Adolescent Group Counselling Paper

Adolescent Group Counselling Paper

Child and Adolescent Group Psychotherapy

Adolescent Group being Counselled

The group consisted of 5 adolescents who presented with similar mental health problems. The group members attended the group one therapy session every week and each session lasted for two hours. Group members varied from the age of 13 years to 17 years. Some of the group members were receiving treatment somewhere else. At the start of the therapy, the main goal was to activate group members and later attention was given to how feelings of sadness, and hopelessness affected their lives and how to overcome these feelings. Adolescent Group Counselling Paper

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Description of the Client

Client XX, a 15-year-old male presented for therapy after he attempted suicide through medication overdose. The client reported that he was having suicidal thoughts for a long time and attempted suicide twice at the age of 12 and 14 years. The client reported that he started having suicidal thoughts 5 years ago after he lost his father when he was only 10 year. According to the client, after losing his father he began having sleeping problems, being sad throughout, feeling hopeless and worthless, always fatigued, lack of appetite, irritable, loss of interest in activities that were formerly pleasurable, loss of weight, suicidal thoughts, and his academic performance had dropped significantly. His affect also appeared apathetic and flat. XX further reported that football and hanging out with his estate friends were among his favorite activities, but lately, he has completely lost interest.  From the observation, the client looked gloomy, sad, and could not make eye contact.  However, in spite of the therapy sessions, the client has not achieved any significant symptom remission.

Therapeutic Approach with the Group

Cognitive-behavioral group therapy was the approach used for this group. Cognitive-behavioral group (CBT) is a structured psychotherapy where the client is made aware of their maladaptive and negative thinking patterns so that they are able to adopt a more positive thinking pattern and view challenging situations more clearly and respond to the situations more effectively (Arias-Pujol & Anguera, 2017). During the therapy, various strategies were used to understand and manage the physiological and cognitive aspects of different mental health issues the group members were facing. A comprehensive and systematic assessment of each group member was done at the start of the therapy to ensure the formulation of personalized treatment plans and setting person-centered goals (Keles & Idsoe, 2018).  Afterward, the group members were then provided with information on how to handle their mental health issues using psychoeducation. This is because when individuals understand their mental health issues better, they are able to learn new skills in order to better manage their symptoms. In addition, various techniques such as cognitive restructuring and relaxation were used for the group members (McGillivray & Evert, 2014). Adolescent Group Counselling Paper

CBT is likely to be effective for this client. This is because evidence demonstrates the efficacy of CBT in the treatment of depression. CBT will be used to identify the troubling situations in the client’s life, ensure the client becomes aware of his feelings, thoughts, and beliefs regarding the challenging situations in his life, identify the client’s maladaptive thinking, and finally, modify and reshape the client’s maladaptive thinking pattern (Wolgensinger, 2015).

Additional Information about the Group

At times, the attention of the psychotherapist and the entire group was divided among all the group members. Sometimes during the therapy sessions, it appeared that some group members did not get a chance to express themselves and work on their issues effectively within the timeframe of the session.

References

Arias-Pujol E & Anguera M. (2017). Observation of Interactions in Adolescent Group Therapy: A Mixed Methods Study. Front Psychol. 8(1188).

Keles S & Idsoe T. (2018). A meta-analysis of group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventions for adolescents with depression. J Adolesc. 9(67),129-139.

McGillivray, J. A., & Evert, H. T. (2014). Group cognitive behavioural therapy program shows potential in reducing symptoms of depression and stress among young people with ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 44(8), 2041–2051. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2087-9.

Wolgensinger L. (2015). Cognitive behavioral group therapy for anxiety: recent developments. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 17(3), 347–351. Adolescent Group Counselling Paper