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ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Name
Institution
Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal psychology is part of psychology that fully deals with abnormal behaviors and psychopathology. The abnormal psychology covers abroad variety of disorders especially those from depression to fascination- compulsion to sexual divergence. There are different perspectives that are normally used by psychiatrists in abnormal psychology. In most cases the mental health professionals use elements from multiple areas so that they may understand and be able to treat psychological disorders. The behavioral approach dealing with the abnormal psychology mostly focuses on observable actions. The behavioral therapy focuses on the reinforcement of positive behaviors and they do not focus on the maladaptive behavior. The proffered approach when dealing with the abnormal psychology constantly focuses on the biological origin of the mental illness (Carson, Butcher & Coleman, 2000). This kind of the perspective mostly emphasizes on the understanding of the fundamental causes of the disorder, which is believed to include genetic inheritance, chemical imbalance, infection and related physical illnesses. The medical treatment is commonly pharmacological in nature but is also often used hand in hand with psychotherapy. According to psychology cognition, prejudice can be described as a state of unfairness or injustice. Cognitive is not part of prejudice because, according to psychology cognitive deals with issues concerning mental practices such as problem solving, memory perception, language use and creative thinking. Therefore one can be discriminated due to his/her behavioral outstanding ,emotional difference, or due to political background while cognitive is something that cannot be noticed easily of which its somehow hard to bring unfairness or injustice instead, cognitive can be used to solve the problem of unfairness and injustice. Hindsight bias is a person who predicts something before it takes place. When the event takes place he or she just comes to prove what he or she had detected, therefore that is why the person wasn’t at all surprised. The reasons why people compare them with others is due to; low self –esteem and stereotype threats. Self –esteem is either positive or negative attitude towards oneself that shows ones perspective determines his worth (Barlow & Durand, 2011). A person with a low self esteem is always in need of approval from others due to lack of self confidence. Stereotype threat is a situation where a personnel feel insecure about the company they’re in either the friends or fellow workers.
Scapegoat is somebody who is innocent yet blamed for other people’s faults. when I was young in school I had done my assignment but my friend had not completed hers and she took it without my conscience and she presented it to the teacher and it was so tough on me since the teacher punished me instead. The best strategy to change deeply rooted attitude and behavior is to consider a rational emotive behavior therapy. This is whereby one undergoes emotional, psychologically and behavioral turn around after several processes. Addiction is an intricate illness characterized by intense and uncontrollable craving of something commonly drugs, which is usually accompanied by devastating consequences. At initial stages, individuals take the drugs voluntarily but over time, their ability to stay away from drugs becomes compromised and it forces them to seek, find and consume them. Addiction is a brain disease caused by prolonged exposure of drugs on brain functioning. It affects a number brain channels, including those involved in memory and learning, reward and motivation and inhibitory control over behaviors. Treatment of drug abuse and addiction is not simple owing to the fact that addiction is diverse and affects many aspects in an individual’s life. This paper is going to address various models that describe effective etiology of addiction. An addicted person should be helped by the treatment to cease drug abuse, maintain a lifestyle that is drug free and be a productive and responsible member of the society (Carson, Butcher & Coleman, 2000). Because addiction is a chronic disease, victims require long-term care to achieve the definitive goal of permanent abstinence and resurgence of their lives.
Combination of medication and behavioral therapy plays a major role in overall addiction treatment process that usually commences with detoxification, followed by treatment and prevention of relapse. The following models describe how the overall addiction treatment process can be conducted to render the victims drug-free lives. The detoxification stage of medications helps in repressing withdrawal symptoms. However, patients who are medically assisted to handle withdrawals and left at that stage often abuse drugs just like those who were never treated (Barlow & Durand, 2011). Medication can be used to help diminish cravings, prevent relapse and restore normal brain functioning. There are medications for alcohol addiction, opioids, tobacco, stimulants and even cannabis (marijuana). Opioids: Buprenorphine, methadone and, for some patients, naltrexone are effective drugs for opiate addiction treatment. These medications act on the same points in the brain as morphine and heroine and therefore they suppress all withdrawals and stop that strong urge to consume them. The patients are helped by the medications to extricate from drug seeking and related unlawful behavior. There are three medications approved for treatment of alcohol addiction: acamprosate, disulfiram and naltrexone. The latter inhibits opioid receptors that are concerned with effects of alcohol drinking and craving. It minimizes relapse to overindulgence in alcohol and is highly effective in most patients. Disulfiram makes the patient to be uncomfortable with alcohol as it produces distasteful reaction that includes palpitations and nausea if the patient drinks alcohol. Acamprosate serves to minimize withdrawal symptoms such as restlessness, anxiety and insomnia. The patients are assisted by behavioral treatments to modify their behaviors and attitudes related to substance abuse. These treatments also enable patients to stay in treatment for longer periods and thus enhancing the effectiveness of medications. From the research done by (Barlow & Durand, 2011), ‘Cognitive-behavioral therapy, which helps individuals” under treatment “to recognize, avoid and cope with situations that” can lead to relapse; multi-dimensional family psychoanalysis which addresses various influences of patterns of drug abuse and also seeks to recover overall functioning of the family; motivational incentives which make use of positive support to encourage abstinence among patients and motivational interviewing which takes advantage of individuals’ willingness to enter treatment and change their behavior. Residential treatment programs can also offer much help especially to very rigorous cases. Therapeutic communities (TCs), for instance, are well established programs in which addiction victims typically remain at a residence for up to 12 months. The principal difference between TCs and other treatment models is that they use community as major agent of change to influence individuals’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviors linked to drug abuse. Patients with long histories of drug abuse can also make use of TCs. They are also tailored to accommodate women who are married and have kids. This model explains the complex relations between the biological, psychological and social facets of addiction. Its ability to explain the intricate nature of addiction has made it very useful by researchers Carson, Butcher & Coleman, 2000). Initially, this model was designed as an option to the existing biomedical model. A few decades later it was articulated byBarlow & Durand (2011), for addictive behaviors in recognition that alcohol and drinking problems are diverse. The author also illustrates that intense assessment that could consider ‘biological, psychological and social” facets of the patient’s life that “are affected by drinking” were recommended. Since then the concept of biopsychosocial model has been expanded to cater for the multi-dimensional pathways to addiction such as learned behavior, impact of one’s family and the need for self-medication’ (Barlow & Durand, 2011).
In conclusion, the above models as described and analyzed by various research practitioners solve issues differently and are of equal importance. In my perspective, the behavioral model relates a lot with my philosophy. The behavioral therapy focuses on the reinforcement of positive behaviors and they do not focus on the maladaptive behavior. In most cases the mental health professionals use elements from multiple areas so that they may understand and be able to treat psychological disorders (Barlow & Durand, 2011). A person with a low self esteem is always in need of approval from others due to lack of self confidence. These treatments also enable patients to stay in treatment for longer periods and thus enhancing the effectiveness of medications.
References
Barlow, D., & Durand, V. (2011). Abnormal psychology: An integrative approach. Nelson Education.
Carson, R. C., Butcher, J. N., & Coleman, J. C. (2000). Abnormal psychology and modern life . Scott, Foresman & Co.
