Adjustment (psychology)

Last updated

In psychology, adjustment is the condition of a person who is able to adapt to changes in their physical, occupational, and social environment. In other words, adjustment refers to the behavioural process of balancing conflicting needs, or needs challenged by obstacles in the environment. Humans and animals regularly adjust to their environment. For example, when they are stimulated by their physiological state to seek food, they eat (if possible) to reduce their hunger and thus adjust to the hunger stimulus. Adjustment disorder occurs when there is an inability to make a normal adjustment to some need or stress in the environment.

Contents

Successful adjustment is crucial to having a high quality of life. Those who are unable to adjust well are more likely to have clinical anxiety or depression, [1] as well as experience feelings of hopelessness, anhedonia, difficulty concentrating, sleeping problems and reckless behavior. [2]

When evaluating adjustment it can be considered in two ways: adjustment as an achievement and adjustment as a process.

Adjustment as an achievement

This model addresses adjustment at a specific moment in time, considering an individual's adjustment to one challenge, not to all challenges they have faced. Successfully adjusting to one scenario can be independent of struggling to adjust to another, unrelated scenario. [3] An example of this type of approach is observing a poor student beginning to study during recess because they do not have a home environment where they can effectively study. Beginning to study at another time would be considered adequately adjusting to this scenario, but does not consider the other ways it may impact their life (i.e.: inhibiting social interactions with peers.) [4] [5]

Adjustment as a process

The 'adjustment as a process' theory portrays that, since the moment we are born, humans are in a constant state of adjustment. Since we exist in a state of constant, oftentimes rapid change, it follows that we cannot break these changes down into separate, unrelated challenges. This method of consideration asserts there is no way to 'adjust successfully' because something will always be about to change and prompt further adjustment. This approach views all life events as inextricable from some form of adjustment. [6]

Successful adjustment

Successful adjustment is also called being 'well adjusted' and is critical to mental health. Colloquially, being well-adjusted is defined as a person who "is reasonable and has good judgement...their behavior is not difficult or strange." [7] It is important to remember that adjustment is a continuum, not a simple dichotomy; people can fluctuate and be adept at adjusting in different circumstances. In general, a person that is well-adjusted will have the following characteristics:

These more detailed characteristics listed above can be synthesized into these main criteria:

An individual that does not have these characteristics or is not consistently meeting the listed criteria could be diagnosed with an Adjustment disorder. If diagnosed, they would likely be treated with psychotherapy to help them develop these skills and abilities. Ways to encourage these healthy adjustment mechanisms may include:

Examples of adjustment methods

Many methods used for adjustment are also defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms can be either adaptive or maladaptive depending on the context and the use. In a 2003 study, researchers found that elementary school children that utilized appropriate defense mechanisms had higher performance in academic, social, conduct, and athletic domains. [11]

Day Dreaming

Additional Examples

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Developmental psychology</span> Scientific study of psychological changes in humans over the course of their lives

Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. Developmental psychologists aim to explain how thinking, feeling, and behaviors change throughout life. This field examines change across three major dimensions, which are physical development, cognitive development, and social emotional development. Within these three dimensions are a broad range of topics including motor skills, executive functions, moral understanding, language acquisition, social change, personality, emotional development, self-concept, and identity formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humour</span> Tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement

Humour or humor is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours, controlled human health and emotion.

In psychoanalytic theory, a defence mechanism is an unconscious psychological operation that functions to protect a person from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and outer stressors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community psychology</span> Branch of psychology

Community psychology is concerned with the community as the unit of study. This contrasts with most psychology which focuses on the individual. Community psychology also studies the community as a context for the individuals within it, and the relationships of the individual to communities and society. Community psychologists seek to understand the functioning of the community, including the quality of life of persons within groups, organizations and institutions, communities, and society. They aim to enhance the quality of life through collaborative research and action.

In psychology, inferiority complex is a consistent feeling of inadequacy, often resulting in the belief that one is in some way deficient, or inferior, to others.

Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. Coping is to deal with and overcome struggles and difficulties in life. It is a way for us to maintain our mental and emotional well-being. Everybody has a way of handling the hard events that occur in our life and that is what it means to cope. Coping can be healthy and productive, or destructive and unhealthy for you or others. It is recommended that an individual copes in ways that will be beneficial and healthy. "Managing your stress well can help you feel better physically and psychologically and it can impact your ability to perform your best."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diathesis–stress model</span> Psychological theory

The diathesis-stress model, also known as the vulnerability–stress model, is a psychological theory that attempts to explain a disorder, or its trajectory, as the result of an interaction between a predispositional vulnerability, the diathesis, and stress caused by life experiences. The term diathesis derives from the Greek term (διάθεσις) for a predisposition or sensibility. A diathesis can take the form of genetic, psychological, biological, or situational factors. A large range of differences exists among individuals' vulnerabilities to the development of a disorder.

Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind.

An emotional expression is a behavior that communicates an emotional state or attitude. It can be verbal or nonverbal, and can occur with or without self-awareness. Emotional expressions include facial movements like smiling or scowling, simple behaviors like crying, laughing, or saying "thank you," and more complex behaviors like writing a letter or giving a gift. Individuals have some conscious control of their emotional expressions; however, they need not have conscious awareness of their emotional or affective state in order to express emotion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emotional detachment</span> Inability and/or disinterest in emotionally connecting to others

In psychology, emotional detachment, also known as emotional blunting, is a condition or state in which a person lacks emotional connectivity to others, whether due to an unwanted circumstance or as a positive means to cope with anxiety. Such a coping strategy, also known as emotion focused-coping, is used when avoiding certain situations that might trigger anxiety. It refers to the evasion of emotional connections. Emotional detachment may be a temporary reaction to a stressful situation, or a chronic condition such as depersonalization-derealization disorder. It may also be caused by certain antidepressants. Emotional blunting, also known as reduced affect display, is one of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis, or to return to pre-crisis status quickly.

The psychosocial approach looks at individuals in the context of the combined influence that psychological factors and the surrounding social environment have on their physical and mental wellness and their ability to function. This approach is used in a broad range of helping professions in health and social care settings as well as by medical and social science researchers.

In the study of psychology, neuroticism has been considered a fundamental personality trait. In the Big Five approach to personality trait theory, individuals with high scores for neuroticism are more likely than average to be moody and to experience such feelings as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, pessimism, guilt, depressed mood, and loneliness. Such people are thought to respond worse to stressors and are more likely to interpret ordinary situations, such as minor frustrations, as appearing hopelessly difficult. The responses can include maladaptive behaviors, such as dissociation, procrastination, substance use, etc., which aids in relieving the negative emotions and generating positive ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychological intervention</span>

In applied psychology, interventions are actions performed to bring about change in people. A wide range of intervention strategies exist and they are directed towards various types of issues. Most generally, it means any activities used to modify behavior, emotional state, or feelings. Psychological interventions have many different applications and the most common use is for the treatment of mental disorders, most commonly using psychotherapy. The ultimate goal behind these interventions is not only to alleviate symptoms but also to target the root cause of mental disorders.

Stress-related disorders constitute a category of mental disorders. They are maladaptive, biological and psychological responses to short- or long-term exposures to physical or emotional stressors. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences categorizes Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as stress-related disorders. However, the World Health Organization's ICD-11 excludes OCD but categories PTSD, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), adjustment disorder as stress-related disorders.

Evolutionary approaches to depression are attempts by evolutionary psychologists to use the theory of evolution to shed light on the problem of mood disorders within the perspective of evolutionary psychiatry. Depression is generally thought of as dysfunction or a mental disorder, but its prevalence does not increase with age the way dementia and other organic dysfunction commonly does. Some researchers have surmised that the disorder may have evolutionary roots, in the same way that others suggest evolutionary contributions to schizophrenia, sickle cell anemia, psychopathy and other disorders. Psychology and psychiatry have not generally embraced evolutionary explanations for behaviors, and the proposed explanations for the evolution of depression remain controversial.

In psychology, posttraumatic growth (PTG) is positive psychological change experienced as a result of struggling with highly challenging, highly stressful life circumstances. These circumstances represent significant challenges to the adaptive resources of the individual, and pose significant challenges to the individual's way of understanding the world and their place in it. Posttraumatic growth involves "life-changing" psychological shifts in thinking and relating to the world and the self, that contribute to a personal process of change, that is deeply meaningful.

Psychological behaviorism is a form of behaviorism — a major theory within psychology which holds that generally human behaviors are learned — proposed by Arthur W. Staats. The theory is constructed to advance from basic animal learning principles to deal with all types of human behavior, including personality, culture, and human evolution. Behaviorism was first developed by John B. Watson (1912), who coined the term "behaviorism," and then B. F. Skinner who developed what is known as "radical behaviorism." Watson and Skinner rejected the idea that psychological data could be obtained through introspection or by an attempt to describe consciousness; all psychological data, in their view, was to be derived from the observation of outward behavior. The strategy of these behaviorists was that the animal learning principles should then be used to explain human behavior. Thus, their behaviorisms were based upon research with animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychological stress</span> Feeling of strain and pressure

In psychology, stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial, as it can improve athletic performance, motivation and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, can increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression and also aggravation of a pre-existing condition.

Emotional approach coping is a psychological construct that involves the use of emotional processing and emotional expression in response to a stressful situation. As opposed to emotional avoidance, in which emotions are experienced as a negative, undesired reaction to a stressful situation, emotional approach coping involves the conscious use of emotional expression and processing to better deal with a stressful situation. The construct was developed to explain an inconsistency in the stress and coping literature: emotion-focused coping was associated with largely maladaptive outcomes while emotional processing and expression was demonstrated to be beneficial.

References

  1. ↑ Ward, Colleen; Kennedy, Antony (1994-06-01). "Acculturation strategies, psychological adjustment, and sociocultural competence during cross-cultural transitions". International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 18 (3): 329–343. doi:10.1016/0147-1767(94)90036-1. ISSN   0147-1767.
  2. ↑ Bisson, Jonathan I.; Sakhuja, Divya (2006-07-01). "Adjustment disorders". Psychiatry. 5 (7): 240–242. doi:10.1053/j.mppsy.2006.04.004. ISSN   1476-1793.
  3. ↑ Hammond, Kenneth R.; O'Kelly, Lawrence I. (1955). "A note on adjustment as achievement". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 51 (2): 171–174. doi:10.1037/h0048667. PMID   13263025.
  4. ↑ Dockett, Sue; Perry, Bob; Tracey, Danielle (1997). Getting Ready for School [microform] / Sue Dockett, Bob Perry and Danielle Tracey. [Washington D.C.]: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse.
  5. ↑ Dockett, Sue; Griebel, Wilfried; Perry, Bob (2017-07-04). Families and transition to school. Dockett, Sue,, Griebel, Wilfried,, Perry, Bob, 1945-. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN   9783319583297. OCLC   992988904.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ↑ Arkoff, Abe (1968). Adjustment and mental health . McGraw-Hill.
  7. ↑ "well adjusted Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  8. ↑ Mangal, S. K. (2002). Advanced educational psychology (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India. ISBN   9788120320383. OCLC   51858255.
  9. ↑ de Ridder, Denise; Geenen, Rinie; Kuijer, Roeline; van Middendorp, Henriët (2008-07-19). "Psychological adjustment to chronic disease". Lancet. 372 (9634): 246–255. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61078-8. ISSN   1474-547X. PMID   18640461. S2CID   29280153.
  10. ↑ "Adjustment disorders - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic". www.mayoclinic.org. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  11. ↑ Sandstrom, Marlene J.; Cramer, Phebe (August 2003). "Defense mechanisms and psychological adjustment in childhood". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 191 (8): 487–495. doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000082214.19699.6f. ISSN   0022-3018. PMID   12972850. S2CID   13529547.
  12. ↑ Poerio, Giulia L.; Totterdell, Peter; Emerson, Lisa-Marie; Miles, Eleanor (2016-01-21). "Social Daydreaming and Adjustment: An Experience-Sampling Study of Socio-Emotional Adaptation During a Life Transition". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 13. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00013 . PMC   4720731 . PMID   26834685.
  13. ↑ Introduction to Psychology. Goodwill Trading Co., Inc. ISBN   9789715740210.
  14. ↑ "Intellectualization as a Defense Mechanism Following Childhood Trauma". Childhood Trauma Recovery. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  15. ↑ "Intellectualization | Encyclopedia of Psychology". Encyclopedia of Psychology. 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  16. ↑ "Understanding Rationalization: Making Excuses as an Effective Manipulation Tactic". CounsellingResource.com: Psychology, Therapy & Mental Health Resources. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  17. ↑ Sandler, Joseph (1988-12-31). Projection, Identification, Projective Identification. Karnac Books. ISBN   9781781810286.
  18. ↑ "Defense mechanism | human psychology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  19. ↑ "Projection". changingminds.org. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.