The Theoretical Perspectives on Social Work Related Assessments - Essay Example

With particular reference to two theoretical perspectives relating to social work assessments and interventions, explain how you will ensure that your practice as a student social worker will be anti-oppressive and based upon recognized values relating to social work practice Introduction I am a Muslim woman born in Pakistan, came to reside here when I was 3 years of age and in a family of four I am the elder sister of a younger female sibling. The current theoretical perspectives on social work related assessments and interventions vary from pre-modern to post modern; from psychological to cognitive behavioral; and from feminist to interactive trauma-focused. Cognitive Behavioral Theory According to Cognitive Behavioral Theory, cognition plays a major role in behavior change. That is cognitions or thoughts of a person has a say on their behavior, and negative thoughts or perceptions can make it tough for a person to make a positive behavioral change. Cognitive-behavioral interventions bring together cognitive and behavioral strategies to solve numerous behavioral and psychological problems. The idea is that by altering a person’s irrational or faulty thinking and behaviors and ingraining positive thoughts and ideas will alter the way that a person copes and looks at a situation (Daley, 2006). That is by changing their thought process people can think more clearly about the decisions they make. However there are many types of theories in psychology can be included under this segment. Here I hope to emphasize on some of the general points in all of them. Cognitive behavioral theory experts normally believe that the experiences that a child gathers in his child hood have a say in the development of his character. Ones personality is shaped by them. These experiences are ingrained in the minds of the child. For example if you were subjected to discrimination in child hood, such as based on race, religion social and gender these things will be ingrained negatively in their minds. So I need to remove the bitter negative memories of their past experiences. There is a saying that these innate drives are the facts that affect the motivation of human behavior. Therefore I have to engage in cognitive-behavioral interventions to alter the negative thoughts that have been ingrained in their minds from child hood in to positive ones that help them look at life in a new perspective. They may have been subjected to unhealthy or improper social interactions in their childhood. These may have been reinforced in their minds by a significant person in their childhood. As such these wards may have learnt unhealthy ways of coping with stress or life problems. Or conversely they may have learnt certain thought patterns and perceptions which are abnormal or unhealthy. If you grow up in a unhealthy environment, such as in a discriminated section of the society, you don’t develop good coping skills and could be subjected to mental problems later on (Applegate, & Shapiro, 2005). According to the cognitive behavioral theory the personality of a human being and their outlook on life is influenced by factors in their surrounding environment and the people that they interact with. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which basically tries to change a person’s abnormal or faulty perceptions and behaviors by enlightening the person and ingraining positive experiences in to their minds that will lead to alterations in the way they look at life at cope with situations. For example I have come across wards who get depressed with the way their life is taking shape at the moment. They get negative and absurd thoughts due to the influences and experiences that they have had in their childhood. Cognitive behavioral therapies such as Rational-emotive therapy (RET) aid me in helping them overcome such situations. According to RET many problems are the consequence of absurd thinking. For example a person may be sad and have pessimistic thoughts as a result of faulty beliefs. Another example may be an individual who has developed an obsession to be perfect in all his actions feeling downhearted even after the slightest failure. RET aids the client realize the irrationality and the results of such a manner of thinking, to reduce their worried thoughts in stressful situations and at last how to substitute more effective problem-solving methods (Kazantzis, Reinecke, & Freeman, 2009). In general feelings will change only after a ward’s thought process and behaviors have returned back to “normal”. So I help patients identify absurd thoughts, disprove them and help them change frustrating and irrational behaviors (through techniques such as modeling, role play, and reinforcement strategies). My therapy sessions generally take between 3-9 months. The cognitive therapy techniques I adopt depend to an extent on the wards possessing the problem. For example I would not use the same methods to aid someone having a phobia of society as for someone suffering from depression. The basic theory is the same though. I have treated a variety of disorders from phobias to depression using CBT. Narrative Therapy The goal of social work is to facilitate people to bear up and cope with the problems they encounter in day-today life and to enhance the standards of the environment so as to suit human needs. In trying to achieve the goals of social work various theories, approaches and models are used. The social Narrative Therapy which comes under Postmodern Theories can be widely used in the context of supporting socially oppressed sections of society. I have witnessed social oppression from my childhood and have been a victim of it myself due to my beliefs, culture and values. Children subjected to similar experiences of social oppression based on such factors as race, religion, ethnicity and gender from their young days tend to look at life negatively and their thought process tends to be pessimistic. They suffer from such ailments as depression, eating disorders, disassociation and so on. Narrative therapy is one technique I use to help them overcome the situation. In Narrative Therapy I join with the wards to explore and listen to stories about their lives, relationships, their effects, their meanings and the context in which they have been formed and authored. It is believed that an opportunity for an individual to narrate, and re narrate their story and express their feelings is a therapy in itself. Through narrative therapy I try to help the wards discover their previously unrecognized and hidden possibilities. Prejudices in terms of disability, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation and ethnic origin are still common even in the so called developed world in Europe (March, & Friesen, 1998). Due to the pressures coming from society as a result of discrimination some of the wards I come across have resorted to hard drugs alcohol and smoking. On average a large number of European Union citizens say that being a Roma, belonging to an ethnic minority, being disabled or homosexual tends to be a drawback for them in them in their own country. Naturally they tend to feel down hearted and depressed. My idea is to help them regain their identity and help them develop their self confidence, which has been robbed away from them by the abuser. Applying narrative therapy, where I listen to their past traumatic experiences helps to look at them with equanimity and empathy. Gender based sexuality is another form of social segregation. This can be prominently seen in the country where I stayed during my childhood- Pakistan. Due to the universal belief that women are the weaker of the sexes mentally as well as physically and it should be safeguarded from the outside world. In a Muslin dominated country such as, religion too has contributed towards this end. Traditionally males were supposed to be the breadwinner and had a major say in family matters, especially those relating to the outside world in business matters and politics. Females were supposed to stay at home and look in to the domestic chores, spin yarn, cook, sew and so on. Thus this oppression against women in society has caused mental distress in some women. I myself being a woman and hailing from a country such as Pakistan make use of my childhood experiences in helping them out. Analysis Values in a social context refer to beliefs, cultural practices and mores that underlie the very essence of societal relations. Assessments in social work on the other hand refer to learning and teaching outcomes related to issues and approaches. Anti-oppressive concepts in social work seek to define the underlying value systems and ethical practices that support social work on the basis of an intrinsic belief rather than an extrinsic justification imposed from outside. Thus I will use both classical and contemporary theoretical frameworks to make the realistic assessments of the individual needs of people whose welfare is my concern as a student social worker. Interventions can be carried out at the individual level and the community level for better results (Akhtar, & Bradley, 1991). For instance classical theories on social work and interventions enunciated by Kant, Mill and Rawls presuppose the existence of values in determining ethical interventions. My own background has enabled me to identify myself with a range of ethical beliefs that are ingrained in me as a non-white Asian, an identity that at times has produced crisis situations though. Anti-oppressive dimension that is essentially associated with both the theoretical and conceptual framework of contingency analysis on social work goes beyond the very context of endogenous and exogenous variables such as cognitive behavioral tendencies of socially oppressed people and their deprived existence as characterized by anomalous social relations. I had to suffer as an individual of a minority community. Social work as a student now has given me the opportunity to look at the problem with a degree of equanimity. Social work-centric ethical principles as enunciated by postmodernist literature on the subject show that anti-oppressive paradigm of behavior by the individual social worker involves a broader range of perspectives including the feminist constructivist approaches. Social work assessments and interventions involve psychological approaches as well. The extent to which such approaches can be adopted and the scope for psychodynamic interventions by social workers are all determined by the resourcefulness of the individual student social worker in the practical context. Anti-oppressive dimension here plays a pivotal role by way of having a significant impact on the theoretical and conceptual learning outcomes. I have been exposed to a greater degree of post-modernist narrative theoretical perspective in which narratives or stories of individuals determine the outcomes and the context. For instance my own experience with the narrative approach has taught me how to listen to stories of different categories of socially disadvantaged people such as alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless persons, political victims and the economically deprived (Bandura, 1986). Attitudes have been changed and the transformation process has been severely affected by newer and evolving scenarios of developments. Ethical perspectives in narrative theoretical contexts characterize the social worker’s attitudes towards their wards. Anti-oppressive perspective permits the social worker to realize the ethical dimension in planning interventions. In my situation there are more opportunities to identify the distinct needs of these individuals and the anti-oppressive approach enables me to resolve those more or less intractable issues of the affected individuals by way of understanding the moral dimension of intervention. Thus the definable practical limits of the theoretical approach can be quite clear given the backdrop in which I have been working in a multicultural context. The essential professional elements of the narrative approach are based on the ethical conventions that in turn determine the interventions. For instance I have been exposed to a variety of experiences in listening to narratives of individuals affected by a series of issues. The learning outcome that these people did not have control over these issues is indeed questionable to a certain extent though. However it’s beyond the remit of this study to investigate the nature and scope of traumas and phobias. My individual experiences in the primary classes were helpful in understanding the ethical premise on which I would have to base my narrative approach to interventions. Ethical principles aren’t so much the basis on which subsequent intervention at transforming the affected individual could be designed though to a certain extent ethical drivers could be utilized to motivate these individuals to change. Catalysts of change have to be agents of ethical dynamism though. My Pakistani background didn’t have a particularly significant impact on the nature and the scope of ethical interventions though the learning outcomes pinpoint to a dynamic relationship with the affected individuals. In other words my individual perceptions were influenced narratives. The other dimension is basically characterized by the psychodynamic relations of which the cognitive behavioral approach assumes a very important place in the multicultural social work context. The psychological dimension has both an associative and a dissociative element in it. The associative element is directly related to the anti-oppressive dynamics of interventions that the social worker defines within the individual context of intervention and subsequent therapeutic treatment. In the context where the social worker doesn’t have the capabilities to involve themselves in therapeutic treatments the outcomes would be limited to theoretical interventions such as discussions and primary remedies (Shapell, 2002). My experience with psychologically approaching the affected individuals through anti-oppressive methods has been characterized by a symbiotic relationship with the individuals themselves. I am particularly impressed by how the post-modernist feminist literature has come to bear on the subject of anti-oppressive conceptualization of articulate social work settings in the European society. The premise that post-modernism is basically about political, psychological and cultural interventions cannot be denied though social workers’ interventions tend to receive an equal amount of attention against the backdrop evolving paradigms of thought on the gender role. Feminist articulations of social workers’ relative influences over the affected individuals’ attitudes to the role-play of the student social worker are defined to include both the subjective and objective parameters of intervention. I have been particularly taken aback by the regressive tendencies shown by antithetical forces. Kantian influence is less defined against the Hegelian dialectics here. Hegel’s philosophical approach to understanding forces is based on the “thesis-antithesis-synthesis” paradigm. Thus thesis requires an antithesis to produce a final outcome known as synthesis. As a social worker I have been influenced by the belief (thesis) that oppressive (antithesis) forces, political and social, have a negative impact on social well-being that can be brought about by ethically determined interventions (Demorest, 1992). Values play a role here. Values that I have imbibed through my childhood to the present in this society have invariably been brought into the current situation and my position as a student social worker is so influenced by these dynamics. According to current research on anti-oppressive interventions and related values, apart from the ethical principles enunciated above there are other variables such as cognitive behavioral tendencies that impinge on interventions while positive aspects of psychological reasoning might determine the education related outcomes in a more positive light (Coady, & Lehmann, 2007). Independent analysts have pointed out the existence of a number of positive correlations between such variables as education related teaching methods (pedagogical) and interventions. While anti-oppressive interventions are well defined in advance, their influences on transforming the individual social worker’s operational environment from what it is now to what it ought to be is rather a didactic proposition. In other words instructional outcomes are included in the theoretical approach intended to remove anomalies created by otherwise oppressive practices in the society (Fuchs, 2008). I was also impressed by the narrative approach under post-modernism for another good reason. The affected individuals under the narrative approach are treated with equanimity. I have been practicing this behavior for quite a long time. I have listened to their stories about problems such as alcoholism, gangsterism, drug addiction, unfaithful behavior, deprivation, gender related discrimination at the workplace, ethnic differences related problems and falling victims to a variety of schemes and scams. Anti-oppressive interventions have helped these people to a greater extent. I am particularly happy about their narratives and their impact on my work practices as a social worker. The subsequent assessments were facilitated by their good cooperation. Conclusion In conclusion it must be noted that the theoretical postulates ranging from Psychological Theories to Post Modernist Theories and under those classifications from cognitive behavioral therapy to narrative therapy have shed new light on anti-oppressive concept of social work to such an extent that these theoretical constructs have underlined the very performance centric value systems and ethical practices of social workers that can be applied to support the individual and community level work. For example classical theories on social work and interventions have demonstrated the extent to which individual needs of people can be influenced by ethical interventions and subsequent assessments despite that fact that such environments lack the authenticity of real situations. Theorizing of social work concept has been accompanied by an equally complex process of societal evolution concerning the individual’s response to external stimuli. Social work-centric ethical principles in postmodernist literature on the subject show that anti-oppressive paradigm of behavior by the individual social worker involves a broader range of perspectives including the feminist constructivist approaches. Thus social work assessments and interventions involve psychological approaches as well. The extent to which such approaches can be adopted and the scope for psychodynamic interventions by social workers are all determined by the resourcefulness of the individual student social worker in the practical context. Finally it must be concluded that anti-oppressive dimension here plays a pivotal role by way of having a significant impact on the theoretical and conceptual learning outcomes REFERENCES 01. Applegate, JS & Shapiro, JR 2005, Neurobiology for Clinical Social Work: Theory and Practice, W. W. Norton & Company, United States of America. 02. 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