Discussing psychologist perspectives and their use Essay

Cognitive- This approach is portrayed by two theorists; Jean Piaget and George Kelly. This perspective refers to age-related changes in knowledge and acts of knowing plus understanding. Research shows that this approach is the best treatment practised for almost every single disorder, another positive point to this perspective is that it’s really quick with lasting changes; it also helps people become more confident and boost people with learning difficulties self-esteem. It’s also very easy and works for a majority of people. The negatives to this perspective are that it can be seen as non-person centred, it’s not effective for lower functioning clients, and some clinicians feel that it doesn’t address other issues. This can be used in health and social care through helping individuals who misread situations, as this approach mainly helps people with learning difficulties so it can help certain individuals come to terms with some irrational thoughts they may have. Biological- This perspective is about the view of personality that focuses on the way behaviour and personality are influenced by neuro-anatomy, biochemistry, genetics or evolution. This perspective also helps people understand how and why we have a certain diseases. The positives to this approach; the more we know about the brain, the more we should be able to explain how we operate and to understand what makes us ‘tick’. Also the main strength to the biological approach is that chemotherapy, ECT and psychosurgery can be used to treat the symptoms of abnormal behaviour directly and in a very short time. The negatives to this approach are the risk of side effects- e. g. in case of chemotherapy there is the risk that patients may become psychologically and physically dependent on the drugs involved. Symptoms often recur when the treatment stops, so many patients have to be re-admitted to hospital. It also raises serious ethical issues. Other things people look upon as negative is the fact that it’s hard to determine the extent to which genetic inheritance influences behaviour. This perspective can be used in health and social care through the use of developmental norms, this means making sure that a young child is developing properly, so that their behaviour and understanding matches that if their chronological age.