Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDefinition and ExamplesExamples of Maladaptive BehaviorsRisks of Maladaptive BehaviorsAddressing the Behavior YourselfProfessional SupportConcern About Others
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Definition and Examples
Examples of Maladaptive Behaviors
Risks of Maladaptive Behaviors
Addressing the Behavior Yourself
Professional Support
Concern About Others
Maladaptive behaviors are unhealthy or ineffective ways ofcopingwith something difficult or stressful. While they can be effective in helping you avoid distress in the short term, over time, maladaptive behaviors can negatively shape your social interactions, success in school or work, and ability to function in a healthy, appropriate way within society.
Maladaptive behaviors are highly individual. Many people use them to achieve a specific goal (e.g., improving mood) and tailor their behaviors to support that goal. Over time, they can become habitual.
This article will provide examples of maladaptive behaviors, outline the risks and theories about possible causes, and offer suggestions about managing maladaptive behaviors in yourself and others.
amenic181 / Getty Images
Defining Maladaptive Behavior
There are varying degrees of risk and concern with maladaptive behaviors. Some behaviors seem harmless (e.g., nail biting), while others are severe and can be unhealthy, aggressive, destructive, or disruptive. Maladaptive behaviors form throughout life for a myriad of reasons (e.g., anxiety, trauma,adverse childhood experiences). They can manifest into challenges including, but not limited to, the following:
Maladaptive Behaviors and Personality TraitsA childhood filled with chronic stress or trauma can impact your personality. There is a connection between people who have had significantemotional dysregulationin adolescence and maladaptive behaviors andpersonality disorders(e.g.,borderline personality disorder) later in life.
Maladaptive Behaviors and Personality Traits
A childhood filled with chronic stress or trauma can impact your personality. There is a connection between people who have had significantemotional dysregulationin adolescence and maladaptive behaviors andpersonality disorders(e.g.,borderline personality disorder) later in life.
However, maladaptive behaviors are not only a result of childhood stress or trauma. They form out of a psychological need or desire to avoid difficulties or cope with stress. Examples of these maladaptive behaviors include:
This list is a small sample of the limitless maladaptive behaviors people may engage in.
A Word From VerywellThe number of maladaptive behaviors and what they look like for each person is limitless.—ELLE MARKMAN, PSYD, MPH
A Word From Verywell
The number of maladaptive behaviors and what they look like for each person is limitless.—ELLE MARKMAN, PSYD, MPH
The number of maladaptive behaviors and what they look like for each person is limitless.
—ELLE MARKMAN, PSYD, MPH
There are endless maladaptive behaviors—and reasons—that someone may rely on to cope with difficulties or stress.
Anger
Everyone experiencesanger. Anger is one of our core emotions and helps make us aware of possible injustice or mistreatment. Experiencing and expressing anger in and of itself is not a maladaptive behavior.
However, harboring or constantly experiencing anger can become emotionally, psychologically, and physically unhealthy over time. Holding on to anger for long periods or using it to act in unkind, unfair, or aggressive ways toward others is considered a maladaptive manifestation of anger.
Anger vs. AggressionAnger is different fromaggression, which is acting in harmful ways toward others. Though anger can cause aggression, they are not the same. A person can experience anger and not direct it toward anyone in a harmful or aggressive way, such as through withdrawal or passive aggressiveness. However, when a person acts aggressively toward others, it is often the result of maladaptive anger.
Anger vs. Aggression
Anger is different fromaggression, which is acting in harmful ways toward others. Though anger can cause aggression, they are not the same. A person can experience anger and not direct it toward anyone in a harmful or aggressive way, such as through withdrawal or passive aggressiveness. However, when a person acts aggressively toward others, it is often the result of maladaptive anger.
Daydreaming
Daydreaming is a common way to get lost in thought or find distraction, and most people spend at least some time each day daydreaming. However, daydreaming can become maladaptive when it takes up most of your time to the extent that it becomes intense or disruptive.
Maladaptive daydreamingcauses you to get so caught up in your daydreams that you may speak out loud, give voices to the characters in the daydream, and act out different roles for those characters.
Maladaptive daydreams are often used to escape stress or trauma. Those who engage in this kind of daydreaming tend to daydream for hours at a time, might have difficulty sleeping, and will often find it challenging to focus on daily tasks due to the desire to continue daydreaming.
Passive-Agression
Passive-aggressive behavior is considered an ineffective and non-normative way of communicating. It tends to occur when a person experiences feelings of anger, frustration, or irritation but does not choose or want to engage in an aggressive response. Instead, the response usually comes across as indirectly hostile. Passive aggression is maladaptive, as it is not a clear, direct, or consistent way of communicating with others and can lead to misunderstandings or feelings of being indirectly attacked.
Examples of passive-aggressiveness include telling on someone to a higher authority because you don’t like them rather than talking with the person directly, avoiding eye contact with someone you don’t like, intentionally ignoring people you don’t like or giving them the silent treatment, and deliberately trying to sabotage someone.
Safety Behaviors
Safety behaviors are actions we take to avoid a threat, such as seeking shelter during a thunderstorm. These behaviors are meant to keep us safe when danger is present for the duration of the threat or risk. For people with anxiety, safety behaviors can result from the belief that a threat exists even when it doesn’t or can continue long after the threat is gone.
These are considered maladaptive safety behaviors because they provide a continuous feedback loop that a non-threatening situation—like being in a social situation—is actually dangerous and, therefore, prevents you from experiencing alternatives to that fear-based conclusion. Maladaptive safety behaviors are typically present in people with high levels ofanxiety.
Emotional Health Is Mental Health: One Aspect of Well-Being
Self-Harm
Self-harmingbehaviors are those that intentionally cause bodily injury, such as cutting, burning, and intentional poisoning. Those who self-harm often use it to release emotional pain or avoid psychological distress rather than cause death. All forms of self-harm are maladaptive, as they are an unsafe way of trying to cope with pain and distress.
Who Self-Harms?Self-harm is most often seen in adolescents, with those in ninth grade being at the highest risk. Further, adolescent girls are three times more likely to self-harm than adolescent boys.
Who Self-Harms?
Self-harm is most often seen in adolescents, with those in ninth grade being at the highest risk. Further, adolescent girls are three times more likely to self-harm than adolescent boys.
Sexual Maladaptive Behavior
There are many forms of unhealthy and unsafe compulsive behaviors that serve as a way to distract from psychological distress, including sexual behaviors. Sexual maladaptive behavior occurs when you continuously engage in sexual thoughts, urges, and behaviors. There are two categories of sexual maladaptive behavior:
Substance Use
Withdrawal
Social interaction is critical to our mental health. Though the degree to which a person wants to engage socially with others varies from person to person, some level of social engagement is necessary for everyone. Those who withdraw from others are likely to experience negative impacts on their mental health and well-being.
Social Isolation and MortalityPeople who are isolated from others have higher rates of mental illness and don’t live as long as those who are not socially isolated. Those who are socially isolated have a higher risk of mortality than people who smoke, use alcohol, or have a high body mass index (BMI).
Social Isolation and Mortality
People who are isolated from others have higher rates of mental illness and don’t live as long as those who are not socially isolated. Those who are socially isolated have a higher risk of mortality than people who smoke, use alcohol, or have a high body mass index (BMI).
Many people engage in maladaptive behaviors to help them feel better. These behaviors may serve them in the short term, but over time, they can harm a person’s well-being. For example, someone may lie to gain sympathy or connection or to get immediate relief from a stressful situation. However, the lies may lead to social isolation, orprocrastinatingto avoid stress may interfere with their educational success.These behaviors can also harm others.
Who Has a Higher Risk?
People who experience neglect as children are at a higher risk for developing maladaptive behaviors. Neglect means that a child is not provided with the basic things needed to ensure their safety, health, and well-being, like food, shelter, and medical care. Those who have negative or harmful childhood experiences often struggle to cope in healthy ways with stress, trauma, and anxiety and develop maladaptive behaviors to cope with symptoms.
The more severe the exposure to adversity, the more straightforward and long-term the maladaptive response tends to be. For example, a person who experiences severetraumamight developdissociative behaviorsto help them cope that continue throughout their lifetime.
People at higher risk of maladaptive behaviors include those who:
Maladaptive Behaviors and AutismUp to 97% of children with autism have difficulty regulating their emotions and behaviors when they experience sensory overload (e.g., loud noises or bright lights). Some of these reactive behaviors can be challenging, harmful, and considered maladaptive. Specialized support for those with an autism diagnosis can help children learn emotional regulation and control.
Maladaptive Behaviors and Autism
Up to 97% of children with autism have difficulty regulating their emotions and behaviors when they experience sensory overload (e.g., loud noises or bright lights). Some of these reactive behaviors can be challenging, harmful, and considered maladaptive. Specialized support for those with an autism diagnosis can help children learn emotional regulation and control.
Theories About Causes
There are many theories about what causes maladaptive behaviors. These include:
How to Address Maladaptive Behavior Yourself
Working through maladaptive behaviors can be difficult, as habits are typically challenging to break. To develop healthy coping methods, you must first understand which behaviors are considered maladaptive and how they negatively affect your life. Making changes can be particularly difficult when the maladaptive behavior is socially accepted or expected, such as going to work while sick or not taking vacation or break time.
Here are some things to consider as you address maladaptive behaviors yourself:
Professional Support for Maladaptive Behavior
Professional support from a mental health provider can help you replace maladaptive behaviors with healthier, more effective ones and begin to treat the underlying cause of those behaviors. Therapeutic interventions effective in treating people who have developed maladaptive behaviors include:
Each of these interventions takes a different approach, but they can help you recognize and understand maladaptive behaviors and work to adjust or overcome them.
Concern About Maladaptive Behavior in Someone Else
It can be distressing to observe someone you care about engaging in maladaptive behavior. Though others may recognize an action as harmful, the person engaging in the behavior is likely gaining some benefit from it, even if it’s only temporary relief. It can be difficult to help someone break their maladaptive behavior.
If you are worried about someone’s behavior, try to express your concern in a caring, non-judgmental way. Let them know you are worried about the long-term impact on their health and well-being and that you’d like to talk to them about your concerns if they are open to the conversation. When connecting with someone about your concerns, consider the following:
Summary
16 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Swerdlow BA, Pearlstein JG, Sandel DB, Mauss IB, Johnson SL.Maladaptive behavior and affect regulation: a functionalist perspective.Emotion. 2020;20(1):75-79. doi:10.1037/emo0000660
Herruzo C, Raya Trenas A, Pino MJ, Herruzo J.Study of the differential consequences of neglect and poverty on adaptive and maladaptive behavior in children.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(3):739. doi:10.3390/ijerph17030739
Lanfredi M, Macis A, Ferrari C, et al.Maladaptive behaviours in adolescence and their associations with personality traits, emotion dysregulation and other clinical features in a sample of Italian students: a cross-sectional study.Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2021;8(1):14. doi:10.1186/s40479-021-00154-w
Martin RC.Including maladaptive anger in psychology courses.Teaching of psychology. 2020;47(1):102-107. doi:10.1177/0098628319889540
Summer J, Bagot K. Sleep Foundation.Maladaptive daydreaming: symptoms, diagnosis, and tips.
Lim YO, Suh KH.Development and validation of a measure of passive aggression traits: the passive aggression scale (PAS).Behav Sci (Basel). 2022(8):273. doi:10.3390/bs12080273
Nielsen E, Sayal K, Townsend E.Exploring the relationship between experiential avoidance, coping functions and the recency and frequency of self-harm.PLoS One. 2016;11(7):e0159854. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159854
Barrocas AL, Hankin BL, Young JF, Abela JR.Rates of nonsuicidal self-injury in youth: age, sex, and behavioral methods in a community sample.Pediatrics. 2012;130(1):39-45. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2094
Soyaslan BD, Özcan CT.Investigation of the relationship between early stage maladaptive schemas and anger levels in people with substance-use disorders.Journal of Psychiatric Nursing. 2019;10(2):117-123. doi:10.14744/phd.2019.87049
Ike KGO, de Boer SF, Buwalda B, Kas MJH.Social withdrawal: an initially adaptive behavior that becomes maladaptive when expressed excessively.Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020;116:251-267. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.06.030
Griffin ZAM, Boulton KA, Thapa R, et al.Atypical sensory processing features in children with autism, and their relationships with maladaptive behaviors and caregiver strain.Autism Res. 2022;15(6):1120-1129. doi:10.1002/aur.2700
Aboh JU, Nwankwo BE, Agu SA, Chikwendu CE.A study of factors influencing maladaptive behaviour among high school students.International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. 2014;4(6):215-220. doi:10.5923/j.ijpbs.20140406.05
Bass C, van Nevel J, Swart J.A comparison between dialectical behavior therapy, mode deactivation therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy in the treatment of adolescents.International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy.2014;9(2):4–8. doi:10.1037/h0100991
Meet Our Medical Expert Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
What is your feedback?
