Mental Health Theories Essay.

Submit a paper which compares and contrasts two mental health theories:Mental Health Theories Essay.

You may choose your theories from the textbook or from other sources.
Describe each theory, including some history about the person who developed the theory and the major ideas and applications of the theory.

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Describe the ways in which the two theories are similar, and how they differ.
Include a statement of how each theory could be used in your nursing practice. Include specific patient examples if you have them. You may also critique the theory: Is there anything with which you disagree or are there any problems you can identify?
It is expected that this essay will be 2-3 pages in length (not including the title page), double-spaced. Your paper should include an introduction and conclusion and proper APA citations from any source material you use, including your text.Mental Health Theories Essay.

Mental Health Theories
Introduction
Mental health theories are the various propositions formed to explain mental development and health phenomena through empirical studies such as experiments and observation. These theories fall into broad categories such as behavioral, cognitive, analytical, social, and humanistic mental health theories. An example of a behavioral mental health theory is classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov, and an example of a social theory of mental health isBandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. This paper will explore these two theories by examining the similarities and differences between the two and their applicability in nursing practice.Mental Health Theories Essay.
Classical Conditioning Theory
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, developed this theory through his experiment with dogs, where he would sound a tone that triggered the dog to salivate for food and eat. When he failed to sound the tone, the dog still salivated, waiting for food. This experiment showed that all learning occurs by interacting with the environment, and people’s environment shapes their behavior (Levy, 2016). For mental health disorders such as phobias and anxiety, the classical conditioning theory offers a causal explanation. The anxiety or phobia that a person developsis considered learned behaviors under this theory, where neutral stimuli trigger the individual with a response, anxiety, or phobia (Levy, 2016).Mental Health Theories Essay. For instance, a child who was once attacked by a large bird could develop a phobia for birds, and when they see feathers, which are a neutral stimulus, become triggered into anxiety.
This classical conditioning theory is applicable in nursing practice where the nurse could teach the patient how to recognize the neutral stimuli and avoid an automatic response. For instance, the nurse could train patients to ignore water’s sound, which triggers the feeling of urination in people to avoid bedwetting.Mental Health Theories Essay.
This theory is critical in explaining the actions and reactions that most people have based on various stimuli triggers. The theory makes perfect sense as it is scientifically proven. Hence, I agree with this theory.Mental Health Theories Essay.
Social Learning Theory
Bandura developed this theory, where he posits that people’s behavior and responses are shaped by the interactions with others, their environments, and their thoughts. Human behavior is a product of learning through observation and direct experience (Engler, 2014). People, therefore, through learning, develop self-concepts because of their interaction with the environment. This theory best explains depression as a mental disorder. According to this theory, individuals suffering from depression tend to blame themselves for negative events in their lives. Yet,the amount of their success to factors beyond their control when they succeed.Mental Health Theories Essay.
Comparing and Contrasting
The two theories are based on conditioning or learning, where exposure to a stimulus or event tends to trigger a series of responses. However, the main difference between the two theories is that the response is involuntary for the classical conditioning theory. In contrast, with the social learning theory, learning is based on an individual’s environment that they pick from their peers’ actions and behaviors (Engler, 2014). Therefore, for the social learning theory, the responses are learned voluntarily from peers and the individual’s surroundings.Mental Health Theories Essay.
The social learning theory is applicable in nursing, where the nurse could manipulate the patient’s environment to adapt to healthy practices. For instance, when discharging a patient, the nurse could recommend to the caregivers at home to ensure that the home environment has healthy food and that people in the family engage in physical exercise, for the patient to learn from them.Mental Health Theories Essay.
Conclusion
Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory and the social learning theory by Bandura are behavioral and cognitive mental health theories. The two theories are similar because they both rely on triggers or stimuli to produce responses that lead to mental disorders. However, the two differ wherein classical conditioning, the learned response is involuntary, while in social learning, the learning is voluntary. Nurses could apply these two theories by manipulating the environments in which a patient triggers positive responses and learning.Mental Health Theories Essay.