# data[].attributes.headline
Introduction to the impact of psychological theories on health and social care practice

# data[].attributes.subject
Introduction to the impact of psychological theories on health and social care practice

# data[].attributes.body
In health and social care practice, psychology is essential as it allows practitioners to understand the behaviours of patients which therefore allows better care to be provided. Psychological theories influence and impact health and social care practice as they help practitioners understand behaviours and identify coping strategies.

# data[].attributes.headline
Understanding and interpretation of behaviour  

# data[].attributes.subject
Understanding and interpretation of behaviour  

# data[].attributes.body
Understanding and interpreting behaviour is essential in health and social care practice as it results in better care being provided to patients. This is due to practitioners being able to understand why patient's behave in certain ways and are therefore able to provide care best suited to that individual regarding their problem.

The cognitive perspective helps to understand disorders and conditions which can impact people's cognitive development. For example, people with autism may display aggressive behaviours. Similarly, people suffering with PTSD may display behaviours such as: sweating, agitation, and anxiousness. It is important for practitioners to understand that these behaviours are as a result of their condition and therefore they must be sensitive to this and provide the best care possible. People diagnosed with Alzheimer's can display behaviours such as confusion and aggression. Therefore being able to understand these behaviours and why they are displayed in certain conditions ensures that practitioners can treat and manage them effectively whilst still providing good care for all patients.

Behaviourism has helped to understand why some people act the way they do and how they respond to the environment. For example, drug/alcohol abuse may have positive outcomes for some patients as they may get a pleasurable feeling as a result of it. However, it can also have negative effects as it can lead to forgetfulness to try and help the patient forget certain situations. The patient may see this as a positive but it can have impacts on their mental health and wellbeing overall and is ultimately a negative outcome.

These theories impact health and social care practice as it helps practitioners to understand human behaviours and why patients behave in certain ways and this therefore means that more effective care can be provided to them as they can offer person-centred care and respect the fact that their behaviours are due to their condition.

# data[].attributes.body
Person-centred care means putting the individual and their needs first/ as a priority. Practitioners must ensure that the individual's needs, preferences, and values are taken care of and respected. This also ensures that the practitioner is providing the best care possible as they are acting in the patient's best interests and accommodating their needs/preferences.

Person-centred care was created/developed as a result of the humanistic perspective which was created by Abram Maslow and Carl Rogers. They were able to demonstrate how an individuals health can be influenced by external factors, such as home life. This theory has impacted health and social care practice as it changed the way practitioners care for patients. For example, patients who have experienced traumatic events can be referred to support systems to ensure they are cared for effectively.
All care provided to patients acts in their best interests and ensures all of their needs are taken into consideration.

# data[].attributes.body
The biological perspective helps practitioners to understand how the mind can impact the body, such as stress. The level of awareness about different conditions, available treatment, and ways to manage them is significant and it has increased rapidly. For example, medical professionals used to be the main source of information regarding conditions and information about them.
However, new methods have evolved and we now able to research sign, symptoms, and information about all different conditions. This theory has impacted health and social care practice as it has improved knowledge and information sources to provide patients with extra care and support.

# data[].attributes.body
The psychodynamic perspective refers to the idea that people's behaviour derives from their unconscious drive. This means that we are unaware of meanings motivating our behaviour. This relates to coping strategies as they are usually impulsive thoughts and behaviours that are hard to control.

Coping strategies are behaviours or mental processes used to manage/cope with distressing situations or problems. A range of coping strategies can be used by individuals when they are in situations that cannot be controlled as they may feel overwhelmed and use coping strategies as a way to cope with it. Effective coping strategies aim to help the individual feel better, however maladaptive coping strategies are other ways of coping that cause harm to the individual.

Examples of effective coping strategies are: taking deep breathes, counting down when they are angry, journal writing, therapy etc. Maladaptive coping strategies can be: self harm, alcohol/drug abuse, eating disorders etc. These can seriously damage an individual's health and wellbeing and therefore practitioners must be made aware of methods to support and care for individuals suffering with these maladaptive strategies.

# data[].attributes.body
Health and social care practice has changed due to research and evidence from psychological theories. For example, the attachment theory and the biological perspective has given practitioners the knowledge and understanding that skin to skin contact between a mother and her baby is crucial within the first hour of birth.
Research shows that it is so important as it: calms both the mother and baby, regulates the baby's heart rate and breathing, regulates temperature, reduces stress levels, and improves oxygen saturation. (UNICEF, n.d.).
It has also been found to increase maternal bonding, reduces the risk of early separation anxiety and stress, and encourages attachment. The attachment theory relates to this as it relates to the strong emotional bond between two people, usually mother and child and it explains how the parent/child relationship influences future development.

The Human Genome Project helps to identify genes responsible for cystic fibrosis. This has allowed further research to develop treatments and methods to manage those diagnosed with this condition. Therefore, research and evidence is crucial in health and social care practice as it allows better care and treatments to be provided to patients.

# data[].attributes.body
Therapeutic relationships are an interactive relationship with a patient and family that is caring, clear, boundaries, positive, and professional. The psychodynamic perspective looks at the unconscious drive and this is where this form of relationship was developed from.

Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy developed to gain an insight into someone's unconscious mind to identify issues during development, psychological problems, or other hidden factors that could be causing/contributing to depression and anxiety.

Humanistic researchers Maslow and Rogers extended this type of therapy to develop person-centred counselling which  relates to the idea that people can reach self-actualisation in the correct conditions. Achieving self-actualisation requires the therapist to be congruent, empathic, and provide positive regard towards patients.

This impacts health and social care practice as it creates an understanding of the unconscious mind which helps to understand and identify development issues and psychological problems. Having a better understanding of this means that better care can be provided to patients.

# data[].attributes.body
Research and evidence provides us with new appropriate interventions which may benefit patients and provide better care. Electroconvulsive therapy used to be used to relieve symptoms of mental health problems, however these have been replaced with talking therapies as this is a more effective way to offer support to people with mental health issues. Examples of talking therapies are counselling, behaviour activation and EMDR.

Both the cognitive and behaviourism perspective led to the development of cognitive development therapy (CBT) which helps people with many different problems such as: eating disorders, drug issues, alcohol problems, and depression. CBT can be more successful than medication as medication can lead to dependency and negative side effects.

Social skills training refers to learning activities using behavioural techniques to improve verbal and non-verbal social skills. This is mainly used for people with mental disorders or developmental disabilities, such as autism. Examples of these behaviours are: eye contact, tone, language, and personal space.

Appropriate interventions impact health and social care practice as it looks for more effective ways to provide care and support to people suffering with mental health problems, such as talking therapies and social skills training.

# data[].attributes.body
HEE (n.d.). Person-centred care [Online]. Available from: Person-centred care | Health Education England (hee.nhs.uk) [Accessed 6.2.22].
Pirbhai, J (2022). B1- Explain the impact of psychological theories on health and social care practice [Online]. Available from: Level 3 Year 1 CT3HC1F - B1 (google.com) [Accessed 6.2.22].
Pribhai, J (2022). Psychodynamic perspective [Online]. Available from: Level 3 Year 1 CT3HC1F - 2. Psychodynamic Perspective (google.com) [Accessed 6.2.22].
Sam M.S (n.d.) Coping strategy [Online]. Available from: What is COPING STRATEGY? definition of COPING STRATEGY (Psychology Dictionary) [Accessed 6.2.22].
Simply Psychology (n.d.). Psychology Perspectives [Online]. Available from: Psychology Perspectives | Simply Psychology [Accessed 6.2.22].
UNICEF (n.d.). Skin-to-skin contact [Online]. Available from: Skin-to-skin contact - Baby Friendly Initiative (unicef.org.uk) [Accessed 6.2.22].

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Psychology Perspectives

By Dr. Saul McLeod, updated 2013

There are various approaches in contemporary psychology.

An approach is a perspective (i.e., view) that involves certain assumptions (i.e., beliefs) about human behavior: the way they function, which aspects of them are worthy of study and what research methods are appropriate for undertaking this study.

There may be several different theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions.

The five major perspectives in psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic.

You may wonder why there are so many different psychology approaches and whether one approach is correct and others wrong.

Most psychologists would agree that no one approach is correct, although in the past, in the early days of psychology, the behaviorist would have said their perspective was the only truly scientific one.

Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, and brings something different to our understanding of human behavior. For this reason, it is important that psychology does have different perspectives on the understanding and study of human and animal behavior.

Below is a summary of the six main psychological approaches (sometimes called perspectives) in psychology.

Behaviorist Perspective

If your layperson's idea of psychology has always been about people in laboratories wearing white coats and watching hapless rats try to negotiate mazes in order to get to their dinner, then you are probably thinking about behavioral psychology.

Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. The behaviorist perspective is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) affect observable behavior (called the response).

The behaviorist perspective proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behavior.

Classical conditioning (CC) was studied by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Though looking into natural reflexes and neutral stimuli he managed to condition dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell through repeated associated with the sound of the bell and food.

The principles of CC have been applied in many therapies. These include systematic desensitization for phobias (step-by-step exposed to a feared stimulus at once) and aversion therapy.

B.F. Skinner investigated operant conditioning of voluntary and involuntary behavior. Skinner felt that some behavior could be explained by the person's motive. Therefore behavior occurs for a reason, and the three main behavior shaping techniques are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment.

Behaviorism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g., controlled experiments), and that only observable behavior should be studied because this can be objectively measured. Behaviorism rejects the idea that people have free will, and believes that the environment determines all behavior. Behaviorism is the scientific study of observable behavior working on the basis that behavior can be reduced to learned S-R (Stimulus-Response) units.

Behaviorism has been criticized in the way it under-estimates the complexity of human behavior. Many studies used animals which are hard to generalize to humans, and it cannot explain, for example, the speed in which we pick up language. There must be biological factors involved.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Who hasn't heard of Sigmund Freud? So many expressions of our daily life come from Freud's theories of psychoanalysis - subconscious, denial, repression and anal personality to name only a few.

Freud believes that events in our childhood can have a significant impact on our behavior as adults. He also believed that people have little free will to make choices in life. Instead, our behavior is determined by the unconscious mind and childhood experiences.

Freud's psychoanalysis is both a theory and therapy. It is the original psychodynamic theory and inspired psychologists such as Jung and Erikson to develop their own psychodynamic theories. Freud's work is vast, and he has contributed greatly to psychology as a discipline.

Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, explained the human mind as like an iceberg, with only a small amount of it being visible, that is our observable behavior, but it is the unconscious, submerged mind that has the most, underlying influence on our behavior. Freud used three main methods of accessing the unconscious mind: free association, dream analysis and slips of the tongue.

He believed that the unconscious mind consisted of three components: the ' id' the 'ego' and the 'superego.' The 'id' contains two main instincts: 'Eros', which is the life instinct, which involves self-preservation and sex which is fuelled by the 'libido' energy force. 'Thanatos' is the death instinct, whose energies, because they are less powerful than those of 'Eros' are channeled away from ourselves and into aggression towards others.

The 'id' and the 'superego' are constantly in conflict with each other, and the 'ego' tries to resolve the discord. If this conflict is not resolved, we tend to use defense mechanisms to reduce our anxiety. Psychoanalysis attempts to help patients resolve their inner conflicts.

An aspect of psychoanalysis is Freud's theory of psychosexual development. It shows how early experiences affect adult personality. Stimulation of different areas of the body is important as the child progresses through the important developmental stages. Too much or too little can have bad consequences later.

The most important stage is the phallic stage where the focus of the libido is on the genitals. During this stage little boys experience the 'Oedipus complex,' and little girls experience the 'Electra complex.' These complexes result in children identifying with their same-sex parent, which enables them to learn sex-appropriate behavior and a moral code of conduct.

However, it has been criticized in the way that it over emphasizes the importance of sexuality and under emphasized the role of social relationships. The theory is not scientific, and can't be proved as it is circular. Nevertheless, psychoanalysis has been greatly contributory to psychology in that it has encouraged many modern theorists to modify it for the better, using its basic principles, but eliminating its major flaws.

Humanistcic Perspective

Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person (know as holism). Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior, not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.

Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to his inner feelings and self-image. The humanistic perspective centers on the view that each person is unique and individual, and has the free will to change at any time in his or her life.

The humanistic perspective suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. We have the innate (i.e., inborn) capacity for self-actualization, which is our unique desire to achieve our highest potential as people.

Because of this focus on the person and his or her personal experiences and subjective perception of the world the humanists regarded scientific methods as inappropriate for studying behavior.

Two of the most influential and enduring theories in humanistic psychology that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s are those of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Cognitive Perspective

Psychology was institutionalized as a science in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt, who found the first psychological laboratory.

His initiative was soon followed by other European and American Universities. These early laboratories, through experiments, explored areas such as memory and sensory perception, both of which Wundt believed to be closely related to physiological processes in the brain. The whole movement had evolved from the early philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato. Today this approach is known as cognitive psychology.

Cognitive Psychology revolves around the notion that if we want to know what makes people tick then the way to do it is to figure out what processes are actually going on in their minds. In other words, psychologists from this perspective study cognition which is 'the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired.'

The cognitive perspective is concerned with "mental" functions such as memory, perception, attention, etc. It views people as being similar to computers in the way we process information (e.g., input-process-output). For example, both human brains and computers process information, store data and have input an output procedure.

This had led cognitive psychologists to explain that memory comprises of three stages: encoding (where information is received and attended to), storage (where the information is retained) and retrieval (where the information is recalled).

It is an extremely scientific approach and typically uses lab experiments to study human behavior. The cognitive approach has many applications including cognitive therapy and eyewitness testimony.

Biological Psychology

The biological perspective states that all thoughts, feeling & behavior ultimately have a biological cause. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, genetics, hormones, and the immune and nervous systems.

Theorists in the biological perspective who study behavioral genomics consider how genes affect behavior. Now that the human genome is mapped, perhaps, we will someday understand more precisely how behavior is affected by the DNA we inherit. Biological factors such as chromosomes, hormones and the brain all have a significant influence on human behavior, for example, gender.

The biological approach believes that most behavior is inherited and has an adaptive (or evolutionary) function. For example, in the weeks immediately after the birth of a child, levels of testosterone in fathers drop by more than 30 percent. This has an evolutionary function. Testosterone-deprived men are less likely to wander off in search of new mates to inseminate. They are also less aggressive, which is useful when there is a baby around.

Biological psychologists explain behaviors in neurological terms, i.e., the physiology and structure of the brain and how this influences behavior. Many biological psychologists have concentrated on abnormal behavior and have tried to explain it. For example, biological psychologists believe that schizophrenia is affected by levels of dopamine (a neurotransmitter).

These findings have helped psychiatry take off and help relieve the symptoms of mental illness through drugs. However, Freud and other disciplines would argue that this just treats the symptoms and not the cause. This is where health psychologists take the finding that biological psychologists produce and look at the environmental factors that are involved to get a better picture.

Evolutionary Psychology

A central claim of evolutionary psychology is that the brain (and therefore the mind) evolved to solve problems encountered by our hunter-gatherer ancestors during the upper Pleistocene period over 10,000 years ago.

The Evolutionary approach explains behavior in terms of the selective pressures that shape behavior. Most behaviors that we see/display are believed to have developed during our EEA (environment of evolutionary adaptation) to help us survive.

Observed behavior is likely to have developed because it is adaptive. It has been naturally selected, i.e., individuals who are best adapted to survive and reproduce. behaviors may even be sexually selected, i.e., individuals who are most successful in gaining access to mates leave behind more offspring.

The mind is therefore equipped with 'instincts' that enabled our ancestors to survive and reproduce.

A strength of this approach is that it can explain behaviors that appear dysfunctional, such as anorexia, or behaviors that make little sense in a modern context, such as our biological stress response when finding out we are overdrawn at the bank.

Perspectives Conclusion

Therefore, in conclusion, there are so many different perspectives in psychology to explain the different types of behavior and give different angles. No one perspective has explanatory powers over the rest.

Only with all the different types of psychology, which sometimes contradict one another (nature-nurture debate), overlap with each other (e.g. psychoanalysis and child psychology) or build upon one another (biological and health psychologist) can we understand and create effective solutions when problems arise, so we have a healthy body and a healthy mind.

The fact that there are different perspectives represents the complexity and richness of human (and animal) behavior. A scientific approach, such as Behaviorism or cognitive psychology, tends to ignore the subjective (i.e., personal) experiences that people have.

The humanistic perspective does recognize human experience, but largely at the expense of being non-scientific in its methods and ability to provide evidence. The psychodynamic perspective concentrates too much on the unconscious mind and childhood. As such, it tends to lose sight of the role of socialization (which is different in each country) and the possibility of free will.

The biological perspective reduces humans to a set of mechanisms and physical structures that are clearly essential and important (e.g., genes). However, it fails to account for consciousness and the influence of the environment on behavior.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Dr. Saul McLeod, updated 2013 There are various approaches in contemporary psychology. An approach is a perspective (i.e., view) that involves certain assumptions (i.e., beliefs) about human behavior: the way they function, which aspects of them are worthy of study and what research methods are appropriate for undertaking this study.