PSY 100 Grand Canyon Week 7 Assignment

Life Action Plan

Directions:

Identify an area that you feel needs to be improved. Consider selecting an area that will provide the greatest opportunity for growth or an area that can make the biggest impact on your success. Complete the worksheet with information to address the area you have selected. Note: Please remember there are 2 pages to this document.

(My life role) Identify your life plan role (this may be you as a student or professional).

(My long-term goals in this role)  Identify one outcome you plan to achieve within the next 2 to 10 years in this role.

(My short term goals in this role) These are outcomes you plan to achieve in 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month. Each one should bring you closer to achieving your long term goals.

(General goals) Take one long-term goal you have listed above and complete the following information:

Normal and Abnormal Behavior Scenarios

To reflect on what you have read or studied so far in a course is an essential part of understanding. This worksheet form will provide a place for you to take some time and reflect on understanding how psychology can help you in your everyday life. Please use this week’s readings to assist you.

As you have learned, your mental health and wellness can affect your life and how you interact with others as a student, professional, and in your personal relationships.

A GCU student learns through the 4 Pillars that physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing is vital to success in academics in a chosen career field and in life in general. Explain what abnormal and normal behavior is and how to apply wellness strategies by completing the following:

Select woof the four case scenarios. Read the scenarios and answer all the questions that follow. Then complete the Wrap-up questions at the end of the assignment.

Jamie Single Mom

Jamie enrolled in the online Bachelors of Science in Psychology program at GCU in the spring of 2011. She is a single mom with two children under the age of 5 and she works a full-time job as a customer service representative.

Jamie is starting to feel overwhelmed with juggling school, work, and spending time with her children. Her physical symptoms are: wanting to cry every day, sometimes being short with her children, withdrawing from friends and family, and being tired and worn out. She is considering quitting school so that her life will return to some normalcy, but then she worries about how she will pay back her student loans when her current job barely covers her bills. Not only that, but she doesnot want to give up on her dream of becoming a counselor. Jamie feels as though she is in an endless cycle and does not know how to resolve her feelings and physical symptoms. Her negative thought processes have skewed her thinking.

As Jamie’s friend, what steps would you take to assist her?

What resources could Jamie use (both at school, home, and at work) to help her not feel so alone and isolated?

How could Jamie shift her thinking from a negative perspective to a more hopeful perspective?

John- Anxiety Disorder – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

John is single and has not worked in sometime. On a daily basis he fears what the day might bring. To make sure that the day goes right he takes 2 showers daily, one after getting up in the morning and one at mid-day. He also makes sure that each household task such as vacuuming, washing dishes, scrubbing the floors, etc is completed by noon every day and marks off these tasks on a checklist. Lastly, at night, he checks his house to make sure all windows and doors are locked. He unlocks and locks the front door at least three (3) times to assure that the lock is working.

John is also going to school, as he knows that he needs to find a job and is hoping to be able to do online computer work when he completes his degree. He is currently struggling with his schoolwork as he has started to obsess about certain routines in it as well, such as double- checking with the instructor every day that he has completed all of his work, posting 5 and 6 times to the classroom, and e-mailing his classmates daily to see if he has missed something. John recognizes that he needs some help, but does not know where to begin.

As his friend, what recommendations could you make in helping him reduce his anxiety?

What resources on the Internet could John use to help him daily?

What might be some types of therapy for John to use to reduce his symptoms of compulsion?

Tim – Young Adult

Tim is finding the freedom of being out on his own exciting and cannot seem to experience enough of his friends and having fun. He is going to school online per his family’s request to “make something of himself.” Although this is the case, he does see the value of going to school and would eventually like to complete a degree in business. He finds himself not completing his schoolwork on time and is considering dropping out, but does not want to let his parents know he is failing. He is feeling anxious about this as he is getting further and further behind. He does not want to give up on having fun with his friends either and is stuck in not knowing how to manage responsibility to his family’s wishes and maintaining a sense of freedom and autonomy.

What are some strategies that Tim could use to balance out his needing to have fun and be a young adult with the increasing need to be responsible?

How might you as his friend help Tim stay focused and on track with his schoolwork?

If you were Tim’s parent, how might you approach the actions that you are seeing in him in a positive and supportive way?

Alice Sleep Disorder – Insomnia

Alice is an executive at a local business and has struggled since her early adulthood with falling asleep most nights. She says that she feels “mentally hyperactive” at bedtime, and is unable to stop the thoughts of the day, especially those issues that were unresolved. She also feels that when she does not get all of her work done for the day that she does not “deserve to go to bed.” Any evening excitement such as a TV show, movie, or a party leaves her unable to quiet herself for hours, which leaves her tossing and turning in bed. Sometimes she finds herself waking up in the middle of the night and her thoughts are again racing about the day’s activities and problems. The lack of sleep leaves her feeling on edge at work the next day with her co-workers and with her fiancé. She has tried sleep-aids, but they make her feel groggy the next day and she does not want to become dependent on them.

As Alice’s friend, what strategies could you recommend to her towards alleviating her symptoms?

What resources are available to assist Alice in finding a solution to her problem?

What steps could Alice take in her life to find more balance with work and home?

Wrap up:

After reading the stories and answering the questions, complete this worksheet entry form by answering the following prompts:

1) Based on the 4 scenarios, which scenarios would be considered abnormal behavior? Why?

2) Of the people you chose to read about, how did their symptoms impact their life in a negative way? Explain.

3) How do you relate to the people in the stories you chose?

4) What positive psychology strategies might you use to combat the negative effects of these stressors and/or disorder symptoms?

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

Normal and Abnormal Behaviors in Psychology

Introduction

Psychologists have a lot of things to say about normal and abnormal behavior. They see it all the time, from people’s personal lives, to their professional ones. Psychologists study these behaviors because they’re useful in understanding human behavior and how people interact with each other.

Normal and abnormal behaviors can sometimes be difficult to distinguish, as judgment calls may vary from person to person.

Normal and abnormal behaviors can sometimes be difficult to distinguish, as judgment calls may vary from person to person. For example, when you’re playing with your children, it’s normal for them to grab their toys and throw them around (abnormal behavior). However, if your child throws a toy at someone else or tries to run away from you when asked to stay still, this behavior would be considered abnormal. To understand the difference between normal and abnormal behaviors, it’s important that you have an understanding of what qualifies as normal or abnormal in each situation.

Normal behaviors are those which occur regularly in society at large; they’re often defined by their frequency, intensity or duration. Examples include eating breakfast every morning before leaving home on foot; brushing one’s teeth after meals; talking on cell phones while driving cars (even though this may seem unsafe); paying bills promptly upon receipt so that there is no late charge applied against one’s credit card account balance; etcetera…

Normal behaviors are adaptive, although sometimes they can become maladaptive when a situation changes but the behavior stays the same.

Normal behaviors are the most common and generally accepted. They adapt to changes in the environment, which allows them to be used by animals and humans alike.

However, sometimes these same behaviors can become maladaptive when a situation changes but the behavior stays the same. For example, if you were walking down a street and saw someone running after their dog who had run off into traffic, you might yell at them for not catching their dog before it was too late (and possibly even hit them with your car). However this person did not follow through on what they knew needed doing because he was scared of getting hurt himself so instead he ran after his dog while yelling at it while trying desperately hard not get hit himself!

This illustrates how context plays an important role in determining whether or not we consider something normal behavior or abnormal behavior based on our own personal experiences with similar situations over time.”

A behavior is considered normal if it’s within the range of behaviors usually exhibited by most people in a given culture.

A behavior is considered normal if it’s within the range of behaviors usually exhibited by most people in a given culture. This means that not every human being will share the same opinions or values, so there are no universal standards for what is “normal” or “abnormal.” In fact, many people have different ideas about what constitutes an appropriate way to behave.

It’s important to remember that while some behaviors may be considered adaptive (that is, helpful), others can be maladaptive (unwanted). The idea behind this distinction is that some behaviors were originally selected by evolution because they helped humans survive better than others; however, these adaptations are now no longer necessary given how advanced we’ve become as a species—and thus shouldn’t be encouraged anymore!

Psychologists use specific criteria to determine whether a behavior can be considered abnormal.

Psychologists use specific criteria to determine whether a behavior can be considered abnormal. They also use these criteria when they evaluate the normal psychological functioning of people in their lives and work with them to try and understand how their thoughts, feelings, actions and behaviors may be affecting them emotionally or physically. For example, if you have been diagnosed with depression because your doctor has determined that this is one of your symptoms then it is possible that having this condition will change some aspects of how you think about things such as relationships or work responsibilities at home or at school.

Some examples include:

• If someone feels sad all day long without any reason why (e.g., he/she doesn’t want anyone around him/her);

• If someone loses interest in his/her favorite hobby;

• If someone has problems sleeping due to stress levels being too high;

• If someone becomes angry very easily;

Takeaway:

• Normal and abnormal behaviors are not always easy to distinguish.

• Judgment calls can vary from person to person.

• Normal behaviors are adaptive, but sometimes they can become maladaptive when a situation changes but the behavior stays the same.

Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you understand the difference between normal and abnormal behaviors. If you think your behavior might be considered abnormal, remember that psychologists can help you diagnose your condition and provide a treatment plan for both physical and mental health.