Introduction
Challenging behaviour can be defined as a
‘Culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities.’
(Emerson, E (1995), cited in Emerson, E (2001, 2nd edition)
Q1
Challenging behaviour is often exhibited by individuals with learning developmental disabilities, dementia or other mental health issues such as stroke,acquired brain injuries, psychosis or by children, although these behaviours can be displayed by any person at any time of their lives.
A individual with challenging behaviour tends to be seen as a ‘problem’ to be fixed or that that individual is doing something ‘wrong’, but this may be a sign that something may not be working or going correctly in their lives. Showing that there are often some unfulfilled needs or problems with communication.
Behaviour can be seen as challenging if it causes the individual to stop fulfilling aspect of their lives,and can include, an individual that cannot go to school because they show aggressive behaviour toward staff or and peer.
Challenging behaviour is when we expect an individual to show patterns of behaviour that can become a challenge to all involved in the individuals care.
There are a wide range of different behaviours that can be considered challenging or abnormal.
Typically these behaviour can impact the individual and those around them, sometimes external factors can impact the person behaviour and/ or circumstance, that can include homeless, abuse/ sexual abuse, drug abuse and or death of a loved one.
Challenging behaviour may be caused by many external factors including biological pain, or medication, the need for sensory stimulation, social boredom, seeking social interaction, the need for control, lack of knowledge of community norms (this can be the case for convicts being released from prison),environmental, physical aspects such as noise and lighting,psychological feeling excluded, lonely, devalued, labelled or disempowered.
These external stimuli can greatly impact and impede a person’s behaviour, this can something be in the form of hitting or attacking others, anti-social behaviour/ or isolation, frequently losing their temper, inappropriate sexual behaviour with other or there self, damaging objects, or by causing injuring to themselves.
This may also be a means of communication or for attention and sometimes be viewed as a ‘behavioural equivalent’ to a mental health issue.
Most of the time, challenging behaviour is learned and can bring rewards when this is acted out, but it is also possible to teach an individual new behaviours to achieve the same aims.
Research has suggested that what professionals define as “challenging behaviour” is often a reaction to the challenging environments they are often in.
Albert Bandura conducted a study in 1961 to investigate social behaviours, by doing this he wanted to prove that behaviours can be affected by our observations.
Stating human behavior is learned observationally through modeling when observing others this is an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and later on how this information serves as a guide for our later action when in a similar situation.
Social learning theory explains how human behavior is continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive behavioral and environmental influences.
Bandura believed in “reciprocal determinism” this is, the world and a person’s behavior, which is caused by each other, where as, behaviorism is one’s environment that causes their learned behavior.
Erik Erikson developed an epigenetic principle which identifies how we develop through a predetermined unfolding our personalities through 8 stages.
Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development considers the impact of external/ situational factor parents and society on personality development from childhood to adulthood.
Erikson first stated that there was an 8-stage model of human development known as the psychosocial development and was key to a healthy adjusted individual.
Another key concept of Erikson’s theory is the notion that personality is shaped over a lifespan, implying that experiences later in life can heal or improve problems that happened in early childhood.
Believing we pass through these stage from infancy to adulthood and that these stages are centered on crisis and in some situations can either strengthen the ego or make them more vulnerable.
When discussing stages we must also discuss strands of development as these help us to monitor development and are widely used in most health professions as “targets” the most common of these strands are SPECC which monitor your Social, Emotional, physical and cognitive development and is used to cross reference with other agencies when need to determine an individual’s personal development be it for medical or support reasons.
Situational factors refer to an event we have not anticipated for and could be in the form of a loud or unexpected noise, a change of plans or new care staff, these can all contribute to challenging behaviour.
Sometimes we can experience a cluster of events that exacerbate and cause challenging behaviour,for example, moving house, changing schools due to a divorce.
Q2
Learned helplessness is a phenomenon observed in both humans and in animals, when they have been conditioned to expect pain, suffering or discomfort without a way of escape.
Research has shown than an increase in serotonin levels with the brain which plays a crucial role in learned helplessness, and could cause physical and mental health issues.
Seligman suggested that these deficits were a consequence of the animals learning their behavior had no impact on the outcome.
After experience with uncontrollable outcomes, the animals appeared to develop a low expectation with control over later outcomes which could be controlled.
These low expectancies appeared to produce motivational,emotional and behavioral deficits that are similar to depression which have been observed in humans.
In 1975 Seilgman compared the responses of people experiencing feelings of helplessness as a result of experimental manipulations in a laboratory experiment with the behavior of individuals suffering from naturally occurring depression.
In this experiment it was noted that both groups demonstrated similar response patterns including passivity, slowed learning, lowered aggression, loss of appetite, negative expectations, and feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and powerlessness.
A humans susceptibility to learned helplessness can vary considerably across individuals and situations.
These differences coincide with a variety of characteristics such as low mastery behavior, anxiety, depression and need for structure. Key features of the learned helplessness phenomenon are following an uncontrollable situation with people exhibiting a variety of learning, motivational and emotional deficits which can include increased vulnerability to depression and anxiety.
As well as previous exposure to uncontrollable aversive events immunizes people against learned helplessness with another key factor being that the individual could have forced exposure to controllable contingencies reverses learned helplessness.