Deficiency Needs According to Maslow
Deficiency Needs
The lower four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem, friendship and love, security, and physical needs. With the exception of the lower (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. In other words, the hierarchy level of need moves upward as soon as the previous level of need is satisfied.
Physical needs are those that are necessary for sustaining life. These have to be met before the individual is able to expend energy working on other needs. If you don't have food to eat, then your energy is focused in the pursuit of food, not in developing a safe environment or in seeking social acceptance.
Security needs are very important, especially in early development. Security needs include safety from tension, anxiety, and harm, both physical and emotional. When a small child is in a home where these needs are not being met, the results can be severe. Physically they can literally fail to thrive and become thin, sickly and even die. Emotionally, a child in an insecure environment can adopt serious defense mechanisms that will temporarily protect him from the environment, but can result in serious mental illness later in life. If a child is being neglected physically or emotionally, if he is being ridiculed, teased profusely or abused in any form, or is in the midst of constant tension (as with an alcoholic or abusive parent) his security needs are in jeopardy. A child's security needs should be fully in progress by the time they are six months old.
If we have a child who claims not to "need" friends and shows signs of reclusiveness, it may be that he is not able to work on that level because his security needs have been damaged or are not met. In either case it is imperative that the parent be aware of this and focus energy on helping the child rebuild his security needs, rather than continue to
The lower four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem, friendship and love, security, and physical needs. With the exception of the lower (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. In other words, the hierarchy level of need moves upward as soon as the previous level of need is satisfied.
Physical needs are those that are necessary for sustaining life. These have to be met before the individual is able to expend energy working on other needs. If you don't have food to eat, then your energy is focused in the pursuit of food, not in developing a safe environment or in seeking social acceptance.
Security needs are very important, especially in early development. Security needs include safety from tension, anxiety, and harm, both physical and emotional. When a small child is in a home where these needs are not being met, the results can be severe. Physically they can literally fail to thrive and become thin, sickly and even die. Emotionally, a child in an insecure environment can adopt serious defense mechanisms that will temporarily protect him from the environment, but can result in serious mental illness later in life. If a child is being neglected physically or emotionally, if he is being ridiculed, teased profusely or abused in any form, or is in the midst of constant tension (as with an alcoholic or abusive parent) his security needs are in jeopardy. A child's security needs should be fully in progress by the time they are six months old.
If we have a child who claims not to "need" friends and shows signs of reclusiveness, it may be that he is not able to work on that level because his security needs have been damaged or are not met. In either case it is imperative that the parent be aware of this and focus energy on helping the child rebuild his security needs, rather than continue to