Unit 11

Psychological Perspectives - Assignment 1 Nicole Oliveira 12H

Introduction:

Psychological perspectives are understanding human behavior, thought and feelings. Psychologists are
people who study this and examine the normal and abnormal mental states of a person through
experiments, theories and observing. Psychology is very important in understanding human behavior
because it studies it. Without psychology there wouldn’t be theories and understanding of several things
including human behavior. My case studies are Andy and Keira. Andy is a person experiencing PTSD after
losing his partner in a traffic accident, resorting to self-harm and developing severe anxiety. Keira is a
woman who has been traumatized after a surgery for cancer that altered her appearance and has gotten
addicted to pain killers. I will be exploring how these events affected their behavior and will be analyzing
how possible treatments for them could occur.

Behaviorist perspective:

The behaviorist perspective runs on the basis of ‘we are born as blank slates.’. This perspective looks at
what the person has learned, which includes personality traits like shyness, confidence etc., as well as
‘temporal behaviors’ such as offering to wash up. Behavioral psychologists explain that human behavior
is a result of experience which stems from learning which comes back to the perspective theorizing that
‘we are born as blank slates.’.

Pavlov’s classical conditioning observation:

Pavlov found that classical conditioning is a learnt behavior based on when a stimulus creates a
response. For example, when a dog hears a bell, there is no response, however to food, the dog would
salivate. This is introduced as an unconditioned stimulus and response. When a bell rings and food is
brought out for the dog, it salivates. This is still considered as unconditioned stimulus and response
though this will now lead to bell=food for the dog to which it salivates as a conditioned stimulus and
response. Now whenever the dog hears a bell, it expects food, being conditioned to associate the ring of
a bell and food being provided.

Skinner’s operant conditioning observation:

Skinner found that different patterns of behavior are taught through different uses of reinforcement
which are positive and negative consequences. This involves learning through consequences. Responses
that are rewarding to a behavior are more likely to be repeated rather than a punishment as response
which are more likely to be an avoided behavior instead. For example, positive reinforcement is giving
treats to a dog that returned after being called back. Negative reinforcement is ‘involving the removal
of, or escaping from, unpleasant consequences.’. For example, torture stops when the victim confesses.

Understanding specific human behaviors:

The behaviorist perspective helps understand specific human behaviors like challenging behavior and
changing behavior. An example of challenging behavior is physically or verbally aggressive behavior. The
perspective is based on the idea that all behavior is learnt through reinforcement. So, to understand
challenging behavior, you would need to find the root of possible reasons why the individual is physically
or verbally hostile. An example of changing behavior is unhealthy behaviors. Changing behavior is
behavior influenced by association. Like using operant conditioning (reward and punishment for certain
behaviors) you could differ the behavior by eliminating behaviors that are undesirable or developing
behaviors that would become a favorable part of the person’s personality. Systematic desensitization is
a method of reversing the effects of counterconditioning, modifying behavior. The perspective promotes
the use of systematic desensitization treatment to address phobias by starting with the least frightening
exposure, you work your way up through the stages of fear. Relaxation techniques are also used in this
strategy. Systematic desensitization can help address anxiety by assisting a person in breaking the cycle
of worry by teaching relaxation techniques and exposing them to the situation they are afraid of. This is
done in stages so that the patient can gradually learn to deal with their fear.

Andy: The behavior perspective can help understand the development of behavior for Andy because it
can help reduce his PTSD, decrease his depression and improve the quality of his life. The behaviorist
perspective can help understand the specific changes in his behavior by being able to reverse the effects
of self-harm with challenging behavior.

Keira: The behavior perspective can help understand the development of behavior for Keira because it
can help with her drug addiction in terms of providing a rehabilitation support group with overcoming it.
The behaviorist perspective can help understand the specific changes in her behavior, she can reverse
the effects of her addiction to pain medication with changing behavior. Systematic desensitization can
help her overcome her fear of hospitals.

Social learning theory:

Social learning theory is the process of learning social behaviors and identifying those new behaviors can
be learnt by observation of other people. Observation is meant by watching and listening to how
humans behave and providing information for future use such as experiments. Imitation is meant by
adapting to the behaviors observed and learnt and using them for yourself as a new behavior.

Bandura’s theory:

Bandura conducted an experiment with bobo dolls to understand how children react to different scenes.
One group of kids were exposed to adults being violent to bobo dolls whereas the second group were
witnessing kind and gentle acts towards the dolls. When face to face with the bobo dolls, Group 1 began
attacking the dolls the way they observed the adults doing previously however Group 2 were playing
nicely with the dolls. Bandura’s theory was that we learn from exposure and experience whether it be
environmental factors or from real life or media. Bandura also states that ‘Individuals observe role
models and the consequences of their actions.’. This implies that a child is most likely to copy or
’imitate’ certain behaviors if they observe that it either is not being punished or is getting rewarded.

Role theory:

Role theory (role models) is the theory that examines how people act out social roles (such as mother,
father, sister, brother, teacher, etc.) and their ability to apply society’s expectations of what's acceptable
and unacceptable behavior for that role (Delamater and Myers, 2011). The ARMS approach to this
was identifying that society paid attention to the role model, remembered they had seen, were
motivated to copy the behavior of the role model and gain/ develop the skill to continue behaving in
that manner. ARMS stand for:

- Attention: Paying attention to behaviors when first observing them.

- Remember: Recalling the behaviors we have seen.
- Motivation: Having the will to repeat that behavior.
- Skills: Having the ability to carry out and continue to repeat that behavior and adapt it as your
own.

Role modelling:

Role theory is the idea that we are influenced by and learn from role models like celebrities. This
suggests that due to living in a particular culture, society and social group, we are socialized by other
people as we grow up. This leads to adopting certain roles and attempting to live up to expectations that
go with them. These factors associated are:

- It needs to be available within the environment of whoever is observing the behavior.

- Whoever is observing needs to pay attention to the behavior and what consequences come out
of it.
- The person keeps the behavior they saw in long term memory. Mimicking the behavior is not
always immediately done after the seen behavior.
- The individual must be able to carry out the behavior/s or reproduce them.
- The person should expect to get the same positive feedback for the behavior as well as what
they've seen being given to the role model.

Cultural and societal influences on behavior:

Culture is defined as a way of life that includes people's beliefs, values, practices, language, and
traditions. The social ethics, beliefs, and morals that are observed in society are referred to as culture.
The reason for this is that culture is a way of life for people. Cultural traditions, like language, have an
impact on a child's cognitive capacities. The general principles of society, as well as culture, have a
significant impact on socialization. Due to people learning through observation rather than using
instinct, almost all parts of human psychology and behavior are based around social influences such as
media, environment (neighborhood you grew up in, etc.).

Self-fulfilling prophecy:

Whatever people believe of you is acted out through behavior. For example, if a teacher sees a student
as mischievous and disobedient, the student will begin to fulfill that thought, acting mischievous and
disobedient. It is also what that individual think of themselves. For example, an individual believes they
are fat and ugly, the individual would then most likely avoid the gym and begin overeating and
complaining about their weight and appearance but not making any moves to go ahead and change
anything or make the improvements they want to see in themselves.

Andy: Andy could meet someone he admires that he would follow the lead of and begin feeling better
about himself, reducing self-harm and potentially helping deal with the PTSD and talk to someone who
also has PTSD, so he doesn’t feel so alone.
Keira: Keira could also meet a person who has appearance issues but is more confident in themselves, in
turn her feeling like she could be proud of her image as well.

Role models:

Role models could be used to promote anti-discriminatory behaviors and practices by leading an
example of how discrimination is wrong and showing the causes and effects it has on a person. They
could remove a great deal of misunderstanding and allow the world to grow better. Like in 1987,
Princess Diana visited children with HIV and AIDS and played with them, touched their hands and spoke
to them like she would any other person. Role models could also be used in health educational
programmes to promote charities and health campaigns by raising awareness to diseases and illnesses
they are other people have. For example, if a well favorited celebrity was featured in a campaign to
promote safe sexual health practice, other people would begin using protection when practicing safe
sex.

Andy: Andy would be able to listen to a celebrity promoting mental health and support groups for his
PTSD and self-harm. This would encourage him to find help and want to get better.

Keira: This would help Keira by support groups helping her find alternatives to feeling pain free and
happy rather than staying on pain killers.

Social Learning Theory References:

- Role Theory - a overview | ScienceDirect Topics

- How does culture influence behavior? – Mvorganizing.org
- Social Influences on Human Behavior (theclassroom.com)

Cognitive Perspectives:

The cognitive perspective is a way of looking at human behavior that focuses on how we think. It
assumes that our cognitive processes have an impact on how we act.

Piagets’ stages of Cognitive Stages of development:

Piaget believed that during the learning process, children take on an active role, making observations
and learning about the world. Kids constantly add new knowledge, build on current knowledge and
change previous concepts to interact with the world around them, receiving new information. Piagets’
stages of cognitive stages of development were:

- From birth to 2 years: sensorimotor stage, learning about the world using senses to interact
with the world.
- Ages 2 to 7 years: pre-operational stage, beginning to talk, walk, engage with people and
language, though still unable to mentally manipulate information and take the point of view of
other people.
- Ages 7 to 11 years: concrete operational stage, finally understanding emotions, being able to
talk to other people and form relationships.
 - Ages 12 and above: formal operational stage, starts thinking about abstract concepts and
represents problems mentally.

Andy: Cognitive cannot help Andy because none of his problems correlate with the stages of
development. However, cognitive theory based on cognitive behavior can replace negative thoughts
with positive ones. Although the perspective doesn't link clearly, it might link later when coming onto
cognitive behavioral therapy (which uses cognitive and behavioral perspectives).

Keira: Cognitive cannot help Keira at the current part of analyzing cognitive perspectives however, it
would help support Keira later when coming onto cognitive behavioral therapy (which uses cognitive
and behavioral perspectives).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:

Most seen as ‘talking therapy’ which can help manage problems by differing the way you think and
behave. According to Billingham. M (2016), this method is most used to treat anxiety and depression
and would also be useful against other mental and physical health problems. This type of therapy is like
a cycle, introducing thoughts create feelings, feelings create behavior, behavior reinforces thoughts and
then back to the beginning. CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) deals with current problems and helps
individuals deal with overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller parts. They would be
shown how to ‘change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel’. It aims to look for practical
ways to improve your state of mind daily.

Depression:

A psychologist Aaron Beck formulated CBT to understand depression and developed cognitive triad:

- Negative views about the world,

- Negative views about the future,
- Negative views about oneself,

Which aims to challenge negative thoughts and encourage the individual to develop more positive ways
of thinking.

Supporting individuals with learning difficulties:

According to Billingham. M (2016), individuals with learning difficulties may experience frustration
because they want to be able to make sense of what is happening around them. By identifying irrational
thoughts, individuals can find benefits for their emotions and behavior with a guide to change and help.
This can improve self-esteem and reduce outbursts that would be triggered from the inability to
understand and interpret the requirements for situations such as having to wait in line to collect your
meal). This behavior can be reinforced by being encouraged to try out new responses and behavior to
lead to positive outcomes. This would be carried out by other service users and staff members.

Supporting individuals with emotional problems:

This perspective is widely used for individuals with a variety of emotional problems such as anxiety,
depression etc. oh According to Billingham. M (2016), We are mostly rational thinkers who sometimes
have distorted thinking. Examples of this are automatic responses with no reflection. This leads us to
social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties which, depending on how distorted and negatively
irrational these thoughts are, these thoughts can influence feelings and can lead further into a change/s
in behavior.

Identifying irrational/distorted thinking:

Because CBT mostly focuses on thinking patterns and how they can influence our behavior, different
methods have been developed to improve and support the healing of distorted and irrational thoughts.
For example, keeping a diary to record negative, irrational or distorted thoughts and feelings. This helps
analyze how the individual felt at the time and allows them to look back at it later when calmer and
identify the issues. Due to my own research, this method proves effective and is found recommended by
psychological therapists. Initially this can be difficult seeing that these patterns are automatic, and it’s
hard to notice them when they show though it gets easier over time. This helps reduce the chances of
further emotional problem episodes.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):

This disorder occurs after a traumatic event such as war, rape, car accidents and deaths. People who
have this disorder have symptoms such as re-experiencing the event e.g., nightmares and flashbacks,
avoiding anything associated with the event, which could lead to being unable to recall the event and an
inability to feel positive emotions, and difficulty in staying focused and falling or staying asleep.

This perspective can help understand PTSD by treatment: helping patients reframe their thoughts and
replacing distorted/irrational thoughts. This would usually involve a healthcare professional like a
psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist who would then carefully and gradually expose the victim to
thoughts and feelings associated with the trauma. This confronts their feared situation and learns that
they are not going to suffer as they did originally. Acknowledging this can reduce the physiological effect
of fear, panic and anxiety until the patient can live a normal life.

Andy: Cognitive perspective can help understand specific changes in his behavior by using treatment for
PTSD with him. After his road traffic accident and his partner passed away, he was left with PTSD that
led to his self-harm. Involving a healthcare professional like a psychiatrist can help him understand what
has happened to him and allow him to confront his self-harm related distorted thoughts and feelings.
This would support recognition of his negative feelings and challenge this type of thinking with self-
awareness.

Keira: Cognitive perspective cannot help understand the specific changes in her behavior because most
of these treatments and methods are not applicable to her situation and would therefore be null in
helping her.

Contribution of psychological perspectives to understanding specific behaviors:

Specific behaviors

The importance of being able to recognize and interpret behaviors is that it provides information as to
how that person is feeling or if they are showing any symptoms that give away their mental state. It
allows healthcare professionals understand what is happening to/with the patient and how they should
continue with care and treatment to successfully support the individual. It's useful to understand signs
and symptoms because it's needed to understand how to treat and support the individual.
 Specific Behavior Symptoms
Anxiety - Panic or visible fear.
- Fearful thoughts or frightened and
worried in certain situations.
Depression - Feelings of hopelessness or negativity.
- Decreased energy, loss of motivation.
- Difficulty concentrating and inability to
make coherent decisions.
Separation/loss - Feelings of hopeless future.
- Change in eating or sleeping patterns.
- Depression may result if the problem
becomes further severe.
- Grief.
Stress and Coping - Less motivation to perform ordinary tasks
or being too quick to perform the task to
‘erase’ the stress and think of something
else.
- Headaches.
- Nightmares or unpleasant dreams may
arise.
Prejudice and discrimination - People may be treated unfairly based on
the way they are.
- Negative attitudes are shown to those
who are ’different’, shown to members of
a group someone is prejudiced against.
Child abuse - A child/ren at risk of being physically,
emotionally, mentally harmed. Can also
be shown in fear of attacker.
Addiction - A compulsion to repeat performance of a
behaving that injures you and often
others surrounding.
- Typically, alcoholism, drug addiction or
self-harm.
Self-harm - Hurting themselves as relief from mental
pain though is only temporary.
- May become addicted to constantly
wanting relief.
Violence and aggression - Can be verbal, consisting of insults and
deliberate hurtful words or accusation, or
physical, mostly using fists and feet to
cause violence.

Contribution of perspectives

The importance of perspectives is that because some human behavior is so complex to understand,
multiple will be needed to analyze, psychologists often combining many perspectives to understand the
behavior. This is because it gives different points of why and how that behavior was developed the way
it was and being able to join reasons together and being able to understand the behavior. For example,
with self-harm, the cognitive perspective and behavioral perspective can be used together to explain
this behavior. Cognitive explains that after experiencing something traumatic, our thinking becomes
irrational and there are difficulties in remaining positive. It shows that overwhelming situations can
cause multiple emotional problems. Behavioral justifies that behavior is developed through outside
experience and shows that we develop our behavior from learning and adopting from other behaviors
we’ve witnessed and observed.

Contribution of perspectives with Andy

Andy has been diagnosed with PTSD and has begun to self-harm. The perspectives that help explain this
behavior are cognitive and behavioral. Cognitive would explain his PTSD because this is considered in
the emotional problems support theory where it is said to influence thoughts and feelings which would
also explain why his self-harm developed. Behavioral is linked to Andy’s self-harm, explaining that we
learn from experience and develop based on observations, because it is possible that Andy changed his
behavior after being exposed to unpleasant issues and situations. This would encourage the self-harm
behavior because it provides relief even for a brief moment. Social Learning theory would not be able to
work because the theory focuses on how to change the behavior however cognitive and behavioral both
links back to the root of behavior and explains the development.

Contribution of perspectives with Keira

Keira has been found to be addicted to pain killers 3 years after being prescribed them after her surgery,
which changed her appearance. The perspectives that help explain this behavior is cognitive. Cognitive
would explain her addiction to pain medications because this is influenced by distorted thinking. This
shows that she may have developed an addiction based on the thinking processes of taking the pain
medication takes the pain away. She could also have self-image issues because of her changed
appearance which could also influence distorted thinking and would provide another reason for taking
pain medication: to relieve herself of the pain she feels when feeling insecure about her image.
Behavioral and social learning perspectives would not be applicable to Keira because they do not focus
on any issues Keira faces, only being able to play a part in her treatments because the treatments and
methods are effective in her addiction.

Factors that affect human development and specific behaviors:

Factors are a division between various aspects of a subject. For example, here are the five factors that
affect human development and specific behaviors, according to Billingham. M (2016):

- Physical.
- Social, cultural and emotional.
- Economic.
- Physical environment.
- Psychological.

Physical factors

Circadian rhythms are bodily functions that affect alertness and the sleep-wake cycle. This impacts
behavior with serious risk by affecting our immune system, cognitive processes, and aspects to do with
the sleep-wake cycle. For example, an individual may wake up at 6 am and feel refreshed and ready to
take on the day however others may find it difficult to concentrate and struggle being alert at that time
of morning but then will have more energy as the day grows. Other physical influences on development
and behavior include the structure and nation of the brain, according to Billingham. M (2016). The brain
carries out certain specialized functions, such as memory, concentration, hearing, seeing, and judging
visuospatial imagery. which is why what happen to Phineas Gage all the stranger. Phineas suffered a
traumatic brain injury after surviving an accident in a railroad construction where a large iron bar passed
through his brain, the part of his brain that also governs aspects of personality. After the accident, his
behavior changed, going from being a reportedly happy and cheerful with a burst of kindness kind of
man to stern and rash with occasional outbursts of anger. This is an example of how ramifications a
change in behavior there can be based on damages made to the brain.

The benefits of understand physical factors is that it explains certain aspects of behavior that is affected
through physical influences which can lead to new outcomes and a bigger picture at how behavior
changes and why. The value of understanding physical factors is that it explains developments and
changes in behavior from a physical level, showing a new observation opportunity to identify physical
problems that occur to the human body and its behavior.

Social, cultural and emotional factors

Norms, values and behaviors of the society and culture we live in are influences on behavior. Some
people may be brought up to express their feelings and only disclose issues that concern them, such as
jealousy, anger, sadness. For example, our family teaches table manners, society teaches us to stand up
for ourselves and others, religion teaches us to treat others as one would like to be treated. According to
Billingham. M (2016), societies and cultures vary in what they think is important and it is easy to ‘differ’
from those who are taught differently because their behavior is not what we would expect of ourselves,
for example, a father who does not allow crop tops and low-cut shorts however in another household a
father would allow that.

The benefits of understanding contexts and views such as norms and values are that it shows evidence
of outside surroundings and society being able to change or behavior or set in stone how we behave.
The values of understand social, cultural and emotional factors are it builds empathy, compassion, and
storage bonds between people of diverse cultures and groups.

Economic factors

Economic factors are the amount of money we have that can be spent on basic needs like food and
eaten, and how this influences our behaviors. These can be positive or negative. Positive, for example,
would be a higher sense of self-worth and confidence and being more giving to those in need. Negative,
for example, would be unable to afford healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables leading to a
poor diet and inability to travel to health services such as dentists or not having the money to book an
appointment for one.

The benefits of understanding economic factors are that, according to Billingham. M (2016),
psychological and physical well-being are improved when we have the means to do activities such as
yoga classes or swimming, which helps us relax and enable us to socialize with others. The values of
understanding economic factors are that it identifies the gap in society where there’s high income with
great health and poor health with little to no income.

Physical environment factors

Different types of environments can influence our behavior, for example, someone with children who
live in an urban area with no nearby sage open spaces to play is more likely to feel mores stressed than
someone with children who have a large backyard. The broken window theory how small crimes can
snowball into something more serious and widespread, such as graffiti, litter and vagrancy going to
repeated assaults. According to Billingham. M (2016), the broken window theory posits that when
people see others breaking rules and laws in the environment, the reason that misconduct is acceptable
and they themselves begin breaking rules.

The benefits of understanding physical environment factors are that it would prevent crime or at least
reduce the rates and help. The values of understanding physical environment factors are that things can
turn negative. For example, existing mental disorders can worsen and can cause certain mental
disorders to develop like anxiety and depression.

Psychological factors

The way we are treated as we are brought up has a significant impact on how we behave and develop
for example, a person treated with kindness and free to express their feelings would be more likely to
develop into happy and stable individuals with positive bonds and relationships that lead to satisfactory
lives led. On the other hand, an individual expiring trauma and a lot of criticism and lack of emotional
support would more likely become anxious or depressed later in life. This links to Bowlby’s findings that
children who had insecure attachments in infancy were more likely to develop negative behaviors later
in life than those with spruce attachments. This goes to show that the way we a grown up in a
household, environment, and culture can influence our behaviors despite whether it develops early or
later in life. Holmes's observations confirmed this.

The benefits of understanding psychological factors are that it helps identify roots and what could have
led to that individual's certain behavior. The value of understanding psychological factors is that it gives
perspective and empathy for the experiences the individual went through, allowing better support and
care for the patient that requires treatment.

Contribution of psychological perspectives in managing behaviors:

Cognitive perspective

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a method commonly used to treat issues such as depression and anxiety
through the 3 stages of cognitive therapy:

- Catch: identifying the thoughts that came before the feeling.

- Check: reflecting on how useful or accurate the thoughts were/are.
- Change: Proceeding to a more positive outlook and thought, more helpful than the original.

This is used in management and treatment of phobias, specifically using Wolpe’s systematic
desensitization as example, to analyze theses negative beliefs and discuss whether they are realistic,
testing the fears. This provides the individual with the courage to face the fear and say strong when
confronted with it again. This is done by Wolpe’s systematic desensitization: learning to relax, making
anxiety hierarchy an imaging and relaxing.

CBT helps in the management of mental illnesses by identifying the negative thoughts, challenge the
negative thoughts and replace them with realistic ones that are more calming. An example used by
Billingham. M (2016) is an individual feeling anxious about what to say to others at social events,
consuming alcohol to relieve the stress and anxiety and help keep confidence when talking to people
during event, managed to survive the octal interactions but anxiety remains for future events.

CBT helps in the management of post-traumatic stress disorder by supporting the individual that went
through the trauma recognize that the event is not going to repeat itself and enables the sufferers to
reflect on how realistic their beliefs are. For example, placing the individual in a situation that triggers
symptoms such as going to the scene of a car accident.

In Andy’s case, the managements above can provide support for his PSTD, enabling him to see that
something dreadful and traumatic that happened in the past is not going to happen again. It can also
help him find peace and acceptance in the fact that his partner passed away. With this development, he
could find reason that self-harm won’t get him anywhere in life and would provide comfort in reaching
the harm.

In Keira’s case, the managements above can provide support with her addiction. The same way my
example for an individual drinking alcohol to feel less anxious, Keira consume pain killers to take away
pain, without permanently removing the cause of pain or the actual pain itself. This can help her reduce
the amount of pain killers she is consuming and finding remedies and alternatives to fully stop her
addiction. It would lead to a happier life and healthy lifestyle.

Social learning theory

According to Billingham. M (2016), imitating positive role models can also teach people ways of dealing
with traumatic or difficult situations. Through observing what it is that the positive role model is doing,
for example body language, use of eye contact etc., the individual can learn and adapt the new
behaviors as their own to help with overcoming phobias. For example, individuals with very severe social
phobia can be exposed to a celebrity being very social and not having any problems. This would help the
individual realize that being social isn't so bad and they can overcome that fear.

Billingham. M (2016) says Fairburn, Marcus and Wilson’s research in 1993 shows that individuals with
eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa and bulimia, can be helped to challenge society’s
standards of an ideal figure. Using SLT in management and treatment of eating disorders can encourage
individuals to look at picture of women exposed to the public who are not excessively thin but are still
viewed as desirable and attractive. This can support individuals with the listed eating disorder (and
more) who tend to have negative distortion of their physical appearance and body shape.

In Andy’s case, the managements above can provide support for his PTSD, being exposed to a model
either attempting to overcome their fear or appearing at the site on accident Andy had experienced his
trauma on. This would simultaneously give him comfort that history isn’t going to repeat itself while also
encouraging him to face and overcome his fear and trauma.
In Keira’s case, the managements above can supply support for her and her appearance altercation.
Having Keira observe and talk to women who have gone through surgeries that changed how they look
and still feel beautiful would give her comfort and understand that despite her new look, she is still
beautiful and there isn’t anything wrong with her.

Contribution of psychological perspectives in the treatment behaviors:

Interventions

According to Billingham.M (2016), the Cognitive perspective would treat depression though observing
individuals' thought processes and looking at how they are influencing the behavior. The Behaviorist
perspective would treat depression with the theory that all behavior is learnt and therefore would
exercise creating occasions for the individual where they'd receive increased amounts of positive
reinforcement. The Social learning theory isn’t applicable to this other than the slim possibility that a
role model with depression finding ways to overcome the disorder and influencing others.

Therapeutic practices

People who attend therapy tend to go because they've encountered issues in their lives and need
support dealing with them or find it too difficult to carry on with life with the issue at hand. Therapies
work to enable clients to recognize that behaviors are making their happiness suffer. The use of
behavioral modification is to change which behaviors cause them to act out and be punished or
behaviors that lead them to feel sad. The use of cognitive behavioral therapy is to enable individuals to
think differently to negative thoughts which results in more positive feelings and behaviors that will
enable them to feel happier.

Types of therapy

Type of therapy How they treat behaviors

Group therapy Helps individuals develop social skills and/or self-
knowledge. Offers the focus of 'You are not
alone.' Helps individuals see that their behavior
may be ill-natured.
Family therapy Its purpose is to find and analyze the
relationships and dynamics of the family,
enabling meme bears to relate to each other
differently and more effectively. Helps them learn
how to understand themselves and others
through connecting.
Addiction therapy Helps recognize triggers using cognitive therapy
to look clearly at the consequences. The therapy
gives advice and treatment for physical health
that is usually harmed as the result of addictions.
Psychological therapy for ana lying any
underlying issues that may have developed the
addition. Extends to friends and family for
support.
Behavior modification programmes This technique is based on Pavlov’s operant
conditioning theory, using positive
 reinforcements whenever the client shows
desired behavior.

Ethical issues of therapy

Ethics is important in therapy because an individual should never be forced or pushed into treatment,
clear consent must be given, no dubious agreements. As result of this, many therapists have refused to
treat someone who has been ‘brought’ to them by a relative or partner. Therapy should never cause
harm to clients.

Analysis of perspectives in treating behavior:

Andy

Andy would have therapy because of his PTSD and self-harm. Therapy for Andy would include looking at
how his feelings and thoughts are influencing his PTSD and how the therapist and Andy could use
positive reinforcements to prevent or overcome his self-harm. Group therapy would treat Andy’s
behavior by helping him realize that he isn't alone when it comes to feeling distressed from the accident
and would help him change his life for the better through support of others who are dealing with similar
issues and situations. Family therapy wouldn't treat Andy’s behavior because this would remind him of
the loss of his deceased partner, leading him to feeling like he’s never going to get better and that he
will remain lonely. Addiction therapy would treat Andy’s behavior by digging up how underlying issues
would be the roots to his feeling the need to self-harm which would introduce Andy to recognize
triggers and find ways to treat them when they begin. Behavioral modification programmes would treat
Andy’s behavior by reinforcing positive thoughts and encouraging the gradual overcoming of his PTSD,
for example, taking him to a car and praising him when he doesn't stress and then moving on to getting
inside of the car and comforting him if he does feel unsafe. The ethical issues of this would be that Andy
may be reluctant to go through with the positive reinforcement because it would remind him of the
accident he would want to forget. This provides a problem with his consent and would make it more
difficult to treat Andy because of this.

Keira
Keira would have therapy because of her addiction to pain killers. Therapy for Keira would involve
helping her recognize that addiction may be hurting her and how they could help her overcome this.
Group therapy would treat Keira’s behavior by supporting her through her addiction and making her feel
at ease with the fact that she isn't the only one suffering through this issue. Family therapy would treat
Keira’s behavior because this would help Keira come face to face with her trauma and addiction.
Normally getting parents involved tends to make the patient feel safer with people they trust. This
would also help her parents or siblings understand how to help her at home or outside of the session.
Addiction therapy would treat Keira’s behavior by finding the sources of why she would consume an
unhealthy amount of pain killers. This would also help her find solutions to alternatives and help her
overcome her addiction. Behavior modification programmes would treat Keira’s behaviors because, with
support from friends and family, positive reinforcements and operant conditioning would help get Keira
off the pain killers at best and overcome her addiction. The ethical issues of this would be the reasons
she’s addicted to the medication. She could be reluctant to therapy as the pain killers may be because
she is still traumatized from her surgery, she has resulted in continuously taking it to forget the pain she
was in originally. This would also cause dubious consent or no consent at all.
 Evaluation:

Behaviorist perspective

One positive of the behaviorist perspective is that it understands how behavior is based on exponential
which stems from the idea of learning. The approach values observation as research methods to identify
quantifiable behavior which can be used to support individuals with various disorders. The perspective
also focuses on the influences of behavior and how development comes from that. It focuses on
researching animals because what is true to them is true to humans, providing multiple reliable sources
for treatments with research. On the other hand, there is lots of evidence to show that animals can
learn by conditioning but doesn't explain all human behavior. This provides some unreliability in the
research.

The behaviorist perspective can help to understand why Andy may be traumatized by his loss, as the
absence of his partner may require him to think for himself and this may overwhelm him. It could also
help to understand the reasons for self-harm, the idea of the loss of his partner too much pain to bear,
he begins hurting himself to direct the pain elsewhere for brief moments. This could therefore support
Andy managing his own behavior and taking control of how he feels when he thinks about his partner.
with the result leaving him begging able to express his feelings without the relapse of self-harm.
However, factors such as reliving the experience through nightmares and flashback may be detrimental
to his recovery process and this can make it difficult for him to deal with.

This can be used to understand Keira’s addiction to her painkillers because she feels the need to
continue consuming them to null the pain she is in. Using Skinner’s operant conditioning will help her
positivity reinforce the idea that there are other methods to help the pain. However, a fair which could
limit her progress could be that she doesn't know what else will help her pain as she has been looked
after for so long, she doesn't know how to fend for herself.

Social Learning theory

One positive aspect of the social learning theory is that it has been used to explain how phobias develop
through observation and imitation of role models. The approach focuses on the importance of our
environment and how we learn many behaviors such as aggression from the people around us. On the
other hand, it ignored the role of nature and biological factors such as genetics. This means it does not
explain where behavior starts, only how it is passed from one person to the next through observations
and imitation as previously mentioned. This theory also doesn't focus on real life experiences, creating a
false setting and the result might not reflect on human behavior.

This cannot be used to help understand Andy’s behavior as none of the theory is applicable to his
situation. It wouldn't be able to explain why he self-harms other than the possibility he caught sight of a
role model harming themselves. Nor would it help understand his PTSD and trauma.

This cannot be used to understand Keira’s behavior as the theory doesn't focus on how addictions
become developed, and it doesn't explain how she’d be able to treat this addiction.

Cognitive approach

One positive aspect of this approach is that it is useful in understanding how the brain operates and
what its limitations are, proving to be useful when treating patients as to not overwhelm them with
methods. The approach focuses on the reliability of the experiments and how they can be repeated,
providing support that is stable and helpful. On the other hand, this suggests that individuals could just
think their way out of their issues, wishing away the negative and thinking of only good things, this
doesn't solve or overcome problems they may be faced with. The approach also doesn't fully consider
human emotion and so how would individuals be able to face the difficulties of certain emotional
disorders if the perspective doesn't seek out or try to address them?

This perspective could help understand why Andy thinks the way he does when he begins self-harming,
finding the underlying issue of why he does this. It could also help him understand that his PTSD can be
helped and how his brain works while he is feeling anxious or stressed. However, factors such as not
being able to think clearly in such a stressful headspace could limit how much he can support himself.

This perspective could help understand why Keira feels the need to take pain killers to reduce pain
constantly, seeing why she developed this addiction and helping her overcome this issue with
alternatives. However, factors such as feeling like she wouldn't be able to live pain-free without the pain
killers could make her relapse as she would feel confused when she tries a new alternative.
ANDY: WHO IS THIRTY-TWO YEARS OLD AD HAS RECENTLY BEEN
INVOLVED IN A ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT WHERE HIS PARTNER DIED.
ANDY HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED AS HAVING POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS
DISORDER AND HAS BEGAN TO SELF HARM.
KEIRA: WHO IS FIFTY-FOUR HAS BECOME ADDICTED TO PAIN KILLERS
FOLLOWING SURGERY THREE YEARS AGO. KEIRA FOUND SURGERY
TRAUMTIC AS IT FOLLOWED A DIAGNOSIS OF CANCER AND HAS
ALTERED HER APPEARANCE.