Question

Case Studies for Understanding of Theoretical Perspectives in Human Services

Which theories would you use to address the behavioral dysfunction? Medical? Psychotherapeutic? Behavioristic? Humanistic? What should Human Services professional do? Case Study #1: Richie and Denise Jones Bob and Mary Jones have three children. One of these children, Jimmy (8 yrs. old) is severely autistic. He gets services through the school district, but his behaviors are difficult in the home and always have been. He does not communicate with his brother and sister, who are older. His father is his primary caregiver at home, since his mother has distanced herself from him, and will not engage in his care. The other two children are in middle school and are starting to stay away from their home and from their brother. The boy, Richie, is angry all the time and has been fighting at school. The girl, Denise, is starting to vomit after meals. Case Study #2: John Smith John and Corinne Smith are struggling with the new economic realities. John lost his job as a salesman in 2014 and Corinne has been carrying the economic burden of the family ever since. They have two children, under 5. John became the primary caregiver for the children, but not by choice. He doesn’t have much patience for their behaviors, nor for the domestic role of “stay at home dad.” Corinne is concerned that he may be ignoring them during the day, or worse. When she gets home, John immediately takes off and spends most evenings with his buddy, Jay, who is single. John’s pattern of drinking has intensified, so much so, that once, in the morning, Corinne had to call his mother to come over and watch the kids, because he had passed out at Jay’s. Case Study #3: Ava Ava is a 76 year old woman living by herself in a family home that has become too much for her to take care of. Her family lives in another state. She hears from them regularly, but only from a distance her friends are starting to move away, go into senior facilities, and in some cases, die. Unfortunately, the new people on her street don’t really like old people, and she doesn’t know them at all. Neighbor boys are always turning over her trashcans. She drives, but is having more difficulty navigating after dark, and dealing with left turns. She is also starting to be a bit confused about finding her destination when driving. At home, she watches TV, which tends to make her glad that she doesn’t have to go out. “It’s crazy out there!” However, without friends to share her days, she is very lonely. So lonely, that she doesn’t eat much anymore, or perhaps she is forgetting to eat? Case Study #4: Anna Lopez Carlos and Anna Lopez worked hard to get to the United States from Ecuador. They both work and are raising four children, two in high school, and two in middle school. They rent their house and would like to relocate, but cannot afford it at this time. When Anna goes off to work, she uses the local bus, and finds herself becoming almost fearful of the other people using that bus. So many of them are using drugs, with empty vials and even syringes sometimes in the alley near the bus stop. Then when she gets to work, the other employees are always asking here to translate for Hispanic clients, leaving her without enough time to get to her own work. She hears her co-workers saying terrible things about the Hispanic clients, and senses they see her in the same way, just another “illegal.” Then when she gets home, her kids are almost impossible to control anymore. No respect. She gives up. Carlos tells her he is working hard to move them to a better neighborhood and that she must be patient. But mainly she is sad and has difficulty sleeping.

Answer 1

ANSWER:
Many behavior psychologists have been used the learning process to understand the behavior Such as Skinner, Pavlov. Through the learning process, we can understand dysfunctional behavior such as depression, anxiety, and stress. In learning theories, many techniques are used to learn the behavior. There are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment both positive and negative that help to understand the behavior of human beings as well as animals.

Positive reinforcement helps a person to repeat that behavior so that the person can get reinforcement again. The behaviorist does not pay much attention to perception, thought, and consciousness. The behaviorist did this. It does not mean they are not aware of internal feelings but they focused on the influencing behavior and it is difficult to, measure the internal feeling of a person. Perception, attitude expectation all influenced the behavior of a person. So that the old fashioned approach is not so much popular these days. Now, these days most of the psychologist invented a new approach to treat depression.