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The importance of nonmotivational behavior patterns in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment

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Summary

Behavioral disturbances may involve not only motivational forces in the form of purposes and conceptualized goals and aims, but also nonmotivational factors. These latter include limitations in capacity, such as the results of incomplete maturation or brain injury, specific patterns of motility, perception or biochemical functioning, and various types of consistent, stable, intrinsic reaction patterns. The lack of recognition of such nonmotivational factors, when they exist, and the incorrect assumption that the behavioral disturbances are the exclusive result of underlying purposes can lead to significant errors in diagnosis and therapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1165 Park Avenue, New York 28, N. Y.

    Stella Chess M.D. & Alexander Thomas M.D.

Authors
  1. Stella Chess M.D.
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  2. Alexander Thomas M.D.
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Additional information

From the New York Medical College and New York University College of Medicine. Read at the 114th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, San Francisco, May 12–16, 1958.

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Chess, S., Thomas, A. The importance of nonmotivational behavior patterns in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. Psych Quar 33, 326–334 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01575459

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