Is Behavioral Treatment Good on Mental Health or Institutional A.D.L or Activities of Daily Living?
Behavioral treatment is commonly use in different disorders that are associated or connected with the mental and physical aspects. It is being applied in different treatment of different mental disorders primarily schizophrenia and depression, furthermore applied in the Activities of Daily Living or ADL.
ADL pertains on the different activities that are related to the daily life of a person such as self-care, personal hygiene, communication, physical activities, sensory functions, non-specialized hand activities, travel, sexual function and sleep. The impairment percentage or ratings was developed by medical specialists that estimates the severity of the medical condition and the degree to which the impairment decreases an individual’s ability to perform a common activities of daily living, excluding work. It is designed in order to measure the overall ability of an individual in order to perform the ADL (Cocchiarella, American Medical Association & Andersson, 2001, p. 4).
According to Kelley (2003), the institutionalized ADL is effective in any mental health problem due to the fact that mental health and ADL are connected with each other, there are different mental health disorders that could cause different limitations in ADL, and it can be seen and observe via the symptoms of a particular mental health (p. 19).
On the other hand, due to the said relationship between the ADL and mental health, behavioral treatment is being applied in different treatment.
There are different studies that show the effectiveness of the behavioral treatment towards the different mental health. The study of Rathus & Sanderson (1996), enable to show the result and findings of their study towards the understanding of Panic Disorders among the different cases of two elderly adults by applying the cognitive behavioral treatment.
In addition to that, there are also different studies, which show the effectiveness of behavioral treatment, together with the stimulant medication, towards the treatments for the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or also known as the ADHD. The study shows that behavioral treatment is important for optimal result of the rehabilitation process (Arnold, Chuang, Davies, Abikoff, Conners, Glen, Greenhill, Hechtman, Hinshaw, Hoza, Jensen, Kraemer, Langworthy-Lam, March, Newcorn, Pelham, Severe, Swanson, Vitiello, Wells, & Wigal, 2004, p. 39).
It shows that in mental health, behavioral treatment is being used as a supporting activities or treatment for the different medications, and other programs. Furthermore, it is being used in order to communicate or introduce to the patient the important of the social aspects.
On the other hand, behavioral treatment is also being applied in the process of ADL. However, most of the studies focus on the connection of ADL towards the different mental health, due to the relationship of the two aspects that had been mentioned in the first part of the paper. In the study of Peterson (2003), regarding the application of cognitive behavioral strategies to reduce fear of falling, the author mentioned that fear of falling is considered as a clinical concern. There are different cross-sectional studies that have been shown that associate or connect the fear of falling with the compromised physical and psychosocial status. The study of Gumming et. Al (2000) compelling evidence that fear of falling may be considered as predictor of fall, it shows that compared to the older adults with the high fall-related self-efficacy, older adults with low fall-related self-efficacy had an increased risk in falling, thus it result to the increasing decline of their ability to perform the ADL (cited from Walker, 2003). The said result shows the relationship between the ADL and the mental health.
It can be showed that the behavioral treatment focuses first on the aspect of the ADL, and then focus on the mental health. This is due to the fact that in behavioral approach, the behavior pattern and development is considered as the most important aspect of the mental and physical health and individual. It shows that any disorder or condition of an individual can be rooted with their behavioral pattern. Thus it shows that it is important to focus first on the impact, cause of relationship of the ADL with the mental and physical health.
On the other hand, William (1998), states that behavioral treatment, particularly the Cognitive-behavioral treatment or CBT is rarely used and applied as the primary treatment for the multiple, severe and even persistent problems that are characterize different mental health disorder. The said statement shows that behavioral treatment can be used more effectively in the different cases of ADL, due to the fact that it does not include different relentless and constant problems. Furthermore, another difference between the two is that, behavioral treatment can be used alone, in the case of different ADL, unlike in the mental health that it only serve as a supplemental program in order to intensify effect of the different medications and other related activities and therapies.
This can be seen in the study of Hryshko-Mullen (2000), regarding the application of behavioral treatment of insomnia. Insomnia is a disorder that is connected to one of the most important ADL, which is sleeping. There is a recent study that shows that effective behavioral treatment of insomnia can result in succeeding momentous decrease in the utilization of the health care industry.
References
Arnold, E., Chuang, S., Davies, M., Abikoff, H., Conners, K., Glen, E., Greenhill, L., Hechtman, L., Hinshaw, S., Hoza, B., Jensen, P., Kraemer, H., Langworthy-Lam, K., March, J., Newcorn, J., Pelham, W., Severe, J., Swanson, J., Vitiello, B., Wells, K. & Wigal, T. (2004). ‘Nine Months of Multicomponent Behavioral Treatment for ADHD and effectiveness of MTA Fading Procedures’. Journal of Abnormal Child, 32(1), pp. 39 – 50.
Cocchiarella, L, American Medical Association, Andersson, G 2001, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, American Medical Association Bookstore
Hryshko-Mullen, A. (2000). ‘Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia: The Wilford Hall Insomnia Program’, Military Medicine. High Beam Research, viewed 17 October 2008, <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-51567451.html >
Kelley, S. D. (2003). ‘Prevalent Mental Health Disorders in the Aging Population: Issues of Comorbidity and Functional Disability’. The Journal of Rehabilitation. 69(2), pp. 19 – 20.
Peterson, E. W. (2003). ‘Using Cognitive Behavioral Strategies to Reduce Fear of Falling: A Matter of Balance’, Generations (January 1). High Beam Research, viewed 17 October 2008, < http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-339221571.html >
William, B. (1998). ‘Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Case Study’. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, High Beam Research, viewed 17 October 2008, <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1474559611.html >
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