Behavior Theory In Nursing

The behavior theory or behaviorism is very useful in the medical career field. Both nurses and doctors can benefit from this theory of learning. Behaviorism is mostly concerned with observable behavior. One of the criticisms of this state that it does not focus on the internal factors of the brain. In an addiction the brain is provided pleasure be releasing dopamine. “Addictive drugs provide a shortcut to the brain’s reward system by flooding the nucleus accumbens with dopamine. The hippocampus lays down memories of this rapid sense of satisfaction, and the amygdala creates a conditioned response to certain stimuli.” (1) The behavior theory of psychology was first discovered in the 1890’s by Ivan Pavlov a noted Russian physiologist. His studies

He noticed that his dogs behaviors were changing. At first they would salivate with just the food. The more he worked with them, the more their behavior changed until he noticed that they would salivate whenever he or his assistant would come in the room with or without food. He then began experiments with neutral stimuli such as bells and whistles. The dogs would associate food with the bells. Anytime they heard a bell they would salivate. This behavior is called Classical Conditioning. How does Classical condition apply to the nursing field? My theory is behavior theory can be used to change behaviors of those frequent flyers that just come in to get drugs who are not truly sick, but have conditioned themselves to get meds. Their behavior has made them accustomed to receiving pain meds. Prescribing medicine is just a quick fix for a mental health problem of

The Big Pharma drug companies that pay doctors, the doctors that take those kick backs and the patients that continually come in to get drugs. This is the classical which came first, the chicken or the egg? Does big pharma pushing drugs cause people to come in and get more pain meds or do people wanting pain meds causing big pharma to push more drugs. How does the behavior theory fit into this equation? Behavior is the result of stimulus – response (i.e. all behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response association). With those frequent flyers who come in for pain meds, their stimulus is the fact they need this drug. The response is that they are given these drugs after they present with certain symptoms. This is exactly like when Pavlov rang the bell for the dogs, they soon received food and began to salivate. I propose that we stop ringing the bell for these junkies and continually giving them meds. This will not be a fast process. It will require better education for everyone involved including doctors and nurses. Just like in Pavlovs dogs, their behavior was reversed as well when they eventually didn’t receive any food after ringing the bell. The same thing can be done for junkies trying to get a quick fix. This will be more involved in behavior modification at this point. Opponents to this theory, the Freud’s of the world, will criticizes behaviorism as it does not take into