She is significantly behind academically. Her mother reports that Emma has an increase in behavioral problems, such as frequent tantrums, yelling, talking back, throwing things when angry or frustrated, and “baby-like” behavior. Through these behaviors, it appears Emma is not able to control impulses and emotions, displays hyperactivity and anger, and an inability to concentrate. Emma’s academic challenges in school and behavioral problems are a signal that there are problems with goodness of fit, which is the compatibility of an individual’s temperament with his or her environment (Robbins et al., 2012). Stress can arise from a lack of goodness of fit, which is important to note for the client (Robbins et al., 2012). A lack of goodness of fit results from challenges with adaptation, the give-and-take and continuous adjustment between people and their environments (Robbins et al., 2012). The client is exhibiting maladaptive behavior, where she can no longer maintain an adequate level of …show more content…
It offers a language that is useful in explaining the client in a holistic, contextual, and transactional way. This allows thorough examination of the relationships that may be negatively impacting the client’s functioning, such as the dynamics at home with her parents divorce. The concept of holism is particularly important in the analysis of the whole system (biological, psychological, and social factors) (Hudson, 2010). However, some of the language used in systems theory is overly technical and mechanical, lacking clarity and too generic. This makes it difficult to translate the application of concepts into treatment