The Concept of the Point of View of Insiders and Outsiders - Assignment Example

?You’re 31-May-15 Compare and Contrast an Outsiders/Insiders Viewpoint on Memory Processing Psychological investigation on distinctiveness has identified individually an 'insider viewpoint' and an 'outsider viewpoint'. This paper intends to evaluate two philosophies of uniqueness, especially in what way insider and outsider perspectives are utilized while studying these concepts. The first part of the paper shall study the definition of the term ‘identity’ and the second part of the paper shall seek the description of insider and outsider viewpoints. This peculiarity is then demonstrated using two dissimilar identity theories and the readings that were used in their investigation. Identity is a wide-ranging notion; consequently numerous philosophies are suggested for diverse characteristics of identities. Countless categories of exploration are used to discover the theme - the goal being establishment of concepts that elucidate the perception of identities, and their formation (Phoenix and Thomas, pp. 373-385, 2002). To comprehend how this inquiry into identity has made use of both insider and outsider viewpoints, it is imperative to be unblemished on what these terms stand for. An insider perspective is immanent, and emphases on the familiarities of specific characters. This might comprise somebody's sentiments, principles, motives and aims. Consequently the statistics produced from research considering an insider standpoint typically lies in the class of 'inner experiences'. To achieve admittance to these involvements, the person involved should enlighten them to the investigator and articulate- consultations and surveys are standard approaches when functioning from an insider vantage point. There is also a possibility to take a person's internal involvements and observe these activities in a more detached way - by means of an outsider viewpoint. The outsider’s viewpoint particularly in the psych educational model defines the insider’s views on schizophrenia and other psychotic and mood disorders as disorders of brain function that leave the patient highly and unusually sensitive to the social environment. Thus, this form of treatment is seen from the insider’s viewpoint as bimodal, influencing both the disease, through medication, and the social environment, through techniques that deliberately reduce stimulation, negativity in interpersonal interaction, rate of change, and environmental and interactional complexity. The approach achieves that goal by providing relevant education, training, and support to family members, friends, and other caregivers—those who provide support, protection, and guidance to the patient. By considering an outsider viewpoint means observing the issue from 'outside' - this methodology is not disturbed with the inner familiarities of a specific person. The aim of using this tactic is to be impartial. This perspective favors facts acquired from experimentations and remarks of conduct. The outsider standpoint is perceived from the investigator's standpoint, instead of the partaker (Phoenix and Thomas, pp. 373-385, 2002). When keeping in mind the investigation into identity, equally insider and outsider perspectives have been used. Some philosophies may tilt towards the philosophies of one perspective; however both positions may be used to get to the theme. An illustration on these lines may be grasped in the examination of the identity theory based on psychosocial views. This psychosocial theory advocates that identity is prejudiced by individual and communal aspects. Additionally it states that our identity is a connection amongst our 'core' selves and the social environment (Erikson, 1968). Insider’s view of memory processing is largely impacted by stigma which is often associated with a withdrawal of social support, demoralization, and loss of self-esteem and can have far-reaching effects on daily functioning, particularly in the workplace. As Link and colleagues (pp. 302–320, 1991) have observed, stigma has a strong continuing negative effect on well-being, even though proper diagnoses and treatment improve symptoms and levels of functioning over time. Stigma affects the family as well. Withdrawal and isolation on the part of family members as a result of stigma are associated with a decrease in social network size and emotional support, increased burden, diminished quality of life, and exacerbations of medical disorders. Self-imposed stigma tends to reduce the likelihood that early signs will be addressed and treatment sought and accepted, especially during the first episode (Phelan et al., pp. 115–126, 1998). Because so much evidence indicates that some outsider’s viewpoint of patients who can also be called outside observers of mental process, have shared subclinical forms of similar deficits and abnormalities, treatment for psychotic and severe mood disorders must be designed to compensate for some of those difficulties. Those deficits lead to diminished coping ability in some outsider’s viewpoint, which is required in abundance to provide a stabilizing, let alone therapeutic, influence on the affected family member. Furthermore, the psychotic disorders exact an enormous toll on outsider’s viewpoint in anxiety, anger, confusion, received stigma, rejection, and exacerbation of medical disorders (Johnson pp. 31–65, 1990). The organization of most families undergoes a variety of changes, including alienation of siblings; exacerbation, or even initiation, of marital conflict; severe disagreement regarding support versus behavior control; and even divorce. Almost every family undergoes a degree of demoralization and self-blame, which may be inadvertently reinforced by some clinicians. In view of the outsider’s standpoint, psychosocial factors which lead to onset and relapse of psychosis via 1) a general and constitutional sensitivity to external stimulation and 2) a major discrepancy between stimulus complexity and intensity and cognitive capacity are a norm in the psychological debate by researchers. Studies have indicated that cognitive deficits, behavioral changes in the patient, effects of the psychosis on the family, and characteristic family coping styles converge, generating external stresses that induce a spiraling and deteriorating process that ends in a major psychosis or onset of a major mood episode. In contrast, the outsider’s view of the research process is specifically regarding the causes of illness-related behavior is largely associated with expressed emotion. Relatives described as critical or hostile misperceived the patient as somehow responsible for unpleasant, symptomatic behavior, whereas more accepting relatives saw identical behaviors as characteristic of the illness itself (Brewin et al., 546–554, 1991). Relatives have special difficulty in distinguishing negative symptoms, especially amotivation and anergia, from simple laziness, personality disorder, or outright oppositional or manipulative behavior. For that reason, they often do not experience the kind of empathy that might protect them from exasperation, on the one hand, or resentment and hostility, on the other. This is an especially acute risk in the prodromal phase and in the first episode, during which symptoms and deficits often develop gradually, sometimes imperceptibly, appearing to reflect emerging personality or behavioral faults. A patient who slowly becomes cognitively impaired—denying illness and becoming paranoid, hostile, affectively labile, socially withdrawn, or anhedonic—will be much less available to receive the support needed to function at an optimal level (McFarlane and Lukens, pp. 317–331, 1998). If family members confronted by such symptoms in a loved one have little formal knowledge of the illness, they are likely to respond with increased involvement, emotional intensity, criticism, or even hostility. The studies on the insider’s viewpoint on memory processing have strongly suggested a multidimensional effect for the multifamily group format as the explanation for improved clinical outcomes. The outsider’s viewpoint theories have been considered to accommodate and exploit the natural course of recovery from an acute psychotic episode. That is, because the time course of recovery from negative symptoms can be measured in months to years, rather than days to weeks as in the response of positive symptoms to medication, the family is coached, having initially tempered expectations and demands after the acute episode, to carefully and gradually increase expectations and demands toward the end of the first post episode year. Research in the insider’s viewpoint on the psychological issues have revealed to investigators who have expressed concern about the validity of assessments of personality traits and personality disorder made within the context of a depressive episode. These concerns resulted from studies demonstrating that successful treatments of major depressive disorder can lead to changes in measures of personality and personality disorder. For example, a seminal study by Hirschfeld et al. (pp. 695—699) found that certain personality traits, such as emotional strength, dependency, and extraversion, changed significantly more at 1-year follow-up in treated depressed patients who had recovered than in depressed patients who had not recovered. Such results have led some investigators to conclude that personality assessments of symptomatic depressed patients may not accurately reflect their trait characteristics before, between, or after depressive episodes. Thus, assessing personality traits and related problems during a depressive episode could lead to over diagnosis of personality disorder and perhaps to unwarranted conclusions about prognosis, given that comorbid personality disorder is generally considered a risk factor for poorer outcome, therefore they often do not have knowledge about the kind of empathy that might protect insider viewpoint from exasperation. The relative persistence of personality traits and issues noticed from the insider’s viewpoint does not mean that they are immutable phenomena. Indeed, as previous studies from our group and others have shown, appreciable changes in personality pathology are observable, even over intervals as brief as 6 months. Thus, although previous studies have interpreted the outsider’s viewpoint and the personality changes observed during treatment of depression as indicative of state influences on personality assessment, such changes may instead reflect valid alterations of personality characteristics. Works Cited Brewin CR, MacCarthy B, Duda K, et al: (1991). Attribution and expressed emotion in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia [published erratum appears in J Abnorm Psychol 101:313, 1992]. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 100:546–554 Hirschfeld RM; Klerman GL; Clayton PJ; Keller MB; McDonald-Scott P; Larkin BH: (1983). Assessing personality: effects of the depressive state on trait measurement. Am J Psychiatry ; 140:695—699 Johnson D: (1990) the family's experience of living with mental illness, in Families as Allies in Treatment of the Mentally Ill: New Directions for Mental Health Professionals. Edited by Lefley HP, Johnson DL. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press, pp. 31–65 Link BG, Mirotznik J, Cullen FT: (1991). The effectiveness of stigma coping orientations: can negative consequences of mental illness labeling be avoided? J Health Soc Behav 32:302–320 McFarlane WR, Lukens EP:(1998). Insight, families, and education: an exploration of the role of attribution in clinical outcome, in Insight and Psychosis. Edited by Amador XF, David AS. New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 317–331 Phelan JC, Bromet EJ, Link BG: (1998). Psychiatric illness and family stigma. Schizophr Bull 24:115–126 Phoenix and K. Thomas (2002). Perception and Attention. In: Mapping Psychology Vol. 2. D., the Open University. 1-50. Course text for DSE 212, Exploring psychology. pp. 373-385 Read More