maladaptive
Poorly suited behavior
Maladaptive describes behaviors or traits that hinder rather than help adaptation—responses that work against a person's wellbeing or functioning.
Psychology uses the term for coping mechanisms that provide short-term relief but cause long-term harm: Avoidance is a maladaptive response to anxiety.
The opposite of adaptive.
Abnormal or unhealthy operation
- ineffectiveLacking power to achieve
- counterproductiveHindering intended outcome
- detrimentalCausing harm or damage
- harmfulCausing damage or injury
obstructive · hindering · impediment · self-defeating · vicious cycle · feedback loop · entrenched · institutional
Managing under strain
- behaviorManner of conducting oneself
- defense mechanismUnconscious self-protective mental process
- avoidanceDeliberate keeping away
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
dissociation · denial · repression · self-sabotage · trauma response · attachment · learned helplessness · hypervigilance
Settled regular tendency
- patternRecurring arrangement or template
- responseAnswer to stimulus
- reactionResponse to stimulus
- tendencyInclination toward a behavior
routine · compulsion · addiction · self-harm · bingeing · procrastination · hoarding · aggression
Distinguishing personal quality
- mutationPermanent DNA alteration
- evolutionSpecies changing over generations
- phenotypeObservable characteristics of organism
- organismLiving biological entity
species · fitness · survival · environment · natural selection · genetic · inherited · developmental
dysfunction
Abnormal or unhealthy operation
- ineffectiveLacking power to achieve
- counterproductiveHindering intended outcome
- detrimentalCausing harm or damage
harmful · obstructive · hindering · impediment · self-defeating · vicious cycle · feedback loop · entrenched · institutional · organizational
coping
Managing under strain
- behaviorManner of conducting oneself
- defense mechanismUnconscious self-protective mental process
- avoidanceDeliberate keeping away
rumination · dissociation · denial · repression · self-sabotage · trauma response · attachment · learned helplessness · hypervigilance · catastrophizing
habit
Settled regular tendency
tendency · routine · compulsion · addiction · self-harm · bingeing · procrastination · hoarding · aggression · impulsivity
trait
Distinguishing personal quality
- mutationPermanent DNA alteration
- evolutionSpecies changing over generations
- phenotypeObservable characteristics of organism
organism · species · fitness · survival · environment · natural selection · genetic · inherited · developmental · physiological
- behaviorshabit, aggressive, agitation, conduct, passive
- functional statusfunctional, impaired, independent, dependent, disabled
- attachment stylessecure, anxious, avoidant, disorganized, ambivalent
maladaptiveadaptive
Able to change accordingly
well-adapted · accommodative · adjusting · fitting · adjusted
maladaptivehealthy
In good physical condition
constructive · functional · beneficial · well-adjusted · productive
- maladaptive behaviorHarmful patterns undermining wellbeing
adapt, adaptation, adaptable, adaptability, adapts, adaptive, adapter, adapters, adaption