Adjustment and Happiness in Psychology - Essay Example

ADJUSTMENT AND HAPPINESS Introduction In psychology various elements are defined as critical to the mental well-being of an individual. There are numerous requirements that are thought to enhance the psychological wellness of individuals. This has led to bigger application of the psychological well-being aspects in seeking to understand the effect of different social aspects on the well-being of an individual. Happiness and adjustment are two psychological factors that are considered to have immense relevance to the psychological well-being of an individual. The lack of either of them results in psychological problems associated with a deficit of essential psychological requirements. Despite these two elements having discrepancies on their effect upon the human body, the both have a significant impact upon the psychological well-being of the individual. Adjustment Adjustment has been described as the process through which individuals are capable of maintaining a balance between the different personal needs and environmental challenges towards achievement of those needs. The adjustment sequence commonly begins once a need is desired and ends with the satisfaction of the need (Hales, Yudofsky, & Gabbard, 2008). The existence of a need creates a desire for the individuals to be motivated towards satisfying the need. The process of satisfying that need, however, involves various external and internal obstacles, which become challenges in achieving the need. The element of overcoming those challenges and satisfying the needs is described as psychological adjustment. The aspects of adjustment are therefore defined in terms of satisfying the needs and requirements of the body. There is always a significant level of needs that people experience at different times and whose satisfaction defines the aspect of adjustment. In life, people are always struggling towards satisfying their needs; hence making their livelihoods to become comfortable within different setting. This process ends with the satisfaction of a need, but the challenges met might lead to another need arising. The challenges that occur when one seeks to satisfy a need might also result in the need becoming partially satisfied; consequently reducing the desire, while creating an aspect of further exploration towards completely eliminating the desire. The overcoming of various social elements that face people during the process makes the individuals become adapted to the surrounding and creates satisfaction with the process. The process of adjustment is a sequential process and begins with the identification of a need. This normally arises from environmental circumstances of bodily positions. The occurrence of needs result in individuals seeking support from different sources as a way of managing through the process. The process of adjustment begins with the identification of a need, which is mainly a difference between a desired state and the current state of an individual. The individuals utilize personal desires and measure in determining the needs that must be satisfied and this occurs subconsciously sometimes. The needs arise out of conditions beyond the control of an individual. While some needs might be predetermined, the ones that result from unexpected sources have the greatest impact upon the individual who seeks to get solutions. After identification of a need, the needs must be fulfilled through finding solutions and changing the condition of the individual in order to adapt to the changing environment. This seeks to eliminate the need that a person has identified. The approach utilized in seeking to provide a solution to the problems can either be successful or may fail. Failure in the process results in a different approach being initiated seeking to completely eliminate the need. This commonly involves adoption of different activities aimed at providing solutions to an existing problem. The activities are normally varied as per the desired outcome by the individual. Depending on the type of need that an individual has, the result can be change of behavior or implementation of various activities aimed at providing solutions. The gained solution becomes the ultimate outcome of the process that results in adjustment. While adjustment can be described as a simple problem solving process, it is a common experience for the needs to fail to be completely satisfied. These failures create a difference in the social setting in which the solution is being sought and applied. Satisfaction, however, makes people become accustomed to different approaches of solving the existing problems. Once satisfaction has been achieved an element of comfort is initiated upon the individual. Difficulties in getting solutions, however, create anxiety and depressions among many individuals. This remains the case in many instances among poor populations where individuals continuously strive to meet basic needs in vain. The reactions that people undertake in regard to failed attempts at getting solutions to their problems have a significant effect upon their lives. Adjustment disorder for example, is a common problem associated with the depression and anxiety which emanates from failed attempts to satisfy bodily needs. The failure becomes an element of stress to the individual, who then reacts abnormally to the situation (Hales et al., 2008). The reactions of individuals become maladaptive and the stress becomes recurrent; consequently causing a severe mental problem to the individual. This results in people exhibiting negative behaviors which present a significant risk to the psychological well-being of the person. Happiness Happiness is a psychological state of well-being, characterized by positive emotions and behaviors. It has been understood to include numerous social elements that are combined to make individuals contented with a certain way of life or condition. Happiness is considered to be of significant relevance to the human conditions and the “pursuit of happiness” was considered an unalienable human right in the declaration of independence in the United States of America. The element of happiness has significant relevance in the global and personal perspectives. It is considered that happiness emanates from satisfaction and contentment of an individual with a condition (Cohn et al, 2009). The element of happiness is universal and people struggle to achieve happiness as a way of enhancing their psychological well-being. Happiness has been defined as an emotion that results from being contented with different surrounding conditions. While temporary moods could affect the level of happiness, these are considered to be short-tern psychological changes, which cannot be utilized in assessment of happiness. Happiness is deemed to be a long term condition of continued contentment with a condition. The positivity of individual behaviors can be utilized in making critical assessment of the person’s happiness, which mainly comes as a result of certain achievement. The continued satisfaction in life remains the common source of happiness which has been identified The concept of happiness in is encompassed within series of activities and actions that result in a general satisfaction with various aspects of life. While there can be no single item that can be established as resulting in happiness among people, it is normal for individuals to have specific items that make the happy. Happiness can be observed among individuals through their behaviors, which seem to portray support of positivity in some aspects of their lives (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005). The state of being happy is critical to the determination of happiness in general. Happiness among humans emanates from different sources and has a significant impact upon the psychological well-being of the individual. Social values and significant event sin people lives have been fundamental elements which determine contentment, and ultimately result in an experience of happiness among individuals. Adjustment and happiness There is a significant level of relationship between adjustment and happiness aspects of a human being. The two psychological elements are significant to the well-being of individuals within different settings (Lent, 2004). While adjustment is based on the concept of seeking to provide solution to existing desires, happiness has been based on the aspects of satisfaction. Adjustment ultimately ends in satisfaction of certain desires and need that have been established by an individual. This is a momentary aspect which causes satisfaction after completion. The achieved satisfaction from adjustment is the beginning and basis upon which happiness can occur. Since happiness is a long-term state of a person’s conditions, single satisfaction of a need might not result in an individual becoming happy. Though satisfaction is achieved through adjustment, continued satisfaction leads to the outcome of happiness being attained. The reactions that people take towards positive outcomes achieved under the adjustment process are the significant causes of happiness. Maladaptive behaviors commonly emanate from reactions to negative events and have a similar effect on achievement of happiness by individuals. The minimization of anxiety and depression, which come as outcomes of failed adjustment process are critical to happiness being achieved. The outcomes of adjustment can be utilized in determining happiness and experiencing the pursuit of happiness. Happiness mainly comes from psychological satisfaction with different aspects of the human livelihood. This satisfaction commonly comes from successful the adjustment process. Sufficient adjustment can therefore be said to have a direct effect on the happiness of an individual. This is manly because it results in satisfaction, which is critical to achieving happiness within the social setting. Continued focus of the positive outcomes of adjustment becomes critical in achieving happiness since happiness is determined by the positivity of behaviors. There is a momentous level of correlation between these two concepts of psychological well-being. Adjustment seeks to ensure that people struggle towards the achievement of certain solutions to existing social problems. The challenges that they encounter in seeking solutions have a significant effect on the outcomes. The aspects of internalizing the results create a positive reaction or negative reaction. The positive reactions of adjustment result in individuals becoming relatively happy through contentment with their achievements. Happiness can therefore be considered to be partially dependent on the concept of adjustment (Human et al, 2014). This means that one must not be happy to become adjusted. It is however necessary for an individual to be focused on becoming happy in order to be adjusted. The desire to be happy becomes a driving force for adjustment. While adjustment comes as a process of gaining satisfaction for the various human needs and requirements, happiness can be affected by many social factors with adjustment being one of them. Adjustment creates results in satisfaction becoming achieved but cannot guarantee happiness as a result of this achievement since happiness is a long term emotional state. The lack of happiness could be associated to failed adjustment but that cannot be definitive since happiness is also influenced by other factors. As an element dependent on the adjustment levels reached, happiness cannot exist in an individual who is not adjusted. On the contrary, adjustment cannot be a guarantee of happiness, since happiness is an emotional state and remains subject to the human cognition and psychological behavior. Adjustment is a significant element towards becoming happy and contented with one’s achievements. Happiness comes as a result of successful adjustment to conditions which could be causing anxiety and depression. The reaction after the outcome becomes fundamental determinants if the happiness experienced in the process. The level of adjustment can be measured through the capacity to solve various problems effectively and maintain a positive attitude towards the result, regardless of the outcome. The achievement of personal goals determines the level of satisfactions and consequently the level of happiness experience. The capacity to maintain a positive behavior remains critical in determining happiness. Conclusions Psychological attributes are critical in enhancing the well-being of people under different circumstance. While many circumstances could have a negative or positive effect upon the livelihood of the individual, it is essential for individuals to adjust to different situations positively. Positive approach to different needs is essential in enhancing the well-being of an individual. Most psychological and mental conditions result from the negative approach to the challenges that face individuals. Positivity in handling psychological challenges could enhance happiness among many individuals since happiness results to satisfaction. There is a close relationship between adjustment, which seeks to satisfy needs and happiness, which comes as a result of satisfied needs. Psychological adjustment is a factor that influences the experience of happiness among different individuals. The levels of satisfaction achieved during adjustment can be effectively utilized as a measure of happiness within the same setting. References Cohn, M., Fredrickson, B., Brown, S., Mikels, J., & Conway, A. (2009). Happiness unpacked: positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. Emotion, 9 (3), 361–368. Hales, R., Yudofsky, S., & Gabbard, G. (2008). The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry. New York: American Psychiatric Publishing. Human, L., Biesanz, J., Finseth, S., Pierce, B., & Le, M. (2014). To thine own self be true: Psychological adjustment promotes judgeability via personality–behavior congruence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106 (2), 286–303. Lent, R. W. (2004). Toward a Unifying Theoretical and Practical Perspective on Well-Being and Psychosocial Adjustment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51 (4), 482–509. Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9 (2), 111–131. Read More