Behavior observation has always helped psychologists understand and explain human actions. Studying human behavior allows mental health professionals to treat patients suffering from brain disorders. Our behavior determines why we make individual decisions and what drives our conscious thought. Abnormal activities and irrational manners can indicate the onset of mental disease. Our thoughts and emotions deeply affect our behavior. Numerous psychological traits shape human behavior as well. Some people confuse behavior with personality, while the latter is what’s on the outside. It’s the inner attitude that matters to psychologists and what mental health providers study while treating their clients.
Importance of Behavior Therapy
Recent studies into human behavior have identified four major personality traits. Psychologists are confident that 90% of human beings are categorizable. They are envious, trusting, pessimistic, and optimistic. Among these four branches of human attitudes, envious accounts for 30% of all subjects. Learning about how your behavior affects your disposition can contribute to the improvement of mental disorders. That’s how applied behavior analysis has assisted many patients to overcome communication barriers and become more active. Furthermore, mental health practitioners have found ABA to be useful for both adults and children. It’s multiple benefits include:
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Autistic People Need Behavior Analysts:
Applied behavior specialists generally deal with people – mostly children – diagnosed with autism. Statistics show that 1 in 54 American children have ASD, which is a developmental disorder. The demand for certified professionals with proficiency in ABA enhanced 800% between 2010-17. It’ll gradually expand into a massively-funded department as the medical research into autism modifies itself. It should be a primary motivation for you to study behavior therapy.
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Behavioral Analysis is Practical:
The second motivation for mental health professionals to study human behavior should be this technique’s workability. Scientific evidence supports the notion that applied behavior analysis improves children who have autism spectrum disorder. No other method is as effective as ABA, which is an evidence-based sort of medical intervention. This method helps children learn the functional skills they need to perform daily functions and improve their social interactions.
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It’s a Rewarding and Diverse Career:
This profession is monetarily rewarding and emotionally fulfilling. Your annual salary ranges from $40k to $172k while you help children regain their confidence to live an average life. Now you can pursue the Masters in applied behavior analysis online to unlock mysteries associated with learning and behavior. And the skills you’ll learn are applicable in various other occupations too. Your comprehension of human psychology can provide you more influential positions.
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Improves People’s Lives:
Therapy empowers people and makes them feel more optimistic about their future. Autistic children suffer from behavioral disturbances. They find it hard to comprehend spoken language and delay in developing the power of speech. Understanding and assessing an ASD patient’s behavior allows professionals to teach them essential skills. They begin contributing positively to the community and learn to engage with their environment healthily.
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Kids Get Individualized Assessments:
Children with ASD have difficulties in expressing their emotions verbally. They may use language in an unusual way called echolalia. It happens when kids use words without proper meaning associated with them. Mental health professionals can use ABA to assess why an individual is exhibiting a negative attitude non-verbally. Behavior analysts use their expertise to observe these kids’ behavior and find ways to introduce improvements into their conduct. Eventually, this behavioral progress allows kids with autism to live independently and even retain employment when they grow up. That’s how ABA puts them back on track to mingle with the mainstream society.
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Children Overcome Their Abnormalities:
Autistic children display certain behavioral strains that are abnormal or different from what we presume as normal behavior. This developmental disability appears due to “differences in the brain” of an autistic person. That’s why their modes of communication are different and unconventional. Thus, they may avoid eye contact or repeatedly perform the same action (e.g., swinging their body back and forth). Mental health professionals apply ABA to help autistic kids overcome this sort of “challenging behavior.” These techniques reduce their aggression and teach them to adopt positive behavior trends. Studies have proven a lasting impact of ABA on disabled children.
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Kids Learn Social-Functional Skills:
Autistic children struggle to create friendships or normally interact with other kids of their age. They have a hard time making buddies at school. Mental health professionals utilize ABA to help such kids learn to interact with people and develop relationships. Applied behavior analysis helps them connect with others and maintain healthy relationships with their friends via effective communication. Kids who lack language skills become more prolific in verbal communication. That’s how ABA teaches children the required skills to function productively in society and stop being social outcasts at school.
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Parents Become Better at Parenting:
Autism doesn’t harm a child’s mental health only, but it may also hamper the entire family’s financial stability. The majority of such parents don’t make a lot of money while struggling to pay for their kids’ medications and therapeutic sessions. Mental health professionals also study how one person’s behavior influences people around or associated with him/her. Experts have found that, as ABA makes autistic children more stable, parents also become brave enough to overcome their challenges. Behavior analysts help people become better parents and interact with their autistic children more effectively. No wonder the Autism Care Act (2019) had a funding of $1.8 billion.
Conclusion
Understanding human behavior allows psychologists to improve people’s lifestyles who are suffering from mental problems. Some researchers claim that the subconscious guides 90% of all human actions. Mental health professionals benefit from studying people’s attitudes to explore the uncharted territories of the human subconscious. A sharply increasing growth in children diagnosed with ASD will increase the demand for more psychologists in this decade. Behavior analysis will attract more students as these professionals will be in-demand in this coronavirus-ridden world. Further research in this field can reveal more secrets of the most mysterious object in the universe, i.e., our mind.
