Labels can have a significant mental health impact throughout a person's life. People are stigmatized as incorrigible or problematic due to their medical diagnoses or maladaptive issues. From children to adults, inconsistent profiles are due to the misconception of behavior problems. When adolescents are hyperactive, they have often diagnosed with conduct disorder, and the label follows the child throughout their lives, creating a false impression. The diagnosis transitions to oppositional defiant disorder as an adult, creating a preconceived notion of the person's temperament.
Behavior profiling is prevalent in mental health because it can affect educational placement, medical services, and the environment. In education, observed outbursts can cause a student to be isolated from peers as a behavior modification. Less interaction can hinder social skills development and cause mental illness symptoms such as depression. With medical services, a person who receives an incorrect or exaggerated behavior profile is prescribed medication with harmful side effects. Adverse treatments will alter the person both mentally and physically. In the environment, profiling influences how society views people and their treatment in social settings. Unreasonable practices change approaches and increase the likelihood of discrimination.
Without an extensive history of documentation and observation, behavior profiles are predictions. Some behavior profiles use safeguards or preventive measures for challenging issues. However, if the profiles are not re-evaluated annually, it is unfair to the person and their development. The psychology of profiling establishes a methodology with terms and strategies, but the science should focus on growth rather than stagnating practices. In statistical analysis, a hypothesis or educated guess will determine the success or failure of an experiment. Similarly, behavior profiling is an approximation that can lead to a person's success or failure over time. Behavior is not always representative of personality and evolution; the consequences of profiling can be catastrophic.
