Mental illness is a term that describes abnormality or psychological arrangement that is in theory reflected in behavior – mental and emotional behavior (Green, 590). This disorder can occur for a number of years while this behavior can be linked with disability and distress the period and intensity of the indicators varies from one person to the other. How a person acts, feels and thinks forms the basis for mental disorder and do not always follow a regular pattern. This anomaly can be linked with certain regions and functions of the medulla oblongata or even the nervous system, occasionally in a social form. These symptoms can be successfully controlled via medication or even therapy. Moreover, some people who are mentally challenged will need support, others will need periodic support and even those with a severe case would need continuing or constant support to sustain their efficiency. Behavioral theory assumes that all behavior be it abnormal or normal, it can be learned through operant or classical conditioning. Cognitive behavioral theory disregards biological and social forms of human behavior (Freedman, 1). A portion of psychologists who are strict behaviorists believe that observational behavior is the only appropriate topic for psychology to study (Green, 592). Therefore it begs to the question: Does the theory of a person's behavior provide evidence that they have a mental disorder? Yes a person’s behavior provides conclusive grounds to explain mental illness.
According to Dr. Pravel (1), Clark’s theory of catastrophic interpretations defines panic attacks to occur as a result of the body maladapting and giving faulty readings of sensations. Feelings that are supposed to be processed as normal and not harmful are often not registered and therefore interpreted to be more alarming and dangerous (Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 1). For example palpitations can be perceived as a heart attack. Such miss-reads can lead to a panic attack even though it is not the only stimuli responsible for these attacks. Therefore, this theory is evidence that human behavior is often associated with mental issues or in other words human behavior can cause anomaly in the mental thinking of a person.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of treatment that is derived from the theory of cognitive behavior and is based on the relations of behaviors, feelings and thoughts (Psychology today, 1). This type of therapy examines arrays of thinking that result in destructive actions and what is behind these thoughts. This is different from the traditional psychotherapy in that both the patient and the therapist work together to help the patient recover from the mental disorder. Somebody who is depressed has the belief that he or she is worthless while one who has a panic disorder believes he or she is in danger. The therapist encourages them to challenge such thoughts even if the patient believes it to be very true. These negative thoughts are viewed hypothesis therefore tested by conducting experiments (Psychology today, 1). The patients are advised to take notes of their progress in order to allow the therapist to identify the possible negative thinking in the patient, who is taught how to get rid of such thinking. Scientific studies of this theory have shown that it is an important tool for treating a wide range of mental disorders like mood, anxiety and personality disorders. Treatment involves studying the patterns that lead to such behavior, for instance a patient who says that aliens are videotaping him or her is helped by assuring him or her that there are no hidden cameras in the room or the remote is not alien made.
Dialectical behavioral therapy is a form cognitive behavioral therapy that determines negative issues or thinking arrangements and eventual tries to push for positive changes of behavior. This type of therapy is widely used to treat suicidal or other destructive manners. It teaches these patients ways to deal with and change unwanted behavior (Chang, 1). It brings together the idea of both acceptance and change to get better results. This type of therapy is unique in that the therapist reassures the patient via acceptance of their experience and thereby changing these negative behaviors. In a bid to change behavior this form of therapy uses four parts; individual therapy, Training of group skills and phone coaching and finally consultations with the group (Chang, 1). The author emphasizes that this therapy enhances life skills – helps patients tolerate distress, regulate emotion, be mindful and even help the patients become more effective in the interpersonal perspective. It treats illnesses like, borderline personality disorder and substance abuse among others.
Schema therapy is yet another treatment used to treat mental illnesses like borderline personality disorder (Vivyan, 1) .This therapy was developed by Jeffrey Young and it is described as our belief systems or life traps so to speak. This theory is centered on four major ideologies: one is Early Maladaptive Schemas, which is refers to patterns that people use now and then in our everyday lives. The other idea is schema domains; this is the emotional wants of a youngster in that if these needs were not met in childhood then harmful schemas are bound to develop later on to lead to unwanted behavior (Vivyan, 1). The third issue is coping styles; this is how people cope or deal with the schemas and if the style is bad then unhealthy behavior is often developed. The last point is modes; these are the emotional characteristics we often use every other time. They can be activated by one or two stimuli even after being dormant for a sometime. These modes can be transformed into other modes while the ones present are dormant.
In conclusion, cognitive behavior can be used to explain a number of mental illnesses by understanding the thoughts, ideas and feelings that impact these behaviors. Mental Illnesses like posttraumatic stress and substance abuse can be closely linked with the behavior of the patient. Therefore these therapies use this behavior to help these patients deal with their troubles. Consequently, behavior is a powerful tool to help understand the thinking of a human being. Studies conducted on behavior are often conducted on animals to better understand behavioral thinking of man. Finally, the above theories are proof that mental illness can be explained with the use of theories of a person’s behavior.
Works Cited
Psychology today. Cognitive and behavioral theories of panic disorder. 3 Oct. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012
Pravel, Stephen. Catastrophic Misinterpretation. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.
Freedman, .Jacob. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)? 2012. Web. 7 Nov.2012.
Chang, Luise. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.
Vivyan, Carol. Schema Therapy. 2010. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.
Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. What is Psychiatric Disability and Mental Illness? 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.
Green, Christopher. Classical Texts in Psychology. Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods,13 (2010): 589-597.
