. The psychoanalysis is that many mental problems are caused by the unconscious factors and repressed material. So the main aim of the therapy is to uncover this repressed material. Once uncovered, clients are able to release the power it has over their behaviour (e. g. causes their mental illness). This is called catharsis. Free association, dream analysis, projective tests can be used. In the free association the client is encouraged to express their thoughts exactly as they come into their mind, even though they may seem irrelevant or inappropriate. The ego will attempt the censor what is said, but the free thinking allows previously unconscious thoughts to slip through and bring into consciousness memories what have been repressed. This releases the power it had over their behaviour- hence a talking cure. The dream analysis â€Å"the royal road to the unconscious†. The imagery of dreams is symbolic and the therapist identifies what the symbols mean and find out why they are causing anxiety. The fourth one I am going to explain the psychological approach of the application of the humanistic perspective to health and social care. This approach stresses the importance of how each individual views the world. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers’s are key people Humanists believe that everyone is born good and worthwhile. From early childhood we begin to evaluate ourselves and our actions. A child quickly learns what other people value as a positive thing. Within this approach there is a Client-centered therapy (CCT) which came out in the (1950s) and they say it is an unconditional positive regard. Rogers wanted the individual at the centre of the therapy. A therapist using CCT must be accepting and non-judgemental always offering support, regardless of what the client says or does. By doing this the client will come to accept their own distortions and denials and own up to them. This enables the client to move towards a healthier personality by valuing themselves and not relying on others to provide love and acceptance in a conditional way. There is also a Person-centred therapy (PCT) which came out in the 1970s. Today people tend to refer to Humanistic therapy as PCT . It is still based on Rogers work. Therapists are facilitators (guides) who offer an atmosphere of freedom and support for the individual to become whole. The goal of the treatment is to become independent, spontaneous and confident. If change occurs then it is the client who makes it happen not the therapist. There are three therapist attitudes and they are, Genuineness – you are helping a real person. Unconditional positive regard: Must deeply and genuinely care for the client. Empathic understanding: Must clarify the emotional significance of the client’s response, not just the verbal. Roger’s daughter Natalie has pioneered person-centered expressive therapy (Rogers 1993) which incorporates movement, art, music, pottery, and creative writing, as well as essentially non-verbal channels of expression. The fifth one I am going to talk about is the application of the cognitive perspective. This approach is interested in how and when we learn both facts and skills. This approach looks at the way we think. We all have our own points of view about the world and everyone in it including ourselves. Sometimes our thoughts can become very negative and this can cause problems. This approach has generated Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The cognitive behavioural therapy was developed by beck and the aim of this was o teach â€Å"clients† to rethink and challenge their negative perceptions/ cognitions. Becks cognitive therapy was in two stages the first stage was to get the therapist and the client to agree on the nature of the problem and give goals on therapy. Then stage two was for the therapist to challenge the client’s negative thoughts then the client engages in behaviour between sessions in an attempt to challenge these negative thoughts. The aim of this is for clients to release thoughts are irrational which their homework was and a diary was kept. The most common features of CBT are Client monitors their negative, automatic thoughts (cognitions), Client recognises the connection between cognitions, affect (mood) and behaviour, Client examines evidence for and against their distorted thoughts, Client learns to Substitute unrealistic cognitions for more realistic ones and Client learns to identify alter their beliefs that predispose them to distort their experiences. This therapy is further developed to include challenging behaviour too. This therapy usually is over 20 sessions over 16 weeks and homework is set to be used as thought catching e. g. in diary. The four basic assumptions of CBT are Response to life is based on interpretations of self world rather than what the actual case is, Thoughts, behaviour feelings are interrelated influence each other – none are more important than the others, Must clarify change the way they think about themselves world around them and Need to change cognitions and behaviour. CBT can help post traumatic stress, people who suffer from depression and victims of crime/abuse. Finally I am going to talk about the application of the biological perspective. There are lots of ways the biological approach can help individuals: understanding a childs development, understanding sleep patterns to help shift workers and understanding if there are any drug or surgical treatments for certain genetic/biological based problems. Psychologists have done a great deal of research into understanding why we sleep, and what our bodies are doing during sleep. There is a Circadian Rhythm: The sleep-waking cycle A circadian rhythm repeats in a cycle of once every 24 hours. The 24 hour sleep-waking cycle is a good example of a circadian rhythm because it clearly illustrates that circadian rhythms depend on a interaction of physiological and psychological processes. Our fairly consistent sleep pattern suggests an internal mechanism – the biological clock. However, this can be overridden by psychological factors, such as anxiety or shift work. Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is a sleep disorder that affects people who frequently rotate shifts or work at night. Schedules of these people go against the body’s natural Circadian rhythm, and individuals have difficulty adjusting to the different sleep and wake schedule. SWSD consists of a constant or recurrent pattern of sleep interruption that results in insomnia or excessive sleepiness. This disorder is common in people who work non-traditional hours, usually between 10:00 p. m. and 6:00 a. m. The symptoms of SWSD are insomnia and excessive sleepiness. Other symptoms of SWSD include: Difficulty concentrating, Headaches, Lack of energy. Not every shift worker suffers from SWSD. However, if you are a shift worker and experience any of these symptoms, you should talk to your doctor. The Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia; Genetic Factors – Schizophrenia due to our genetic makeup (twin studies, family studies, adoption studies). Here is some evidence from Twin Studies. Looking at concordance rates, i. e. when one twin has schizophrenia what is the probability or the ‘concordance rate’ of the other twin developing schizophrenia? High concordance rates provide strong support for a genetic component. Gottlesman (1991) summarised 40 studies. Found the average concordance rate was 48% for Monozygotic or identical (MZ) twins and 17% for Dizygotic or fraternal (DZ) twins. As MZ twins share more alike genes than DZ twins, the difference in concordance rates gives strong evidence for a genetic explanation. Rosenthal (1963) studied the ‘Genain Quadruplets’. Genain is Latin for ‘dreadful genes’. 4 identical girls who amazingly, all developed schizophrenia. Strong genetic evidence, as they all shared the same ‘bad’ genes. But – they did suffer a dreadful childhood also so maybe that had some influence? Family studies show that Schizophrenia clearly runs in families and that the CR is higher for those with high genetic similarity. More support for the genetic argument. However, can argue that family members who are more similar genetically spend more time together in the same environment – so the environment has some influence also? When we looked at Gesell’s work, we learned that he had found evidence which showed we all follow a biological timetable. All psychologists, health care professionals and teachers accept this to be the case. Because young children/children/adolescents are expected to be able to thing at certain ages (approx) we are are to test and assess progress. The main developmental assessments are completed at the followings in a child’s life:- 2/2. 5 yrs – 6yr, 4 – 6yrs and 6 – 9yrs. These tests cover a range of issues, ability to follow instructions, perception, attention span, motor co-ordination skills and spelling, math’s It is important to check that all children are developing at the expected rate. It they are not, extra help/support can be offered to ensure they do not fall behind. PART B Now I am going to chose two psychological approaches and I will compare them both and evaluate. I am going to choose the humanistic approach and the cognitive approach. The humanistic approach is patient centred and understands all individuals have different needs and these can change depending on the individual’s characteristics, health state and their moods the humanistic approach shows a lot of individualised care and looking mainly at the individuals themselves and how the care is meeting their set needs. The humanistic approach suggests behaviour is determined greatly by internal factors such as our emotions. The cognitive approach is based around the notion that if we want to know what makes the human mind function and why certain behaviour is displayed and then we need to understand the internal process of the mind. Cognitive psychology bases its focus on the way the human process information, it looks at how we use the information that we receive and how this leads to our behaviour. The cognitive approach refers to the human body as a machine. The similarities are that these are alike in terms of both theorists focusing on the promotion of positive self- acceptance and trying to discourage the user from negative thoughts and not to judge themselves on past encounters. Both theorists want the user to accept any failures or mistakes as a part of their life and not to let it affect other situations, and to process their mistakes to improve their coping strategies and the both approaches try and promote their user’s acceptance of who they are.