Introduction
The psychological condition of a person immensely depends upon behavioural counselling and psychotherapy. The purpose of behavioural counselling is to improve a person’s mental health. Conditioning can be explained as the process of behaviour alteration by which a subject comes to associate a preferred behaviour with a previously unrelated stimulus. The two types of conditioning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning within the field of psychology. This essay intends to explicate the psychological condition of post-traumatic disorder concerning classical and operant conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning involves a neutral stimulus that is repeatedly paired with an unconditional stimulus, which makes the neutral stimulus a conditioned stimulus. The learning experience of an individual can be explicated through classical conditioning. The psychological counsellor conducts their counselling by analyzing neurotic learning experiences. The principles of classical conditioning are acquisition, high-order conditioning, expectancies, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and generalization. Some of the classical therapies that psychologists use on their patients are exposure therapies and aversion therapies.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning, also known as instrumental conditioning, was discovered by renowned behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner. Operant conditioning involves the process of behavioural change (behavioural learning) that occurs due to the process of reinforcement of a specific desired behaviour involving reward-based reinforcement of desired behaviour or punishment-based reinforcement of undesired behaviour. The cardinal principle of operant conditioning is reinforcement through punishment or reward. Reinforcement can also be partial reinforcement or continuous reinforcement. The behavioural therapies that are based on operant conditioning are called behaviour modification. The token economy is one of the significant psychological therapies that counsellors use to shape their patient’s behaviour by giving them tokens (e.g. candies or treats for kids) for showing good behaviour. Operant conditioning involves incentives and rewards for behavioural learners. Cognitive-behavioural psychologists have used operant conditioning to devise systematic methods that benefit people and amend their problematic behaviours.
Post Traumatic Disorder
Post-traumatic disorder is a psychological disorder in which the factor of fear fails to go in the person, and memory reminders of the traumatic events continue to elucidate compulsive conditioned fear responses for years, even after vulnerable trauma has passed. This trauma can be caused by natural disasters, physical torture, war, or any accident. Emotional and social support should be given to the PTSD patient to manage. The studies on post-traumatic disorder propose that some symptoms of PTSD are established and upheld by classical conditioning.
The Implication Of Classical And Operant Conditioning
Classical conditioning facilitates the explanation of the experiences of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The traumatic incident can act as an unconditioned stimulus (US) that provokes an unconditioned response (UR) in the concerned person, described by immense fear and anxiety. Classical conditioning can be used to mitigate PTSD in a person by exposing him/her to the positive, neutral stimulus (contentment or another pleasant memory) with the unconditioned stimulus (fear by the traumatic event) repeatedly, which will make the neutral stimulus a conditioned stimulus that destroys the unconditioned stimulus (fear by the traumatic event).
Along with classical conditioning, other psychotherapeutic therapies are also important for an individual to combat PTSD. Exposure therapy and stress management can act as psychotherapeutic therapies to help the person battle against PTSD. Group therapy and family therapy can also be helpful for such patients when they share their experiences and fears of traumatic events with other people in groups. On the other hand, the implication of operant conditioning is used in avoidance learning to exterminate an undesired behaviour in a person through reward or punishment. Operant conditioning can help psychologists teach people that coping techniques (avoidance learning) can reward them/incentives.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, classical conditioning and operant conditioning have a significant impact on the paradigms of behavioural counselling and psychological disorders. Psychologists and counsellors can use these two behavioural theories to improve mental complexities and amend desired behaviour in a person. Therapeutic approaches such as stress management, exposure therapy, and group therapy can do wonders for patients suffering from PTSD. The implication of these two conditioning theories (Classical conditioning and Operant Conditioning) has a vast influence on people with PTSD.
References
American Psychiatric Association, A. P. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV).
Milad, M. R., Pitman, R. K., Ellis, C. B., Gold, A. L., Shin, L. M., Lasko, N. B., … & Rauch, S. L. (2009). Neurobiological basis of failure to recall extinction memory in posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological psychiatry, 66(12), 1075-1082.
Stein, L. (1966). Habituation and stimulus novelty: a model based on classical conditioning. Psychological Review, 73(4), 352.
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