The Influence of Nature vs. nurture on Jason's Mental Health: A Comprehensive Analysis

Question

Task: How have nature vs. nurture influenced Jason's mental health, and what psychological theories explain his current state?

Answer

Human behavior is directly influenced by both nature vs. nurture and in Jason’s situation, both have had a direct effect on his mental health and state. Jason’s mother suffered from a mental illness which resulted in him being withdrawn from her care but it may have been too late as the reason for him being placed in foster care was based on him being exposed to domestic violence. Both factors have had an influence on Jason’s mental health as shall be discussed below.

Nature – Genetic Factors

Jason’s mother suffered from a mental illness which results in the likelihood of him having inherited the mental illness via genetics from his mother. She suffered from a mental illness which pulled her away from caring for her own child and would ignore Jason as baby leaving him to cry without any physical contact for long periods of time.

This clearly demonstrates him mother also suffered from a severe mental illness which affected the way she behaves in relationships and likely to have also withdrawn from all relationships even with her children. This would result in creating a void between Jason and him mother relationship where he never got any care or protection from her making him venerable to the elements from a young age.

Nurture – Environmental Factors

By analyzing the case study, it is clear that Jason mother suffered from a mental illness which caused her to have relationship issues with people around her. This is clearly observed with the failure to care for her very own children and she is likely to have had the same behavior with her husband and relatives.

Without a caring mother, Jason would find himself exposed to environmental factors such as domestic violence and bullying from his siblings and other children yet having no one to protect him. This makes his venerable to suffering from stress, anxiety and other factors which also have a direct effect on the individual’s mental state. Having been ignored by his mother at a young age and experiencing serious domestic violence and bullying has resulted in both Nature vs. nurture influencing Jason’s mental state and affecting his ability to maintain relationships as well as his short temper.

Physiological Needs

Jason Mother failed to deliver a stable Physiological Needs to Jason as a baby which was the first factor which is associated with affecting his mental health. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs an individual requires to fulfill their basic needs which include food, air, water, warmth, sleep, and sex so as to develop a stable physiological state of mind. In the case of Jason, mother deprived him of food, water, warmth, love, and sleep as a child which directly affects his psychological state of mind.

Safety Need

Jason would continue to experience insecurity within his family due to his mother having suffered from a mental illness which saw her ignore her children’s basic needs. This would result in his mother failing to maintain a stable relationship with her husband, children, neighbors and family which result in Jason experiencing serious domestic violence which affected his mental stale due to the lack of safety.

Love and Belongingness Needs

This would also result in Jason’s siblings also adopting the domestic violent approaches and likely to bullying younger and weaker siblings which also contributed towards Jason’s current psychological state of instability and anger.

Esteem Needs

Failure for Jason to have received Physiological, Safety and Love &Belongingness during his early development meant that Jason would develop a low self-esteem. Self Esteem can only be achieved once an individual has satisfied the three previous needs which allow them to now turn their focus towards achieving a higher ranked position in society and among other.

Jason’s lack of self-esteem is clearly demonstrated through his inability to maintain relationships over due to him failing to build trust in another individual. This is due to him mother and family failing to deliver Physiological, Safety and Love &Belongingness as a child and during his early development

Self-Actualization needs

Self-actualization is the psychological state in which an individual does not depend on other for recognition and is confident in one’s own ability and skill to execute any decision. Unlike esteem which depends on Physiological, Safety, and Love &Belongingness to acquire, an individual can develop Self-Actualization if they are willing to look back and identify problems they may have faced and during the past so as to identify solutions for the problems in the future.

Jason is likely to lack self Esteem due to the psychological stress he experienced as a child and during development but is capable of developing Self-Actualization and resolving from the past. He has done this by approaching the counselor who can assist his resolve issues from the past thus allowing him to improve on relationships and be a better parent.

a) Freudian Concepts

When assessed using the Freudian Concepts, Jason is observed o be suffering from the Phallic condition in which he has experienced an abnormal family set up which has led to an unusual relationship between his parents. With domestic violence, arguments and stress always present, Jason has developed inadequacy and inferiority and is likely to also demonstrate vanity, self-obsession and sexual anxiety as he grows old.

b) Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

When analysed using the Piaget’s stages of cognitive development on Nature vs. Nurture, Jason current issue can be traced back to the Sensory-motor stage which occurs between 0-2 years of age. During this stage of life Jason developed a distinction between Anxiety and stress which he has adopted and maintained mentally. This can be a reason linked to his short temper due to him having cried for attention as a baby and not getting any attention leading to developing frustration as a result.

c) Erikson’s psychosocial stages

Jason current inability to maintain relationships is linked to him having suffered from stage 1 of Erikson’s psychosocial stages which affect infants between 0-1.5 years. During this stage the infant lacks the basic venture of hope which results in them developing the psychological crisis of trust and mistrust. Jason cried for his mother attention and food and was often ignore resulting in his developing mistrust. This has been carried on to his teenage and likely also seen him lacking trust in people around him during his adulthood. This is also one of the reasons he fails to maintain relationships due to him failing to trust people around him due to the fear of being hurt or let down.

d) Bowlby’s attachment theory

Bowlby’s attachment theory

According to Bowlby’s attachment theory relating to Nature vs. Nurture, Jason has developed insecurity, Avoidance and a tendency to resist relationships due to the Primary careers behavior during infancy and childhood. Jason’s mother often ignored his cry for food and love which resulted in affecting his sleep and need to develop an attachment with him primary career. This has had a direct effect on Jason’s current state in which he lacks security and resists placing his trust in a