Behavioral/Mental Health Study Tips
Read these 11 Behavioral/Mental Health Study Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Emotional tips and hundreds of other topics.
Counterconditioning
Counterconditioning is simply adding a new stimulus to an old one to stimulate a new response that is different than if only the first stimulus was offered. For example, a natural consequence for dumping out a trunk full of toys is to have to pick them up. If, however, a child continues to dump toys out and leave them, an additional task, such as also cleaning up another area of the room, might be tacked on.
Extinction
Extinction is a conditioned response fading over time. For example, you might reward a child with a sticker each time s/he displays the appropriate behavior being targeted. After time, you might only reward him with a sticker every fifth time the appropriate behavior is seen. He then continues to show the appropriate behavior even though it is no longer being reinforced with a sticker.
Satir's Humanism
This theory is centered around the relationship between self-esteem and communication, with the two factors being viewed as circular. The key to increasing self-worth is in straight to the heart communication. To do this, therapists must create an atmosphere where family members feel safe, accepted, and able to risk exposing self and ideas.
Family Life Cycle
The family life cycle was developed by Betty Carter and Monica McGoldrick and is based on Bowenian theory. Carter and McGoldrick believe that it is important to identify the vertical stressors (e.g., family behavior patterns, myths, secrets, and legacies) where they intersect with horizontal stressors (e.g., life cycle transitions, death, chronic illness, accidents) in the context of social support systems (e.g., nuclear family, extended family, social groups, community) and in time. Need more help on theory? Visit this online course. You can earn CEU credit!
Cybernetics
The key component of Cybernetcs is the belief that families do want to change, they just do not possess the resources to do so. To find out more about theory, visit this Online Class for certification or CEU credit!
Bowenian Theory
Key concepts of this theory is the differentiation of self, the multi-generational transmission process, and triangles. Bowen believed that if people became aware of the existence of the triangling processes in their nuclear and extended families and learned to avoid being pulled into a triangle, they would gradually differentiate. To find out more about Bowenian and other theories, you might be interested in an online class on theory.
Behaviorism
Behavior theory describes how we think, perceive and learn as a way of explaining personality. Gurus of the field include: Pavlov, Watson, Wolpe, Skinner, and Thorndike.
Key concepts include: classical conditioning, generalization, extinction, counterconditioning, operant conditioning, and stimulus generalization.
Pavlov
Pavlov was one of the founding gurus of behavioral theory (remember the salivating dog?) His theory of classical conditioning taught us that antecedents play a crucial role in learned behavior. If you remember, Pavlov fed his dogs while ringing a bell at the same time. over time, the dogs saliva juices started flowing at the sound of a bell without the meat. Need more help on theory? You may be interested in this online class.
Functionalism
A core feature of of this theory is that the adaptive value of any behavior can be found if the behavior is viewed in the context of its environment. Deviant behavior may serve a protective function for the family. Symptoms are viewed as signs that the family is not adapting well to the environment, or, the environment is unable to meet the family's needs. For more information on Functionalism and other theories, you may be interested in this Online Class available for CEU credit or certification.
Structuralism
The key component of this theory is the belief that families encounter problems because of boundary violations between sub-systems of the family. Violations of boundaries include inappropriate alliances and coalitions. Unclear boundaries are reflected in the relationship of family members to each other. The key to changing individuals is to change their structural context. An improvement in the family structure will help cure the problem. To find out more about structuralism and other theories, you may be interesed in this online class.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Patricia Walters-Fischer |
