Behaviors That Have Adverse Effects to Individual - Essay Example

The British Psychological Society on their website that, “Many of the challenges we face in the modern world are rooted in human behaviour, so psychological knowledge can help us find solutions.” Name Course Name Instructor Date The British Psychological Society state on their website that, “Many of the challenges we face in the modern world are rooted in human behaviour, so psychological knowledge can help us find solutions.” In recent times, interest in psychology has increased this is seen in that psychologist are involved in government agencies, businesses and industries, and armed services (Sartain, et, al 2008). Psychology is the study that brings an understanding of human behaviour and the various mental processes. This understanding helps one to know the various human activities since psychological knowledge encompasses completely functioning of the human being, problems that affect individuals in their daily living and how mental illnesses can be treated. The British psychological society has found out that various modern challenges affecting individuals have their origin in the human behaviour, which is true and supported by various research. The modern challenges as highlighted by the British psychological society (BPS) include; drug addiction, eating disorders, mental health sexuality and bullying in the workplace and in schools. In addition to these are problems of age and ageing, learning of law and crime, government and politics, mental health and trauma in the society because of violence at work place and business (British Psychological Society, 2014). This paper tries to explore the various human behaviours that have adverse effects to an individual and how they can be psychologically dealt with. Human behaviour of abusing drugs to the extent to which an individual becomes addicted does so because of underlying psychosocial problems. These problems may involve lack of education, problems of getting and retaining employment, family members’ interpersonal problems, problems of long-term relationships and psychological disorders (National Centre for Biotechnology Information, n.d.). The existence of these problems leads an individual to have low self-esteem, become anxious and even lead to depression. This eventually makes a person to start the use of drugs in order to get away from the problems facing him or her. Psychological knowledge, therefore, helps in providing the root cause of the problem which helps in coming up with the correct diagnoses and eventually the correct treatment is sort. Various complications associated with substance abuse include depression, cancer, loss of job, problems of memory concentration and relationship breakup. In addition, one may tend to engage in risky sexual behaviour that may lead to HIV infections due to using of shared needles (Kowalchuk, Reed & Rakel, 2011). Eating disorders have become the worst psychological problem nationally. One out of every five people with anorexia dies, and it has been shown to be the leading cause of suicide in the modern society (Novotney, 2009). Since eating disorders are a psychiatric condition like schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, it has a strong genetic component, which predisposes an individual to have such a condition. The two known eating disorders and mostly found on women than men are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa where there is fear of weight gain because of a distorted view of their size and shape. Tendency of taking excessive exercises, dieting and fasting are some of the characteristics. Others may tend to binge eat and then purge (Smolak & Thompson, 2009). In America, eating disorders are more prevalent among students where 1-2 of the 100 students have a problem (Nemours, 2014). They have a negative perception of their body image and size leading to low self-esteem and lack of confidence in everything they do. Sexual dysfunction is another psychological disorder in which it influences an individual’s behaviour both directly or indirectly. Lack of an adequate solution on sexual matters may lead a person adopting behaviours that are not in line with what is stipulated on what expected for him or herself. The rates of sexual dysfunction have been alarming in the society. The percentage of individuals with sexual dysfunction keeps on increasing in various societies (Wincze & Carey, 2012). Individuals are unable to live a quality life because of these problems. Therefore, a sex therapist approach should be adopted including psycho-education on sexual responses, offering counselling and behavioural exercises. Marital therapy intervention, which usually focuses on the relationship problems including cognitive intervention, social skills and communication training, should be put in place to improve mutual understanding (Biniki & Meanna 2009). In trying to understand depression and behaviour, behaviourists, came into conclusion that internal conflicts, projects of object representation and repression has nothing to do with human behaviour. Psychologists have identified principles of learning theories to explain this stating that depression is learned and for anyone to learn certain reinforcements must be put in place to enhance learning and sustain it. Absence of these reinforcement’s means that the behaviour can be unlearned (Nemade, Reis & Dombeck, 2007). Lack of personal skills and a combination of stressors in the environment where a person lives have been seen to cause depression. These problems include those of relationships, financial problems and lack of employment among others. People become depressed when they no longer receive reinforcements that they were used to (Beck, A & Alford, B, 2009 ). Having pity on someone who is usually depressed reinforces the behaviour. Problems of parental divorce, which in modern society has been seen to be more, affect children involved. Research carried out by Jonsson et al. (2000) shows that children who experience parental divorce show greater sexual precocity as compared to those brought up in a stable family. Most of the problems in schools, and work stems from the nature of the family has been brought up in (Glenn &Kranner, 2000). Therefore, psychological understanding of this will help in coming up with viable treatment procedure. In conclusion, I totally agree with the conclusion made by the British psychological society in their assertion that most modern challenges are deeply rooted in human behaviour and relying on psychological knowledge can help us to come up with valid solutions. Counsellors and others psychologist should be involved in all the stages concerning individuals with behavioural problems. This would help in trying to unravel the underlying reasons predisposing one to any challenge. Our means of existence and livelihood depends on others and others depend on us making the need of understanding psychology a necessity for every individual. Therefore, it is clear that psychological plays a significant role of resolving major problems that faces society. References Beck, A & Alford, B. (2009). Depression: Causes and Treatment. New York: University of Pennsylvania Press. Biniki, Y & Meanna, M. (2009). The future of sex therapy: specialization or marginalization. Archives of sexual behaviour, 38, 1016-1027. British Psychological Society. (2014). How can psychology help you? Retrieved 03 December 2014 from http://www.bps.org.uk/psychology-public/how-can-psychology-help-you/how-can-psychology-help-you. Glenn, N.D & Kranner, K.B. (2000). The psychological well being of adult children of divorce. Journal of marriage and family, 47, 905-912. Jonsson, F. et al. (2000). Parental divorce: long-term effects on mental health, family relations and adult sexual behaviour. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 41, 101-105. Kowalchuk, A., Reed, BC & Rakel, DP. (2011). Drug abuse Textbook of Family Medicine. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders. National Centre for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Substance Abuse: Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved 03 December 2014 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64124/. Nemade, R., Reis, N. & Dombeck, M. (2007). Depression: major depression and unipolar varieties. Psychology of depression-behavioural theories. Retrieved 03 December 2014 from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=13004&cn=5. Nemours. (2014). Eating disorders. Retrieved 03 December 2014 from http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/problems/eat_disorder.html. Novotney, A. (2009). New solutions: Psychologists are developing promising new treatments and conducting novel research to combat eating disorders. Retrieved 03 December 2014 from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/04/treatments.aspx. Smolak, L. & Thompson, J.K. (2009). Body image, eating disorders and obesity in youth: assessment, prevention and treatment. Washington D.C: APA.  Wincze, J & Carey, M. (2012). Sexual Dysfunction. New York: Guilford Press. Read More