An overview of Maladjustment as a social phenomenon and as a subject for psychological study

Presented by: M.P.Ravishanker, Med I-sem Farook training college

Description
Inability to react successfully and satisfactorily to the demands of one s environment  Encompasses a wide range of physical, psychological and social conditions  Most often implies an individual s failure to meet social or cultural expectations.


 In

psychology, the term generally refers to unsatisfactory behaviour patterns that cause anxiety and require psychotherapy.

Definition
term maladjustment is most simply defined as,  Faulty or inadequate adjustment.
 The  Inability

to adjust to the demands of interpersonal relationships and stresses of daily living.

Psychological maladjustment exists when the organism denies awareness of significant sensory and visceral experiences, which consequently are not symbolized and organized into the gestalt of the self structure. When this situation exists, there is a basic or potential psychological tension.

Carl Rogers

What is adjustment?
Adjustment means the modification to compensate for or meet special conditions James Drever(1952)  Adjustment is the establishment of a satisfactory relationship, as representing harmony, conformance, adaptation or the like Webster(1951)


Adjustment is the process by which a living organism maintains a balance between needs and circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs. Shaffer(1961) An individual s adjustment is adequate, wholesome or healthful to the extent that he has established harmonious relationship between himself and the conditions, situations and persons who comprise his physical and social environment. Crow and Crow(1956)

Adjustment


  

Psychological term untainted by the contemporary derogatory colouring that attributes compromise and opportunism. A positive capacity to adapt to one s circumstances and needs. A sensitive appreciation of reality Some accommodation to environmental pressures Continuing efforts at modifying the environment to suit one s needs

 Adjustment

- the variations and changes in behaviour that are necessary to satisfy needs and meet demands so that one can establish a harmonious relationship with the environment. one fails to make these variations and changes ?

 If

needs will not be satisfied,  the demands will not be met.  Thus he/she will not be able to establish a harmonious relationship with the environment .  Maladjustment is disharmony with one s environment.
 The

 Maladjustments

arise because the

individual,  Fails to appreciate (acknowledge, admit and cope with) reality,  Fails to accommodate (yield to some extent and adapt) to the environmental pressures  Lacks either the will or the skill to modify the environment to suit his needs.  Maladjustment indicates bad mental health

 Mental


Health Quality of the interacting process through which the individual relates to himself and to the world around him.

No, definition will satisfy everyone, since mental health is and individual and personal matter and the standards of normal behaviour may vary with time, place, culture, and the expectations of society.

 Mental

illnessillness-

Mental illness is not a specific ailment but is related to an individual s entire existence. Mental illness may be described as a condition or state of maladjustment where the processes of balance have ceased to function or are functioning ineffectively.

Symptoms of maladjustment
     

Reality distortions Mental aberrations Affect distortions Motor reactions Personality disorganization Somatic reactions

Reality Distortions
 Man s

contact with reality is established through his perceptions.  If these perceptions are faulty, then his behaviour will be unrealistic and distorted.  Maladjusted people will have a variety of distorted perceptions because they unconsciously attempt to restructure their environment so that they can make some kind of purposeful response to it.

 An

observer will not understand these responses if he cannot understand the perceptions these people are experiencing.  Illusions and hallucinations are two forms of perceptual distortions that seriously affect an individual s interpretations of reality.  Illusions are sensations that are either misinterpreted by that individual or formed by him into inaccurate perceptions.

are disorders of perception that are not founded on sensory experience but are created within the individual.  Maladjusted person, hears and feels things that no one else can sense because no external stimuli are present.
 Hallucinations

Mental Abberations (Disorders of Thinking)

thinking may take the form of a flight of ideas where ideas pour out in great profusion, but without logical order.  Characteristic of disordered thinking is irrelevance.  Delusions, paranoid ideas, and obsessions are additional forms of disordered thinking.
 Defective

 Another

thinking disorder is difficulty to focus attention on anything.  All these symptoms may occur without any identifiable organic damage to the brain.

Affect Distortions
 Feelings

and emotions are affective aspects of behaviour. Among the many affective disorders that may occur among maladjusted people are,  Exultation  Transient range  Depression and phobias

 Exultation

is an exhilarated effusive response to stimuli that are either not observable to other people or would have little effect on a normal person.  The exulted individual is over stimulated, hyper active, and often talks endlessly and loudly.

range is an exaggeration of the temper tantrums seen among children.  This uncontrollable temper reactions in adults result in strong emotional upheaval that can lead to destructive action.
 Transient  Depression

is a disorder of emotion that may serve the needs of the individual by enabling him to manipulate others through forcing them to be concerned over him.

 The

depressed person would deny that his reaction have any utility since he feel so miserable. Yet he clings to his feelings and symptoms and resists efforts to alleviate them.

 Phobias

are affective disorders with persistent irrational fears.

Motor Reactions
 The

perceptual, mental and emotional symptoms discussed earlier are accompanied by deviations in motor behaviour or overt actions.

Personality Disorganization
disturbed people undergo a depersonalization process in which their sense of self is undermined.  They think of themselves as worthless and hopelessly inadequate and present a picture of gross self-neglect. self Another form of personality disorganization is a separation of roles to the point where the individual is a different person at different times.
 Some

Somatic Reactions
 Disturbances

of body functions usually accompany any of the above symptoms. as, impairment of appetite, high blood pressure, migraine, head aches, persistent diarrhea, gastro intestinal pains and upsets, heartburn, ulcers and others.

 Such

Prevention and Amelioration of Maladjustment

prevention of maladjustment has been described under the categories of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention.  Primary prevention is concerned with biological, social and psychological factors that induce stress in the human organism and the ways in which these stresses may be modified or reduced.
 The

 Includes

proper care and concern in prenatal, infancy, schooling stages and strengthening home atmosphere and economic conditions. a community where thoughtlessness, discrimination, greed, selfishness, prejudice, hate, and strife flourish will have a high incidence of delinquency, divorce, crime, strikes and other evidences of personal and social disorder. WellWelladjusted individuals are not readily produced.

 In

School factors: Schools provide children with factors: social and intellectual experiences which they can get nowhere else and which have a powerful formative influence on personality. To focus attention on children who are most vulnerable to emotional stress, a conceptual model of personality development called crisis model has been suggested. Schools should give special care at critical junctures such as entrance to school, puberty and changes from elementary to junior high school and from junior high school to senior high school.

Prevention involves the early detection and treatment of behavioural disorders that cannot be prevented, but may be deterred from becoming more serious.  Secondary prevention is an essential supplement to primary prevention.  It depends first upon discovering maladjustment before an individuals behaviour has deteriorated too seriously.
 Secondary

, radio, newspapers, popular magazines and other channels of communication have been used extensively to make the public aware of mental disorder as a treatable illness and to combat the superstition and fatalism with which this ailments have been viewed.  This educational programme has had the effect of increasing the public s willingness to provide care and treatment for mentally ill instead of hiding them away in remote state institutions.
 Television

 Another

phase of educational programme in secondary prevention is the orientation of professional people toward mental health goals and concepts.  This is being done through training programmes, workshops, institutes, lectures and other devices aimed at the service professions.

 Tertiary

prevention, prevention, more properly called therapy.  Is the modern treatment of maladjustment so that the people do not become chronically disabled.  The major forms of treatment used in the rehabilitation of maladjusted persons may be classified into two broad categories  Somatic therapy and  Psychological therapy.

therapy is the treatment of emotional disorders by physical methods such as drugs, shock or surgery which are meant to modify physiological processes.  This treatment is based on the theory that behaviour deviations are symptoms of disturbed physiological processes and that restoration of physiological homeostasis will result in improved behaviour.
 Somatic

therapy is aimed at strengthening the individuals mental and emotional resources so that he can function more effectively.  The simplest form of psychological therapy is counseling,  Where the problems are worked out on an operational level without attempting to alter the psycho-dynamic functioning of psychothe individual.  Psycho-therapy goes beyond the solving Psychoof current problems and tries to restore the individual s functional capacities.
 Psychological

 Aids

or adjuncts to psychological therapy.  Hypnotism, narco-analysis, clinical tests, narcobooks, films, art, music, psycho-drama psychoand television.  The somatic therapies, particularly drugs and shock treatment are used usually in conjunction with psychological therapy in the treatment of seriously disturbed patients.

Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word in psychology. It is the word "maladjusted". It is the ringing cry of modern child psychology. "Maladjusted". Now of course we all want to live a well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and wellschizophrenic personalities. But as I move toward my conclusion I would like to say to you today in a very honest manner that there are some things in our society and some things in our world to which I am proud to be maladjusted. And I call upon all men of good will to be maladjusted to these things until the good society is realised. I must honestly say to you that I never intend to adjust myself to racial segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, leave millions of God's children smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society." Martin Luther King