05/02/2022
This topic is very important, a high percentage of our children suffer from it, but we cannot understand them, they struggle alone, they cannot ask for help, they want to, but they cannot ask. What's inside is never the same as outside, so everyone should keep an eye on their children.
What Are Internalizing Behaviors?
When we think about harmful behavior, we usually imagine violent, aggressive, or otherwise damaging actions directed toward others. Many people do not realize that emotional disturbances and mental health disorders can cause those who experience them to attack themselves.
Known as internalizing behaviors, these reactions to stress and negative emotions are often hidden. Because of the tendency to remain out of view, internalizing behaviors are not as well-known as externalizing forms that involve acting out. This does not mean internalizing behaviors are any less damaging. In fact, continuing such behavior can cause serious damage to one's overall mental health, self-esteem, and relationships with others.
Struggling with Self-Regulation
Many children, teens, and adults struggle with self-regulation. This means that they have trouble controlling their emotions and impulsive reactions.
A common example that most of us have witnessed is a toddler throwing a fit in a store because their mom or dad refuses to give them what they want. When throwing a tantrum, toddlers might scream, stomp their feet, and even throw things. Although few adults would find it acceptable, this behavior is somewhat expected for a child under three. So, though we wouldn't want to reward the behavior, we wouldn't find it alarming.
However, what would you think about the same situation but involving a 12-year-old? You might feel differently since you would expect a child of that age to have more control over their emotions. Although not the norm, many children (who grow into adults) struggle with self-regulation, even as they age, resulting in negative behaviors.
Externalizing Vs. Internalizing Behaviors: The Difference
Some of these actions, such as those mentioned above, are externalizing behaviors, meaning they are directed toward an individual's environment. Common examples of externalizing behavior include:
• Verbal aggression
• Physical aggression
• Destruction of property
• Stealing
Although "negative emotions" such as anger are normal stress responses, the outward reaction suggests a person has difficulty with self-regulation. Many people who display externalizing behaviors frequently end up being diagnosed with one (or more) of the following mental disorders:
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Intermittent Explosive Disorder
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder
• Substance Use Disorder
• Conduct Disorder
• Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Pyromania
• Kleptomania
Treatment for externalizing behaviors is both personal and complex. These disorders are not, however, the only way that self-regulation presents itself.
Some children and adults who have trouble coping with stress and emotions exhibit internalizing behaviors. This is to say that instead of acting out toward others, they self-harm.
Internalizing Behaviors and Symptoms May Include:
• Feeling sad, lonely, afraid, unwanted, or unloved
• Being withdrawn and not wanting to socialize
• Becoming irritable or nervous, especially when stressed or emotional
• Not wanting to talk or communicate with anyone
• Having difficulty concentrating or focusing on important tasks
• Sleeping a lot more or less than usual
• Eating a lot more or less than usual
• Negative self-talk
• Substance use
• Suicidal thoughts, attempts, or ideation
Depression and anxiety are two mental disorders that people who practice internalizing behavior often develop.
Internalizing disorders develop when individuals try to self-regulate inappropriately. Unlike those with externalizing disorders, they might try "too hard" to control emotions and do so from within.
Also known as "secret illnesses," many people experiencing internalizing disorders hide their symptoms so well that even their family and friends are unaware of their struggles. Many people who experience internalizing behaviors never get help, which means their internalizing behaviors may progress into bodily self-harm (cutting) or suicidal thoughts and attempts.
Internalizing Disorders and Presentation
Internalizing disorders usually present themselves in these four primary ways:
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Social Withdrawal
• Somatic (Physical) Symptom Disorder
Depression
A common yet extremely serious mood disorder, depression is also known as major depressive disorder or clinical depression. Although depression can present itself in many different ways, the book Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), followed by mental health professions during diagnosis, lists the following symptoms. Excluding the last, these symptoms must present every day or nearly every day.
• Depressed mood
• Less interest in all, or almost all, activities
• Significant weight loss or gain
• A slowing down of thought along with a reduction of physical movement
• Fatigue or extreme loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
• Diminished ability to think or concentrate
• Recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation with or without a specific plan, or a su***de attempt
Anxiety
Because they occur together so frequently, many people think that depression and anxiety are the same illness when they are different. All anxiety disorders present differently. DSM-5 lists the symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder as:
• Excessive anxiety
• Difficult to control worry
• Restlessness
• Feeling on edge
• Becoming easily fatigued
• Difficulty concentrating
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Sleep disturbance
For a person living with an anxiety disorder, internalizing behaviors can be a serious issue. Unfortunately, left untreated, the anxiety does not go away and can also worsen over time. It can also lead to serious mental illnesses such as depression (listed above) and social withdrawal (discussed below).
Social Withdrawal
Social withdrawal can be a symptom of numerous mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. It is also one of the main signs of Avoidant Personality Disorder, which is characterized by the following:
• Extreme social inhibition
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Sensitivity to negative criticism as well as rejection
Social withdrawal is worth mentioning separately because it is a common coping mechanism for those experiencing strong emotions and stress through internalizing behavior. Instead of acting out, introverts and others who look inward choose to be alone rather than interacting with others who could help.
Somatic Symptom Disorder
One final way that internalizing behaviors often presents is through Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD). SSD is not as well-known as anxiety and depression. Many people first hear of this disorder at diagnosis.
SSD shows up as physical symptoms with no underlying cause. It is characterized by pain, neurologic challenges, stomach issues (gastrointestinal complaints), and sexual symptoms.
People living with SSD are often viewed as 'faking symptoms' since there isn't an underlying cause that physicians can pinpoint. However, this is a misconception. The distress, frustration, and physical pain from SSD are real and can lead to internalizing behavior.
The effects, while often physical, also manifest in other ways. Children living with an internalizing disorder tend to have trouble with academic performance, socializing with others, psychological adjustment, and employment. Again, these things tend to go unnoticed.
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/behavior/what-are-internalizing-behaviors/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/slideplayer.com/amp/16988966/
