Disinhibition
Encyclopedia
Disinhibition is a term in psychology
used to describe a lack of restraint manifested in several ways, including disregard for social conventions
, impulsivity
, and poor risk assessment. Disinhibition affects motor
, instinctual, emotional, cognitive and perceptual aspects with signs and symptoms similar to the diagnostic criteria for mania
. Hypersexuality
, hyperphagia, and aggressive outbursts are indicative of disinhibited instinctual drives.
, particularly to the frontal lobe
. It may also be as a result of delirium
, mania
or drugs
.
An individual experiencing disinhibition may not be able to disguise some of their emotional responses, sometimes at the expense of politeness
, sensitivity, or social appropriateness. Individuals under the influence of alcohol, for example, exhibit disinhibition in view of the depressant
effect of alcohol on the brain's higher functioning.
Disinhibition is the temporary increase in strength of an extinguished response due to an unrelated stimulus effect. This differs from spontaneous recovery, which is the temporary increase in strength of a conditioned response, which is likely to occur during extinction after the passage of time. These effects occur during both classical and operant conditioning
.
communicate differently when using the media of instant messaging
, text messaging
, and posting content on social networking sites
. Because technology may provide a perceived buffer from regular consequences and an actual buffer from traditional social cues
, people will say and do things through technology that they would not say and do face-to-face.
Disinhibited behaviour occurs when people do not follow the social rules about what or where to say or do something. People who are disinhibited may come across as rude, tactless or even offensive. For example, a person with a brain injury may make a comment about how ugly another person is, or a person with dementia may have lost their social manners and look as though they are deliberately harassing another person.
Sexually disinhibited persons may inappropriately flirt with someone or make sexual comments. A person might expose themselves such as taking off part or all their clothes in public. They may unexpectedly fondle themselves or masturbate in public. They may touch other people on their face, arms, legs, buttocks or genitals.
The reasons why these behaviours may occur include:
It is important that the other person not take these behaviours personally. They may occur because you are there in the vicinity of the sufferer, but his or her behaviour does not occur because of you personally. It is important to develop assertiveness skills and to seek out your own self-care when managing challenging behaviour in others.
PBS also acknowledges the needs of support staff and includes strategies to manage crises when they arise. The following model is a brief guide to staff to remind them of key things to think about when planning support for a person with disabilities. There are two main objectives reacting situationally when the behaviour occurs and then acting proactively to prevent the behaviour from occurring.
Broadly speaking, when the behaviour occurs, assertively in a nonjudgemental, clear, unambiguous way provide feedback that the behaviour is inappropriate, and say what you prefer instead. For example, "Jane, you're standing too close when you are speaking to me, I feel uncomfortable, please take a step back", or "I don't like it when you say I look hot in front of your wife, I feel uncomfortable, I am your Attendant Carer/Support Worker, I am here to help you with your shopping". Then re-direct to the next activity. Any subsequent behaviour ignore. Then generally, as almost all behaviour is communication, understand what the behaviour is trying to communicate and look at ways to have the need met in more appropriate ways.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
used to describe a lack of restraint manifested in several ways, including disregard for social conventions
Convention (norm)
A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom....
, impulsivity
Impulsivity
Impulsivity is a personality trait characterized by the inclination of an individual to initiate behavior without adequate forethought as to the consequences of their actions, acting on the spur of the moment. Eysenck and Eysenck related impulsivity to risk-taking, lack of planning, and making up...
, and poor risk assessment. Disinhibition affects motor
Motor skill
A motor skill is a learned sequence of movements that combine to produce a smooth, efficient action in order to master a particular task. The development of motor skill occurs in the motor cortex, the region of the cerebral cortex that controls voluntary muscle groups.- Development of motor skills...
, instinctual, emotional, cognitive and perceptual aspects with signs and symptoms similar to the diagnostic criteria for mania
Mania
Mania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
. Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...
, hyperphagia, and aggressive outbursts are indicative of disinhibited instinctual drives.
Clinical concept of disinhibition
Disinhibition is a process, of whatever aetiology, which results in an individual having a reduced capacity to edit or manage their immediate impulsive response to a situation. Disinhibition is a common symptom following a physical injury to the brainTraumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...
, particularly to the frontal lobe
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes...
. It may also be as a result of delirium
Delirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
, mania
Mania
Mania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
or drugs
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
.
An individual experiencing disinhibition may not be able to disguise some of their emotional responses, sometimes at the expense of politeness
Politeness
Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally-defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in another cultural context....
, sensitivity, or social appropriateness. Individuals under the influence of alcohol, for example, exhibit disinhibition in view of the depressant
Depressant
A depressant, or central depressant, is a drug or endogenous compound that depresses the function or activity of a specific part of the brain...
effect of alcohol on the brain's higher functioning.
Associative learning concept of disinhibition
The term disinhibition is also used to describe a fundamental process of associative learning, specifically within the realm of classical (Pavlovian) conditioning. Disinhibition is the recurrence of a conditioned response after extinction trials have eliminated said response elicited by the presentation of a novel stimulus. The following process best illustrates this form of disinhibition:Disinhibition is the temporary increase in strength of an extinguished response due to an unrelated stimulus effect. This differs from spontaneous recovery, which is the temporary increase in strength of a conditioned response, which is likely to occur during extinction after the passage of time. These effects occur during both classical and operant conditioning
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus...
.
Colloquial usage of the term disinhibition
Clinical terms sometimes gain a broader usage and meaning in society outside of their original technical definition. The concept of disinhibition is being applied with some regularity in news articles as an explanation for how youthYouth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
communicate differently when using the media of instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
, text messaging
Text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
, and posting content on social networking sites
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
. Because technology may provide a perceived buffer from regular consequences and an actual buffer from traditional social cues
Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch , by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact...
, people will say and do things through technology that they would not say and do face-to-face.
Further information
Individuals who show disinhibited behaviour tend to have this as part of a cluster of challenging behaviours including verbal aggression, physical aggression, socially inappropriate behaviour, sexual disinhibition, wandering, and repetitive behaviour.Disinhibited behaviour occurs when people do not follow the social rules about what or where to say or do something. People who are disinhibited may come across as rude, tactless or even offensive. For example, a person with a brain injury may make a comment about how ugly another person is, or a person with dementia may have lost their social manners and look as though they are deliberately harassing another person.
Sexually disinhibited persons may inappropriately flirt with someone or make sexual comments. A person might expose themselves such as taking off part or all their clothes in public. They may unexpectedly fondle themselves or masturbate in public. They may touch other people on their face, arms, legs, buttocks or genitals.
The reasons why these behaviours may occur include:
- Brain-related changes that occur from dementia; damage to the brain such as in brain injury, usually the frontotemporal or obitofrontal areas, i.e. the frontal lobes (part behind the forehead)
- Difficulty thinking about the consequences of their behaviour
- Misinterpreting social cues (e.g. someone's politeness might be read as the go-ahead for touching); poor social judgement
- Being unable to communicate in an appropriate way
- Response to factors in the environment, e.g. a young woman standing very close to an elderly demented man might touch his legs without telling him why (such as because she's changing his bed clothes)
- Being confused about where the sufferer is (e.g. thinking he or she is in the bathroom and starting to undress), who they are interacting with (e.g. care home staff may be confused with the sufferer's wife or girlfriend and then be touched)
- Feeling lonely
- Discomfort such as being too hot or cold may lead to undressing, or a urinary tract infection may lead to touching one's own genitals
- Provocations
- Other factors
It is important that the other person not take these behaviours personally. They may occur because you are there in the vicinity of the sufferer, but his or her behaviour does not occur because of you personally. It is important to develop assertiveness skills and to seek out your own self-care when managing challenging behaviour in others.
Treatment approaches
Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is a treatment approach that looks at the best way to work with each individual with disabilities. A behavioural therapist conducts a functional analysis of behaviour which helps to determine ways to improve the quality of life for the person and does not just deal with problem behaviour.PBS also acknowledges the needs of support staff and includes strategies to manage crises when they arise. The following model is a brief guide to staff to remind them of key things to think about when planning support for a person with disabilities. There are two main objectives reacting situationally when the behaviour occurs and then acting proactively to prevent the behaviour from occurring.
Reactive
Reactive strategies include:- Redirection: distracting the person by offering another activity, or changing the topic of conversation. Offer the person a choice of 2 or 3 things but no more than 3 because this can be overwhelming. In offering a choice, make sure to pause to allow the person time to process the information and give a response.
- Talking to the person and finding out what the problem is
- Working out what the person's behaviour is trying to communicate
- Crisis management
Proactive
Proactive strategies to prevent problems can include:- Change the environment: This can include increasing opportunities for access to a variety of activities, balancing cognitively and physically demanding activities with periods of rest, providing a predictable environment in order to reduce the level of cognitive demands on the person, trying to provide consistent routines (be mindful of events that may not occur, try not to make promises that cannot be kept, if unable to go out at a particular time then say so), checking for safety in the home environment (e.g. changing/moving furniture).
- Teach a skill: These can include general skills development of useful communication strategies, coping skills (e.g. teach the person what to do when feeling angry, anxious)
- Individual behaviour support plans: These involve reinforcing specific desirable behaviour and ignoring the specific undesirable behaviour (unless it is dangerous, the priority is to keep both people safe through a crisis plan which might involve removing sharp objects or weapons, escaping to a safe place, giving the person time to calm down), avoiding things you know upsets the person, strategies to increase engagement in activities.
Broadly speaking, when the behaviour occurs, assertively in a nonjudgemental, clear, unambiguous way provide feedback that the behaviour is inappropriate, and say what you prefer instead. For example, "Jane, you're standing too close when you are speaking to me, I feel uncomfortable, please take a step back", or "I don't like it when you say I look hot in front of your wife, I feel uncomfortable, I am your Attendant Carer/Support Worker, I am here to help you with your shopping". Then re-direct to the next activity. Any subsequent behaviour ignore. Then generally, as almost all behaviour is communication, understand what the behaviour is trying to communicate and look at ways to have the need met in more appropriate ways.
See also
- Online disinhibition effectOnline disinhibition effectIn psychology, the online disinhibition effect, also known in popular culture as John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory , refers to the way people behave on the Internet with less restraint than in real-world situations...
- Orbitofrontal cortexOrbitofrontal cortexThe orbitofrontal cortex is a prefrontal cortex region in the frontal lobes in the brain which is involved in the cognitive processing of decision-making...
- Frontotemporal dementiaFrontotemporal dementiaFrontotemporal dementia is a clinical syndrome caused by degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain and may extend back to the temporal lobe...