Exploring Personal Psychological Experience

Introduction

In the Dictionary pf Psychology, psychology is considered to be something that philosophers and scientists have developed to help them understand the behaviours of different kinds of organisms which range from the most primitive to the most complicated (Henriques, 2004). A different definition of psychology would be the science of functions, phenomena, and functions of mental experience and behaviour (Colman, 2000). In addition, psychology serves to embrace every aspect of human experiences, starting from the functions inside the human brain, to the actions of a nation; from the development of a child, to the care given to an aged being (Legg & Brazier, 2018). Psychiatrists, who are regarded as medical doctors, treat mental health patients through psychotherapy and using other medical interventions.

The purpose of this essay is to document a personal psychological experience and to analyse the experience using three psychological perspectives, which are the behaviourist, psychoanalysis, and humanistic perspectives. Then, a conclusion shall be provided to highlight how my personal experience is perceived using the different lenses in psychology

Personal Experience

When I was still a young child, at the age of seven years old, my mother passed away. Her death was brought about due to malaria – an illness which I thought she could bare and thus, her death came as unexpected to me. My mother’s passing away affected my general welfare, especially in my education. Physically, my body became frail as I was prone to random illnesses such as mild headaches. My mental well-being declined as I was in consistent depression, which also caused me to have repressed feelings and thoughts. I could not stop thinking about my mother and her kind nature, and as a result, I ended up avoiding social interactions because I would begin talking about my mother with the target of acquiring sympathy from other people other than my family.

Psychological perspectives

Since the start and development of psychology, psychologists have come up with an array of schools of thought which have evolved with time and have continued to shape the manner in which they investigate the behaviour of people. Whereas one psychologist would attribute a person’s behaviour specifically to early experiences in one’s childhood, another psychologist would consider biological factors like genetics to have a key role in that behaviour (Lumen, 2019). To analyse my personal experience above, three perspectives shall be relied upon, and these are the behaviourist, psychodynamic and humanist perspectives.

Behaviourist Perspective

This is one of the five major psychological approaches. According to Glassman and Hadad (2013), behaviourists perspective emphasizes on the connection between human behaviour and the environment. In simple terms, the mind does not matter among the behaviourists. Regardless of the kind of circumstances which invite such explanations and interpretations, behaviourists will always ignore the associated mental events and physiological processes. For example, in my case, a behaviourist would ignore that my depression would grow out of my disoriented mental wellbeing following the death of my mother. Instead, they would perceive how the environment influences my depression. In particular, a behaviourist would explain that my depression comes around due to a new kind of environment without the presence of a motherly figure in it. Perhaps, a solution for my depression would be to introduce a primary caregiver who would fit the role of a mother. With this being done, my depression would warner off and my mental wellbeing would be restored.

Psychodynamic perspective

Psychoanalysis is the study of the unconscious mind. It focuses in the behaviour of the mind, building on the foundational school of thought that past experiences from childhood are lodged in a person’s unconscious mind. The psychodynamic theory focuses on the dynamic relationship between the unconscious and the conscious motivations, by asserting that human behaviour is the by-product of the conflicts that underly inside people – conflicts which they almost always have little knowledge about at a particular moment. In 1874, a German scientist birthed the psychodynamic theory by suggesting that every living organism is an energy system that is controlled by the energy conservation principle. Sigmund Freud advanced this perspective by expanding it and adopting the “dynamic” physiology ( (Lumen, 2019).

In my personal experience, past experience which got lodged into my unconscious mind is my mother’s death. Her death represents an internal conflict which affects my unconscious and conscious motivations. I would tend to veer away from social interactions with little awareness of the role which my internal conflict plays, because I would end up talking about my mother as a way of seeking sympathy, and this would have the effect of changing the mood of every conversation I would have.

Humanist perspective

The humanistic approach argues that every person is well-equipped to know themselves, thus, it focuses on the subjective perceptions of a person. In order to understand the behaviour of a person, personal meanings need to be understood. In brief, it is the human choices which determine the course of their lives. Only the person can offer explanation to the meaning of a certain behaviour (Glassman & Hadad, 2013). In my personal experience, it is only I who can offer meaning to particular behaviour which I exhibit. The intrinsic force for my depressive tendencies and avoiding social interaction comes from the grief of having lost my mother. The way I react and perceive my mother’s loss serves as a choice I have taken to determine the course of my life. If I could change my subjective experience of my mother’s passing away to something more positive, I would not have to endure problems concerning mental well-being and I would not jeopardize every social interaction with my tendency to seek consolation for my loss.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many psychological perspectives which can be used to explain personal experiences. The approaches which have been identified in this essay are the behaviourist, psychodynamic and humanist approaches. These perspectives, I have come to realize, do not only offer explanations to psychological experiences, but present openings for interventions necessary in correcting human behaviour. For example, the humanist approach teaches me that I can cure my depression by choice, and this will have a terminal effect of improving my mental well-being.

References

Colman, A., 2000. What is Psychology?. s.l.:s.n.

Glassman, W. & Hadad, M., 2013. Approaches to Psychology. s.l.:McGraw Hill Education.

Henriques, G., 2004. Psychology Defined. s.l.:Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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