Unit 3: Proposing a Counseling or Psychotherapy Group COUN5832 - Group Counseling and Applications in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. 10/27/

PROPOSING A COUNSELING OR PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP Group psychotherapy refers to a counseling process where a counselor/therapist implement different styles and theories to guide a group of five to fifteen individuals in dealing with a common problem they share (Bemak & Chung, 2015). Group therapy has proven beneficial when treating a wide variety of psychological issues. For example, group therapy can help problems like ineffective social skills, drug use, eating disorders, youths displaying at risk behaviors, and grief. Group therapy is helpful because it lets the patients know that they are not alone in their problems. By learning that their problems are shared by others they gain an important motivation to work with their treatment and a sense of relief in again knowing they are not the only individual struggling with an issue. Group therapy works to create a safe environmentwhere patients feel accepted, empowered, and learn different behaviors and find effective treatment methods (Berg, Landreth, & Fall, 2018). The feeling of being accepted combined with the structure of group therapy lets it be effective for even diverse groups, which is why support groups for eating disorders, alcoholism, and domestic violence work (Keven-Akliman, & Eryılmaz, 2017). Patients in group therapy have their environment of safety and acceptance to practice the skills they’re learning in therapy before they need to use them in their everyday lives. Because of its advantages group psychotherapy has been identified as a way to treat eating disorders which are a common issue in society and especially common in teenage girls and young women. I will talk about the different types and problems that deal with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. I will discuss appropriate leadership styles and treatment methods as well as identifying ethical concerns for treating disorders with group therapy.