Application of Human Behavior Theories, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The chief purpose of this assignment is applying human behaviour theories to a case and thereby to understand a particular problem that exist in human behaviour and further develop across the life span of the client. The approach is to identify a case and then to elaborate the case. This will be further analysed by the theoretical approaches from the same field. The purpose is to bring in theoretical perspectives into the empirical aspects for an analytical persuasion.

In this paper the analysis has been forwarded regarding a client with alcohol dependence with the Bulimia Nervosa.  This is a case that will be analysed very critically in order to get the application of human behaviour theories for some solution to the same.

The Problem

The problem that this paper is trying to investigate is related to a client, Mercy David. The whole family was born and brought up in a rural area that was once very renowned for mining operations. However in the present scenario that area is having high unemployment situation, due to the closure of the mine. Mercy is a married lady with an alcoholic husband. She was in her mid 30s and was having a child, 8 years old. As a matter of fact Mercy’s family also had alcoholism. Her mother was an alcoholic without any father. She was raised y her mother’s parents. During that period, she faced ongoing sexual abuse from an uncle from an age of 8 to 13. In spite of such a childhood, Mercy excelled in school and gained associates’ degree. Her mental structure has been so mould that she hardly can hold her head up; which actually allows her hair fall in front of her face. She is very prone to the act of mumbling, though in a very timid voice. The basic problem in her is getting mis-directed in a conversation that actually can address an emotional touch to her.

Mercy was alcohol dependence and was also suffering from Bulemia Nervosa disorder. As declared by ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ Bulimia nervosa has been recognized as an eating disorder that gets characterized by the act of recurrent binge eating. This eventually gets followed by compensatory behaviours. In this state the most common form of trouble is the defensive vomiting, or the purging. This leads to the tendency of fasting and the use of enemas, laxatives and diuretics (Harper, 2001). As declared by Fairburn (1995) ‘bulimia’ is a word derived from Latin, ‘b?l?mia, meaning ‘a compound of ‘bous’, that is Ox, and ‘l?mos’ that is hunger. As for Nervosa, it represents disorder in human behaviour.

Impact at Various Stages

The impact of Bulemia Nervosa in Mercy had a great impact over the people she was living with. On individual as well as family grounds, Mercy faced lots of trouble. For personal sufferance, Mercy was always troubled from the age of 13. It was like a part of her day to day life. During these Mercy faced rapid as well as a state of out-of-control eating. She could only stop eating when her bulimic gets interrupted someone else. Initially it was her grandmother, who tried to make her realise that she is having more than she actually can. Actually due to sexual abuses from her uncle, Mercy often used to get into depression and eating became the solution to get out of it. She used to eat till her stomach hurts due to overextension. Eventually she needs to self-induce vomiting. When she was into severe depression this cycle got repeated several times in a week; leading to several times per day as she grew up.

It was after marriage that she started having the cycles several times a day and thus visited the physiologist. There she came to know that she has been affected by many other problems. She was having chronic gastric reflux just after eating and that gets added by dehydration as well as hypokalemia due to frequent vomiting. There are possibilities that she might have electrolyte imbalance that can further lead to cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmia and even death. Added to all these she was already suffering from obesity and was having tough time during her pregnancy.

However the most pathetic part is the sufferance that her 8 years old child was facing, whom she was unable to concentrate due to regular troubles. As a matter of fact she even lost interest on her child and the child was subsequently ignored. Her child initially tried to have the company of her parents, but slowly start getting involved in her own self. There is a kind of loneliness in her that might to some difficult situations in the future.

Professional Literature on Biopsychosocial and Cultural of Bulemia Nervosa

There are many investigations and expeditions forwarded in terms of dealing with the biopsychosocial and cultural side of Bulemia Nervosa. It has been discovered that the presence of these kind of disorders are due to severe depressions and usually develops during adolescence. According to Agras (2004) this is a kind of disorder in human behaviour that develops between the age group of 13 to 20 years. In most cases this disorder appears to those who have suffered obesity in the previous life.  The reason is that there is the social teasing mode for obese people, and that ends up with such depressions. There are many girls in their teens who are suffering it till their adulthood with episodic binging added by purging. Walsh, et.al (2000) discover that Bulimia Nervosa can turn up to be very difficult for detection. In comparison to the disorder like anorexia nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa can be hard to identify. The chief cause is that bulimics usually tend to appear in an average or sometimes slightly above/below average weight. There will be many bulimics that can get engage in significant habits of disordered-eating and irregular exercising patterns. This usually does not meet full diagnostic criteria to be identified as bulimia nervosa.

Tölgyes and Nemessury (2004), referred to the epidemiological study towards the dieting behaviours. Their investigations showed that there are higher rates of eating disorders discovered in groups that are a part of activities idealizing slim physique, like those of dance, modelling, gymnastics, cheerleading, fashion parades, acting, etc. Added to this; on ethnic grounds, Franko, et.al. (2007) declared that bulimia is very common and prevalent among Caucasians. This is a cultural reference that has been diagnosed under a cross cultural study and the cases related to the same have been well established.

Application of Theories

In order to find out the appropriate theory for the purpose of solving or curing the behavioural disorder of Bulimia Nervosa, it is necessary to investigate the process from the chid-centric and adult-counselling point of views. Since the disorder begins from an early age, it is necessary to concentrate it from that particular stage. If somehow the child gets ignored than to avoid further seriousness and severity, the patient can also be treated at a matured age.  In this paper there are two specific theoretical approaches are scrutinised to find out the related relevance to the case of Mercy David.

Child-Centric Theoretical Approach

The implementation of child-centric approach has been much initiated y Smidt (2006). Smidt was very particular about dealing with children suffering from Bulimia Nervosa. He took child-centred view in reference to the education and the process of learning, added by multidisciplinary exploration of the child during the childhood. According to this theory, it is in childhood that a child is capable enough to make sense of his or her experiences in the world. It is here that the investigator needs to inspect over every particular thing that the child comes in contact with. It is also necessary to check over all kinds of interactions that the child faces on day to day basis. This theoretical approach by Smidt demands for a broad assessment of the child that comes for treatment. Under this theory the investigator inspects over the child’s role as well as experiences, with hold over diversified range of domains. This theory is inclusive of global as well as specific historical childhoods, consideration for the child as the sole meaning-maker along with being an active learner. The learning of the child gets inspected through the context of family in which he or she lives, socio-cultural set up, group and society along with the environment in which he or she passes his/her days. It is all about identifying the act of representing and then the process to re-represent the world. The theory also marks the development of various symbolic representations added by the relation between the child and the respective culture. It is the means to detect the capability of the child in understanding diversified roles, specific identity and the contexts dealing with race and gender. Making of meaningful senses can be achieved through the participation of science and technology and that helps this theory to check over the functionalities and the development of the brain of the child.

In case of Mercy, this theoretical approach would have been very proper in curing her at a tender age. Since Smidt adopts the formulation of depicting children as representative symbol users, along with the capability of being role-players, Mercy would have enough support in speaking her out to the investigator. As for this approach the child is the investigator as well as the creative thinker, mercy would have got the scope to explore the other side of life by engaging herself in some other activities. By the use of this Child-centric approach, the investigator would have kept every record of the Mercy’s progress and thereby would have helped her in dealing with the factors of depression. She would have got the opportunity to understand her environment by means of asking questions. This would have been the best possible means to for her to deal with sexual abuse that she faced. There would have been provision of shifting her to her mother’s place or the uncle who used to abuse her would have been well dealt by law. Added to this Mercy would have got a chance to heal her pain by participating in social and cultural activities.

Family Therapy

The second theoretical approach to deal with the disorder of human behaviour; that is Bulimia Nervosa in this paper is that of ‘Family Therapy by Carter and McGoldrick (2005). This approach is actually an integrated and amalgamated structure of all those practices that were proved to be success in the past. This is a theoretical approach that deals with the matured level of treatment of Bulimia Nervosa. There is an exclusive approach towards human life cycle in this approach.  By concentrating over the developmental structure of human behaviour, the theory investigates over the whole life cycle of the patient. This is an approach that determines the root causes of the disorder by reflecting changes caused in the society. This is an approach that is away from the orientation for nuclear family and leads towards more diversified and the inclusive definition of the framework “family.” There is an expansion of the term family that is inclusive of all those members who lives or lived with the patient.  It marks the inter-relationship of these members with the patient and tries to count over their impacts over the patient from childhood. This expanded notion of family also includes the cultural group, community and the larger society in which the patient spend his or her life. The issues related to the impact of social considerations over ethnic, racial and cultural diversity too are investigated.

In case of Mercy David, due to lack of attention, she was deprived from any kind of medical attention during her childhood. But by this theoretical approach she can be cured even at a matured age. This is possible through the means of effective adult counselling (Goodman, et.al 2006). In this process of counselling, Mercy will be investigated about her whole life. She will get the scope to utter every particular point that made her go under Bulimia Nervaso.  In her sessions, she will be made o believe the complexity of the world. Since this will be a process that will basically investigate about the family and the environment in which she spent her childhood; Mercy will be able to discusses the traumas that she had undergone. It is with the support of the investigator that Mercy will be able to reveal every layer of her life; right from her childhood, through adolescent and to the stage of being at mid 30s.

The most effective part of ‘Family Therapy is that; in this process, Mercy will be dealt through her experiences within her family and will get the room to declare her suffocation. The issues related to cultural diversity under the influence of spirituality will be made applicable for Mercy. She will be made believe to live in the future and will be realised about the existence of her child. Since she has got a daughter, the investigator can make her feel that by her ignorance, she is indulging her child in growing with Bulimia Nervosa in the future, which will be far more effective than any other treatment. Since the context of family is the core concern of this therapy, it is the best possible way to treat people like Mercy, who are sensitive to emotional issues. The reference to her daughter will give her the strength to fight against the adversity that she faced in her childhood and that is the most positive aspect of this theory.

Conclusion

Eventually it can be well concluded that since Mercy David could not see the doctor during her childhood, it is very necessary for her to meet one at her matured age. Her disorder is very much curable if the actual cause and the personal efforts are kept upfront. The second theoretical approach is definitely the right choice for Mercy.   It is very appropriate to note that in order to deal with Bulimia Nervosa it is necessary to have a record of the development faced by the sense of self, added by the social self as well as moral development (Rayner, et.al. 2005). A whole analytical understanding of the patient’s life, here Mercy David; the treatment demands for systematic persuasion of psychological dealings with the crucial set up of the patient’s heart and mind. It is thus very important to collect the report about the whole cycle of life of the patient. This will be inclusive of every crucial stage faced by the patient. The stages of adolescence, followed by parenthood, mid-life and lastly the old age are the means to understand the whole life of the patient and that supports for a complete solution to Bulimia Nervaso.

References

Agras, W S (2004), Disorders of eating: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, in Shader, R I, Manual of psychiatric therapeutics, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, ISBN 0781744598

Carter, Betty and Monica McGoldrick (2005) The Expanded Family Life Cycle: Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives. 3rd Edition. Allyn & Bacon

Clarke-Stewart, Alison  and Judy Dunn (2006) Families Count: Effects on Child and Adolescent Development. Cambridge University Press

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR (4th ed.). American Psychiatric Association. 1994. ISBN 0890420629.

Fairburn, Christopher (1995), Overcoming Binge Eating, Guilford, ISBN 0898621798

Franko, Debra L; Becker, Anne E; Thomas, Jennifer J; Herzog, David B (2007), “Cross-ethnic differences in eating disorder symptoms and related distress”, International Journal of Eating Disorders (Wiley) 40 (2),doi:10.1002/eat.20341

Goodman, Jane.,  Nancy Schlossberg and Mary Anderson, (2006) Counseling Adults in Transition: Linking Practice With The ory. 3 edition. Springer Publishing Company

Harper, Douglas (November 2001). “Online Etymology Dictionary: bulimia”. Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bulimia&searchmode=none

Rayner, Eric., Christopher Clulow, Angela Joyce, James Rose, Mary Twyman (2005) Human Development: An Introduction to the Psychodynamics of Growth, Maturity and Ageing. 4 edition. Routledge

Smidt, Sandra (2006) The Developing Child in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective On Child Development. 1 edition. Routledge

Tölgyes, T; Nemessury, J (2004), “Epidemiological studies on adverse dieting behaviours and eating disorders among young people in Hungary”, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (Springer) 39 (8): 647-654, doi:10.1007/s00127-004-0783-z

Walsh, J M E; Wheat, M.E; Freund, K (2000), Detection, evaluation, and treatment of eating disorders, Journal of General Internal Medicine (Springer) 15 (8): 577–590, doi:10.1046/j.1525-1497.2000.02439.x,PMID 10940151