The Psychological Changes and Philosophical Outcome of It - Essay Example

PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION Interest in man as a person is as old as the humankind. Ancient philosophers dwelt upon this in many ways mulling over the psychological changes and philosophical outcome of it. Man as a subject that interested thinkers because "person is an individual substance of a rational nature: that is he possesses, either in actuality or in potential, the ability to know and the ability to choose. In other words, he possesses intellect and will," Geoghegan and Pollard (1962, p.5). These philosophical soliloquies have given birth to many of our today's sciences and arts, Psychology being one of them. Development Psychology has ventured into one of the major fields of psychology and psychological health. Development Psychology and parenthood are interrelated in million ways. Developmental Psychology today is a complete systematic subject of study with vast dimensions. Every facet of development during life had been explored and re-explored many times over with interesting research results. Psychologists are using this branch of study as fundamental base for their practice. According to Dr. Freud, an infant's emotional tie to his/her mother is the foundation for later relationship and this was supported by the subsequent research that followed. Dr. Freud, in his usual authoritative way, laid the foundation of developmental psychology by his theory, that might have been challenged by many later psychologists, but had never been ignored or repudiated, and this applies to all his theories, even the most outrageous ones. He, of all the psychologists, established the child's psychological growth and development with that of the mother for the first time, mirroring the parental influence on the offspring. This assignment will try to look into effects of parenting by drug-addicted parents. It will also evaluate how the drug using, indifferent, and unpredictable parents could create major upheavals in the life of a child. It will explore the possibilities of reforming the drug addicts and the care that could be provided by the social workers. Good parental involvement consists of listening, accepting, disciplining them in the mildest way possible without hurting their self-esteem. For developing a positive self-esteem, the child should be encouraged to make independent decisions without coercion. Parents should develop the habit of accepting the child's decision, even though it might prove wrong. But this does not mean that pitfalls of the decision should be overlooked. Parents have to strike a balance in their actions towards the child if they have to adopt a developmental psychological approach. Children raised cautiously would not develop an adolescent identity crisis. Even the adopted children can develop the right outlook for life with thoughtful parenting and this group was of the opinion that not just the parents, but also the community itself should be involved in child rearing. Geoghegan and Pollard describe personality as the person in action. "Personality is the patterned totality of human powers, activities and habits, uniquely organized by the person in the active pursuit of his self-ideal, and revealed in his behaviour" (Gasson, 1954, p.219) from Geoghegan (p.7). Hence, growth and development leading to this ultimate personality becomes important in the study of every human being. Human personality develops in highly complex and evolving way all through life. There is no age bar for development of personality. Infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood are a few beginning stages of it and the first three stages are connected with the parenthood that would shape the adulthood of the person. Every individual's developmental progress through life is his own and depends on his mental and physical capabilities, prodded by the environment and circumstances, culminating in a developed personality. This too does not mean that development would come to an end. Instead, it goes on continuously to attain new heights of personality, new vistas of intellectual achievements. The life of a human being, beginning with the conception, resulting in a foetus, born as a baby and through these stages, his physical and psychological growth is very fast. The childhood of a human being is connected with the parenthood, as parents become the centre of his existence. The atmosphere that the parents provide for a child's growth is perhaps the most important factory in its life. Even after coming out of this atmosphere, the child usually carries the psychological impacts of this early life throughout his existence. The security, affection and love the child gets from his parents are the initial bonding that makes the child self sufficient in its own way. The positive and negative parenting could either leave an excellent memory in the child's mind or scar it for the rest of life. Parenting and development psychology are so closely interrelated that it is almost impossible to think of one without the other. At the school age, even though the child goes to school, parents still remain his most influential peers. No doubt he cannot help getting influenced by his friends or teachers, parental bond would be intact for a long time and would remain the single strongest emotional base. Parenting and parenthood will have a lasting impression on the mind of the child and the traces of it could be deciphered in later days of the child's life, even after he has advanced deep into adulthood or old age. Hence, the formative years of a person depend upon the growth and development connected with the parenthood. Biological maturity, psychological maturity, learning, educational tasks, and the creative skills become part of this growth and development. ATACHMENT THEORY Development psychology starts with the attachment theory between the parents and their child. This starts even before the child is born and this remains the first bond in child's life. Attachment is defined as "the strong, affectional tie we feel for special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure and joy when we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness in time of stress," Berk (1998)Attachment to the parent is "empathic, respectful parenting which fosters a healthy foundation of trust and communication between parent and child," (according to Kelly's Attachment Parenting Page)- taken from http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/Areas/Developmental/Attachment/index.htm Attachment provides security, affection and care for the child. Child feels secure in the parental atmosphere. Deprived of this attachment, child remains insecure all its life, sometimes, with disastrous results. PARENTING WAYS There are many ways of parenting. Parents choose their own ways and sometimes, each parent chooses his or her own way of parenting the child. Authoritarian parenting values discipline more than affection and concern. This style was very popular throughout the world for centuries. It demands absolute surrender from the child and child has to behave according to the parents' rules and regulations. But in today's society, where children's rights have been given importance, and where it is believed that punishing a child is a crime, this kind of parenting mismatches the rapidly changing society and suits the stagnant one better. In most of the eastern societies, Authoritarian Parenting is still believed to be the best way of raising a child with moral values and cultural and religious principles. Permissive parenting with 'hands off' approach was suitable in the 1950s and 1960s. People who came out of Second World War with many tragedies and disasters, with the younger generation almost totally wiped out in the war, realised how important children are as the next generation. All of a sudden, children were given more importance and their rights and well-being became matters national concern. It resulted in Permissive parenting when people gave a lot of scope for the development of child's own personality, instead of forcibly modifying it. It even went to the extent of ignoring misbehaviour of the children and this sometimes brought up unforeseen problems in later life. Hippies and the wild youth movements in Western societies in the 1950s and 60s were one kind of results of Permissive Parenting. Some sociologists are of the opinion that this model, being the other extreme, contrasted with Authoritarian Parenting, did not work well either. Assertive-Democratic parenting involves a set of rules that are mildly applied to the children. Children are neither forced nor bullied in this method of parenting. Instead they are persuaded and coerced to follow a certain set of rules and regulations. Children are treated with care and concern. In Authoritative parenting, children thought that the parents were too harsh and did not love them at all. In Permissive parenting, children had the feeling that the parents did not care for them and it was not their concern whatever happens to their children. Assertive-Democratic parenting, being the right mixture of both, shows concern, but inspires responsibility in the children and perhaps is the best parenting in today's world. (Based on http://kidsource.com/better.world.press/parenting.html) Jean Piaget, the pioneering Swiss psychologist, found that children don't think like grownups and 'their seemingly illogical utterances were thought processes that had their own kind of order and their own special logic," http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/piaget.html There is a saying that parents are different, but the issues are the same like attitudes, cognition, behaviour and psychological malfunctioning that might have been contributed by wrong parenting. Playing with the child, understanding it, getting to know the child's fears and apprehensions, understanding child psychologically before a particularly unpleasant intervention, using all parental skills before improving a child's behaviour all go a long way while trying to balance between developmental psychology and parenting. This will also lead to further learning skills of the children. CHILDREN OF DRUG ADDICTED PARENTS: Children of addicted parents could have a very harrowing childhood, because there will definitely be emotional, psychological and other connected problems. Children are physically abused by their parents, even though there are reports that children are treated very well while parents are in their senses; but treated very badly when they consume drugs. This is one of the worst social miseries in every country. Parents are unaccustomed to any mental stability while being addicted to drugs and it is not possible for them to provide a proper home and congenial atmosphere to the children. Countless numbers of parents are drug users and this will have serious consequences on the lives of the children even after they are adults. "The influence of parental attitudes on a child's drug taking behaviours may be as important as actual drug abuse by the parents. An adolescent who perceives that a parent is permissive about the use of drugs is more likely to use drugs," http://www.hopenetworks.org/addiction/Children%20of%20Addicts.htm Usually such families break and it is almost impossible for the children to cope up with the stress and strain of everyday abuse and later separation. Addicted parents often are at the edge of the precipice. They lack the ability to provide a disciplined family life, or the security of a proper home. They would neither be interested in the welfare, studies or the sports of their children nor live as emotional anchors to their children. Sometimes, children receive mindless punishments from these parents. If the problem is acute, there is every chance of the child's life being endangered. They might maltreat their children in ways of not giving attention to their food or cleanliness, physical abuse and even sexual abuse. Very often these children end up as emotional wrecks themselves addicted to drugs. INTERVENTION OF SOCIAL WORKERS: In United States, according to social workers at least half of such cases show ill treatment of the children. 75.7% of welfare professionals say that children of addicted parents are likely to enter foster care, and 54% of all the runaways are children of drug-addicted children. 78% of the children every year are abandoned children belong to drug using parents. Such children are more prone to depression, anxiety and studying difficulties. In US more than 50% of such students are children of drug addicts. Children of addicted parents have a high rate of behavioural problems. They have elevated rates of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, compared to the other children from normal households. According to various studies, they also show a remarkable lack of self-control, very low self-confidence, and lack social adaptability and have mercurial temperament and maladjustment with every situation. They could become easy candidates for psychological and psychiatrical treatments. "Children of addicted parents experience greater physical and mental health problems and higher health and welfare costs than do children from non-addicted families" http://www.hopenetworks.org/addiction/Children%20of%20Addicts.htm Piagetian theory of human intelligence development states that it goes through adaptation, assimilation and accommodation of the new experiences. "Piaget considered the process of equilibrium an important factor in the cognitive growth and development of a childPiaget felt that all children go through certain stages of intellectual development in the same order, even though the chronological ages may vary between bright and dull students" http://facultyweb.cortland.edu/andersmd/PIAGET/bio.HTML Carol Gilligan deviates from the male dominated theory and suggests a stage theory of moral development for women. Lawrence Kohlberg too suggested a stage theory of moral thinking that looks like a second step of Piaget's theory. Maslow considered the most exemplary specimens of human kind for his 'Hierarchy of needs' theory, which talks about giving and receiving love, security, safety, biological, emotional and intellectual needs. It is also called the Humanist Theory. The core part of his theory is its concept of prepotency and Maslow claimed that the prepotent need of a person would influences all his actions the prepotent need of that particular person differs him from other individuals. Prepotent need could be a craving for love, an ardent desire for self-esteem, or a physiological hunger. Vygotsky's 'Social Development Theory' states that in the development of cognition, social interaction plays the fundamental role. This is considered to be a general theory of cognitive development. He says that the development depends upon the 'zone of proximal development.' The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html. His theory explains consciousness as the end product of socialization. All theories have one thing in common, and that is dependence on parenthood as the first stepping-stone in life. All of them depend heavily on parental affection and security. From whichever angle these theories are analysed, their inter-dependence on parenting is total. It is stated that parenting is the most difficult job and the biggest responsibility. Developmental psychologists have done extensive research on parenting styles and plenty of material on parental inefficiency, step parents, parental abuse, bullying, sibling conflict, separation of parents, sometimes being separated from siblings etc. is available today. Developmental psychologists and sociologists have given a lot of importance to parenting styles so that the entire generation could have the benefit of both. Dealing with children, adolescents and even the early adults are being helped today. Psychologists can also help parents in fostering emotion and intellectual bonding with the children and adolescents. "Psychologists provide parenting skills training either within the framework of family therapy, or as part of individual psychotherapy, to help parents manage specific behavioural problems or situations. Parenting skills training can also focus on general parent-child interactions," http://www.psychologyinfo.com/treatment/parenting_skills.html This is not only for people who are branded as bad parents, but any parents could improve their skills of parenting by being in touch with psychologists. PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT Behaviour of the person depends heavily not only on the physical development, but also on personality development that starts in the early life and goes on throughout. There are a few principles of development that could be listed as follows: 1. "Processes of growth and development are continuous and gradual and the rate varies from individual to individual. 2. Development progresses from the single fertilized cell, to the intricate footwork of the athlete or of the dancer; 3. Is characterized by increasing differentiation and this characterizes all stages of development. 4. Development is characterized by a hierarchical integration. Different functions appear at successive levels of maturity, becoming organized into patterns, which are more and more complex. 5. Throughout the successive stages, growth is not uniform but is characterized by an irregularity of pace, by a certain discontinuity. 6. Development takes place in a sequential direction both structurally and functionally. (Based on Geoghegan and Pedlar, p.23). There are stages of development as analysed by known psychologists. Buhler outlined five life stages called growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance and decline; but here we are concerned with only the first three. The physical growth of a person is marked with changes guided by basic forces like heredity, environment and volition. Heredity starts to place its impact even before the child is born and later this force is interconnected with the environment. In environment prenatal, postnatal, internal and behavioural environment are the stages. Prenatal environment is the atmosphere and surrounding belonging to the parents, especially the mother, and the factors concerned with the embryonic development combined with mother's health. Postnatal environment refers to influences, completely connected with parents and parenthood. This includes factors like domestic, educational, economical, religious, social and cultural, and also other strong modifying factors like morality, physical and mental stability, and more than all other factors, once again, the greatest influence of parenthood. In adolescent years, Internal Environment connected with body hormones, minerals, nutrition and the chemical regulators peculiar to the individual's constitution would be played a more important role. Behavioural environment is (also called perceptual field) the environment to which a person continuously responds, reacts and adjusts or absorbs. In growth there is no doubt that heredity plays a huge role of shaping an individual for future life. 'Heredity places the limits within which development will take place; environment offers the opportunity for development; volition gives the individual the relative freedom to attain maximum growth and development within such limits and in the light of such opportunities', according to Geoghegan (p.32). Another unending controversy of 'chicken before egg or egg before chicken' kind is the Nature-Nurture controversy. The conflict is between the influence of the combined sources of heredity and connected forces on the development and growth of human personality, compared to the absolutely environmental sources like educational, social and political. Nativism (hereditarianism) is pitted against nurturism (environment) as the determinant factor and environmentalists and hereditarians had been at loggerheads for a long time now, with environmentalists having a slightly sharper edge. Genes predetermine who we are and environment depends on our fundamental experience. Again parents are responsible for not only the heredity, but also to the environment they provide for the child. This decides whether we should be introverted or extroverted. The questions arise: are our actions pre-determined or do we have a free will to make choices, or to change surroundings and ourselves by our own effort Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle. It is told that a personality is the gift of heredity and environment provides the opportunity for their actualisation. Heredity is provided by not only the parents, but also by all preceding generations. Environment is composed of the experiences, skills, peers, teachers, parents, neighbours and social and cultural surroundings, but the initial environment providers are parents. If Heredity impact is pre-decisive but would continue all life, as it is inherent in the system, environment changes every minute and influences the person throughout his life, every minute of it. Cognitive development of the child is connected with the mental activities and its growth and development. Cognitive skills are developed through education, teaching, home atmosphere, influence of friends and other encouraging factors. There are many important sub stages like schema, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. Usually adulthood of a person, to a very large extent, is a reflection of his childhood, his heredity and mainly, his environment. As the person grows up, he gets every opportunity to make his own choices, whenever the society permits him, as this could be impossible in primitive societies and rigid cultures. But normally speaking, an individual should be able to use his free will and modify his life in whichever way he chooses. Development Psychology treats the parenthood as perhaps the most important aspect of a child's upbringing. This part of it will definitely be seen in later life and the decisions the grown up person makes. Strong-minded people manage to live down the effects of childhood to a very large extent. But according to Development Psychologists, these scars hardly vanish, but remain to haunt throughout life. Hence, a lot of stress is laid by psychologists on parenting. Adulthood is treated by psychologists as an extension of childhood and parenting. Psychologists, in their professional capacity enter into some kind of understanding with the parents to treat a problem child or an enigma of an adult. They do not differentiate between a child and grown up any more. One aspect is treated as the beginning of life, and another as its grown-up version. "A truly holistic understanding of an individual's circumstances can only be achieved by working in partnership with other professional disciplines, with service-users and their carers. Interprofessional practice will enable us to bring together a range of knowledge and understanding about all the different aspects of a service-user's life and thereby ensure a holistic approach to practice," says Crawford (p.11). SOCIAL WORK: SOCIAL WORKERS: Social workers come into the picture in a big way to manage the drug addicted families with children. Sometimes, the children depend entirely on these social workers, as an external support system. In Scotland it is suggested that female drug users should be paid a certain amount to encourage them not to have children, so that their chaotic lifestyles do not become the basis of their children's broken lives. In some cases, parents are given a certain time (during which they are monitored by social workers), to get rid of the horrendous habit, and if it does not happen, the children are recommended to be given in adoption. This again might cause multitudes of problems for the children, while making the parents to depend more on drugs. Social workers with psychological background can help the entire family in adjusting to the situation and coming out of the drug addiction. There are controversial methods of 'selling sterilization to the drug addicts, which has come under tremendous criticism. While dealing with such families, social workers have to take over the role of parents, teachers, advisers and persuaders. Here, the best possible life for the children is the goal. Guiding the children out of a difficult situation with least amount of defect has to be the single-minded persuasion, while the parents should be, if possible, sent to the addiction relieving centres. Children can be kept under foster care so that the parents could get a chance to redeem themselves and return to their children. We always hear the debate how best to protect the children from this misery. However much the social workers try, there is still more scope for revolutionary helping measures. Parents have to be provided guidance, relief, employment, proper advice and psychological assistance. "Single/shared assessments, individual and family counselling, support for self help groups, rehabilitation, drop-in facilities/outreach facilities, information services, drug and alcohol assessments, GP support clinics, specialist social worker support and intensive interagency support services" are provided to drug addicted families by Social Care. (based on http://www.shetland.gov.uk/socialwork-health/services/addiction.asp) Today social work is done with the life course perspective. "The psychosocial perspective enables social workers to consider the influences of the relationship between the internal world of the service-user and the social environment in which they live," (Howe, 1987), taken from Crawford (2003, p.3). Social Work has taken new dimensions in Western Society. It involves vast areas and various disciplines and Psychology is one of the main subjects on which Social Work leans on. Considerable help is taken from psychology and psychologists form a part of social work in western countries. Social Workers have understood the importance of imbibing Developmental psychology in their work of attending to families and children, especially. "As professionals we need to make sense of users' experiences as they understand them and use this to assist us in assessing their behaviour, attitude and response to experiences and situations. It is important to ensure that our practices are non-judgemental, do not stereotype or make assumptions," Crawford (2003, p. 8). Another point that had been stressed was that 'Reflective Practice' (Schion, 1983) should be conducted with plenty of pre-planning, thinking, reflecting and choosing the right direction. A social worker can explore different perspectives through different theories like Sociological theory, Biological theory, Psychosocial theory etc. Under Psychosocial theory, again two different perspectives could be applied: Developmental Psychology and Cognitive and behavioural approaches. In theories of human life course development, theory that has taken the fancy of Social Work is Bronfenbrenner's theory of Ecological development, where he describes the influences of environmental factors on children (1979). He used terms like Microsystem, exosystem and macrosystem, first being the system around the child at home, second being systems beyond home like neighbourhood etc. and third being the system in the larger world, social and economic conditions and cultural values surrounding the childhood of an individual extending well into adulthood. B.F. Skinner's Behaviourism, which is learned through responses, skills and experiences, is another theory that is controlled by rewards and punishments for good and bad behaviour. Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory lays emphasis on a person's development of values, beliefs, evaluations, emotions, determinations, and will power etc. In Social work practice and child development, understanding the child and its circumstances are very important. The stages and processes of development and how they were influenced by various persons and atmosphere around them various stages of life is considered to be of great psychological value. Social worker also has to understand various psychological effects due to interrelated factors of a child. Every individual is unique, different and it is not possible to find another person like him. As the circumstances differ in each case, reaction of the person also differs according his heredity, culture, circumstances and experience. Social workers have to reconstruct the entire childhood and the way in which the person has travelled, to understand an adult psychologically. They also have to develop the skills of communication with not just the person, but with the people in the family or surrounding him. There are many areas touched by Social work now. Inequality and discrimination, cultural bias are a few such areas. Inequality in people coming from diverse backgrounds, a sense of inadequacy and inferiority complex, embedded from childhood due to either poverty or wrong parenting, or insufficient resources, throws up unsatisfactory adults with suicidal or hopeless tendencies. Cultural differences can go to the extreme of terrorism and sedition, as this century is plagued by such instances like suicide bombing. It is important for social workers to find out why suicide bombing like horrifying tendencies grow in the minds of seemingly ordinary people without much of criminal background. Ethnicity, religious background, terribly traditional parenting with time barred traditions and practices that could be termed as detrimental to human rights could all become a problem when the person is stepping into adulthood and make them divert from the mainstream. Social Workers have to psychologically analyse these tendencies and find out the reasons inherent in parenting of such psychologically affected people in an attempt to understand the mutilated psychology in their minds that drives them into committing these disastrous acts. It is not an easy task, but with the help of developmental psychology, there should be help on hand. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Amsel, Eric and Renninger, Ann K. (1997), ed. Change and Development, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey. 2. Bee, Helen and Boyd, Denise (2003), Lifespan Development, Allyn and Bacon, London. 3. Becket, Cris (2002), Human Growth and Development, Thousand Oaks, London. 4. Crain, William (2002), Theories of Development, Concepts and applications, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 5. Crawford, Karin and Walker, Janet (2003), Social Work and Human Development, Learning Matters Ltd., Exeter. 6. Datan, Nancy and Ginsberg, Leon H. ed. (1975), Life-Span Developmental Psychology, Academic Press, New York. 7. Geoghgan, Barbara, Pollard, Marie Baptista and Kelly, William A. (1969), Developmental Psychology, The Bruce Publishing Company, New York. 8. Garrison, Karl C. and Jones, Franklin R. (1969), The Psychology of Human Development, International Textbook Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania. 9. Lewis, Charlie (1996), Psychology, Aspects of Human Development, British Psychological Society, Leicester. 10. ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/Areas/Developmental/Attachment/index.htm 2. http://kidsource.com/better.world.press/parenting.html 3. http://www.psychologyinfo.com/treatment/parenting_skills.html 4. http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/piaget.html 5. http://facultyweb.cortland.edu/andersmd/PIAGET/bio.HTML 6. http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html 7. http://www.practicalparent.org.uk/ 8. http://www.positiveparenting.com/ 9. http://childparenting.about.com/library/weekly/topicsub1.htm 10. http://www.athealth.com/Practitioner/ceduc/parentingstyles.html 11. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sociology/1-4-3.html 12. http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/Areas/Developmental/PhysDev-Child/index.htm 13. http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/devel/kid-t/devel2.htm 14. http://users.erols.com/ksciacca/artic.htm 15. http://home.att.net/xchar/tna/devpsyab.htm 16. http://www.hopenetworks.org/addiction/Children%20of%20Addicts.htm 17. http://www.shetland.gov.uk/socialwork-health/services/addiction.asp 18. 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