Saturday, August 8, 2009

Organizing Behavior at "The Work Place."

The psychology of behavior at work is so complex that it ranges from, motivation, attitude, personality,stress, the co-operation of management and staff, modes of learning ,group dynamics etc. One of the major factors that play a major role is the "corporate culture", which equates to decision making in this ever changing work force. How to lead and train a new multi ethnic organization and develop a good rapport with most if not all employees. The first topics to consider are motivation and job satisfaction. 1)What motivates a person to work?
2)Could we increase motivation with wage increases?
The answer is yes and no, an increase in wage would allow the employee to perform better but,after some time would lose its effectiveness as the enforcement of schedules would become weak, this is the correct time to change the schedules of reinforcement to variable, which means a random awarding of this enforcer would be set into motion and this would make the employee to continuing displaying good work habits in the hopes of getting the monetary reward which the employee doesn't no when, and would continue elicit a change in motivation, rewards of other types such as food etc, can be used to enforce renewed motivation in the workplace. As far as job satisfaction is concerned it is dependent on many factors such as stress free environment, training and managerial attitudes.
Does the company have ethical behavior in it hierarchy structure?, is group dynamics taken into account, as we can see the new trend is working in teams or groups such as project teams, work groups(managed or self managed) and teams of managers have become a regular mainstay in companies and corporations. The possibility of having an effective team depends on training and understanding the mental process of a group or team , do they think similarly or have opposing views, are strategies put into place to combat this process and foster similar goals or outcomes from the project and most importantly to prevent human error as much as possible and promote a culture of having a safe environment. The "Behavioral Coach" should be able to step into this environment and create cooperation,acceptance ,and understanding for both employee and employer. The coach should take into account environmental issues or stimuli that make it enjoyable or aversive for the employee to perform at the job, has the employee been trained or has previous training for the said position?, is he rewarded for his contingencies of work put forth, does the employee see benefits for performing better , even in the arena of their private life . The behavioral coach has to successfully navigate this sea and smooth the waves and pave the way for training and career development of the employees, use socio-cultural tools to motivate the managers and employees to higher levels of performance and teach them self regulation process so that they see the change in themselves and the environment around. Another important clue is time has the employee or group been given a reasonable time span to complete the project, or are they being stressed or cramped into a high stress atmosphere, which will impede their progress and create stressful situations , affect health and self esteem, and ultimately the quality of output of the group or employee. The coach should guide the managers and staff in justice,fairness and equality, which would lead to a fair expectancy on both sides concerned. This would create much higher self-esteem, happy emotions and motivation which will be self regulated. This will lead to rewards and dignity for both corporation and employee.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

THE FEAR OF PHOBIAS

Phobias are usually considered to be triggered by irrational or unknown factors, and when they are experienced by that person, disturb that person's everyday life. People who have a phobia usually react uncontrollably and intensely to the situation because they do not know what the cause is,which maybe either from a previous conditioned stimuli or repressed action or conflict in them which causes this feeling or reaction to take place . The fear of the unknown causes them to have a phobic reaction.Neurotic individuals have a wide variety of phobias, to name a few: Acrophobia(fear of heights), Agoraphobia(fear of open places) Claustrophobia(fear of closed places),Mysophobia(fear of dirt),etc..., sometimes the phobia has such a grip on the persons thinking that they become a social recluse or socially phobic to their surroundings and create severe anxiety in the person afflicted with this condition. Hypnotherapy is one of the better therapeutic modalities which can help a person get over their phobias or fears, the process used could be circle therapy where the client is made to repeatedly face or confront his phobia in a state of hypnosis until the anxiety or perceived danger of the situation is gradually desensitized, and positive suggestions given to the client to strengthen their self image and get rid of this fear.
Regression Hypnotherapy could also be used as a tool to bring the client to the original point or cause of the fear or phobia and remove this feeling thus negating this negative feeling and the anxiety associated with the phobia. Another form of therapy which could also be very beneficial to eliminate phobias is behavioral or motivational coaching, where the behavioral coach gradually introduces the client to his phobia one step at a time till the client is desensitized to this feeling, for example if a person has a fear or phobia of dogs the behavioral coach first introduces a photo of dogs for the client to see, after a while a stuffed toy dog and as the phobia lessens a live canine is brought some distance from the client , then a bit closer and so on and so forth till the client is totally confident that he or she can touch the animal without evoking the original fear or phobia, and thus the phobia is eliminated. It is important for the hypnotherapist or coach to remember during the intake interview to listen very carefully to what the client is expressing about his symptoms and that no other hidden, secondary or important psychological symptoms such as paranoia, delusional thinking, psychosis that are masked by what the client states as a phobia. In these cases the client is better of refereed to a psychiatrist for further treatment.If the client has a personal physican the therapist could also request the physican to send the therapist a bill of good health before any sort of hypnosis or behavioral coaching is started .

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Hypnotherapy for Asperger,s Disorder


Scientific studies show that most outbreaks of anger or temper tantrums for Asperger's Disorder have an anxiety based content to it(1). In other words anxiousness builds up due to external or internal sensory stimuli in the brain of the person who is diagnosed with this Disorder , and this creates tremendous stress in the mind/brain of that person which leads to a chain reaction of outbursts of anger ,tantrums, fear,irritability this then lead into another domain of this person's life ie: social alienation from peers by what is seen as maladaptive behavior or no social skills , when in actuality this person is reacting to a bout of anxiety or even complex inferior which drives them further into social alienation and they could well end up with a phobia for society at large ,instead opting for solitary preoccupation with self.
This chain reaction is like an unbroken circle going round and round without any solution in sight . Hypnotherapy could help such persons to alleviate their stress or anxiety by relaxing the brain/mind and nervous system, as during hypnosis the parasympathetic nervous system is kicked into action and this allows the mind to relax deeply, which in turn relaxes the whole nervous, muscular and circulatory systems of the body. Hypnosis also has many other positive effects with in the person such as raising of self esteem, effective thinking and behavior modification. Hypnosis can also help in insomnia and a myriad of other issues to numerous to mention over here. Having worked with a quite a few adolescents who suffered from anxiety , which was an offset of Aspergers Disorder, the method of hypnosis was employed and in most cases gave the client a lot of relief from anxiety or tension of the mind , eventually the client was taught auto hypnosis to use for themselves when needed. The therapeutic method of hypnosis is not very much studied in connection with asperger's syndrome, as hypnosis is as always mired by metaphysical connotations and until recently not taken seriously as a mode of therapy, but this is fast changing as hypnosis is being proven time and again that it can stand its ground with any therapeutic modality of the day and in some instance surpass the rest.Hypnotherapy as a therapeutic modality has its own distinct forms, methods and patterns which are employed during the session with the client. During a session the hypnotherapist gives the client suggestions for relaxation and calming of the conscious cognitive process, and by passing the critical faculty of critical thinking the suggestions of calmness ,anxiety free are registered in the subconscious or unconscious processes of the client which in turn lead to modification of maladaptive behaviors such as (tantrums, anger, low self worth etc). As the hypnotherapist and client gain rapport after a few sessions, other issues which might be also causing discomfort to the client could be also addressed. Hypnosis is also a great tool to be used by the family members of the person diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders as they are also in a state of great stress and anxiety, even angry at what happened to their family member and their whole world turned upside down. Group hypnosis sessions could help family member's to cope with feelings of inadequacy or guilt together, and express their feelings in a joint effort, this also allows the feelings of guilt or anger to be evened out and the family feels as a whole unit.
Anxiety, anger, phobias, fears or what ever your situation might be hypnosis can be a powerful adjunct to help you feel better. Please always consult a medical doctor/psychiatrist in case of doubt of any treatment. (For "Asperger's Disorder" diagnosis please consult DSM- IV-TR).
(1) www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/detail_asperger.htm