Posted: March 4th, 2021

Cognitive behavioral therapy: family settings versus individual | NURS 6650 – Psychotherapy With Groups and Families | Walden University

Psychotherapy with Groups and Families

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Psychotherapy with Groups and Families

Introduction
Psychotherapy with groups and families is an essential exercise for therapists. Therapy requires the diagnosis of a problem and the development of a treatment plan. The treatment plan should generate some expectations that clients and therapists should attain at the end of the sessions. Striving to pursue the goals in counseling requires adherence to ethical and legal issues. The case study I am Feeling Like I’m Going Crazy demonstrates a client with depression. The best group therapy is cognitive behavior therapy since it will alter thinking patterns and behavior. The therapy sessions should adhere to legal and ethical issues, including informed consent, duty to avoid harming clients, confidentiality, and maintaining a professional distance. The purpose of the paper is to examine the case study, develop the DSM-5 diagnosis criteria for the condition, expected outcomes, and legal and ethical considerations.
DSM-5 Diagnosis
According to DSM-5 criteria, the client is suffering from depression. The mental condition causes significant changes in behavior as experienced in the case study. The client is suffering from depression due to the struggles in the current relationship. The difficulty in the current relationship makes him feel alone and worthless. The feeling of worthlessness triggers suicidal ideation. The case study shows that the client tried to commit suicide in the past. Another significant symptom of depression is a lack of interest in daily activities and hopelessness (Tolentino & Schmidt, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Students experiencing depression experience a loss of interest in learning activities. For instance, the client is experiencing a decline in performance.
Depression causes isolation from other people. The DSM-5 criteria show that clients with depression experience social withdrawal (Tolentino & Schmidt, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). For instance, the client experienced withdrawal from friends after perceiving that they were avoiding him. DSM-5 criteria for depression shows that clients with depression exhibit various symptoms, including social withdrawal, suicidal thoughts, loss of interest in daily activities, and a sense of worthlessness (Tolentino & Schmidt, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). The criterion shows that the diagnosis of depression requires patients to experience a minimum of two of the symptom. The case study shows that the client has two major symptoms, including depressed mood and loss of interest.
Group Therapeutic Approaches
The best group therapeutic approach is using cognitive-behavioral group therapy. It will include forming a group and involving a therapist who will facilitate the group. Group therapy helps clients to know they are not alone among the struggles they are dealing with (Cuijpers et al., 2020). It improves coping skills that improve the ability to deal with interpersonal issues the clients are struggling with. During the conversation with the group members, the therapy will help the clients change their emotions and thinking patterns (Cuijpers et al., 2020). Changing emotions will alter the behavior of the patients. A change of the thinking patterns will help the client improve their ability to learn new skills to cope with their problems. For instance, the client does not need to feel lonely since he can make new friends. The approach helps clients to learn tactics such as sharing with a loyal friend about the current issues. Sharing with a friend is essential in eliminating loneliness and feeling worthless (Cuijpers et al., 2020). Cognitive group sharing helps clients to learn how other people are overcoming their current challenges.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcome is that the client will learn new strategies for coping with their challenges. Group therapy will alter their thinking patterns and emotions (Sharma et al., 2017). It will affect their behavior and response to negative experiences in life. A change in the thinking patterns will alter how the client views the world and experiences around them (Sharma et al., 2017). For instance, the client should not be distressed about the relationship. He should view it as an opportunity to find a better partner in life and pursue dreams and hobbies. Another expected outcome is the ability to disrupt themselves from negative experiences and pursue happiness.
The client should learn how to understand the impact of distorted perceptions and thoughts. Understanding the impact will demonstrate how negative feelings contribute to painful feelings (Sharma et al., 2017). For example, thinking about the boyfriend who is unwilling to be part of the relationship will lead to a painful experience. The client should understand that life’s experiences provide an eye-opener that leads to better future outcomes. Another expected outcome is that the client will feel worthy and avoid social isolation. He should also focus on his education and pursue his goals.
Legal and Ethical Implications
Counseling children and adolescents require adherence to legal and ethical issues. Informed consent is a major legal and ethical issue that requires therapists to fully inform their clients about the counseling process (Than & Papp, 2017). The information will help the client to decide whether to participate in the therapy or not. Informed consent warns therapists against forcing or cheating their clients to join therapy sessions. Children and adolescents may not consent to therapy due to their inability to comprehend the dynamics of the sessions (Than & Papp, 2017). It is the responsibility of parents to give consent on behalf of adolescents below 18 years.
Confidentiality is another legal and ethical issue that therapists should adhere to. Adherence involves refraining from sharing any information shared by a client (Than & Papp, 2017). Therapists should avoid publishing or sharing information with third parties without the consent of the client. Therapists can only share information if the life of a client is at risk. In group therapy, a therapist is not completely responsible for ensuring all information shared in the group is confidential (Than & Papp, 2017). A counselor will encourage the clients to avoid sharing information with other people.
Therapists have an ethical and legal duty to avoid and protect clients from harm. The counselors’ responsibility is to use their professional knowledge to protect the clients from harm (Than & Papp, 2017). For instance, therapists should avoid words or scenarios that can diminish the self-esteem of a client. Therapists should refrain from expressing bias towards clients due to their ethnic or cultural background (Sharma et al., 2017). Protecting the clients from bias requires cultural competence that helps counselors to work with clients from diverse backgrounds.
Therapists have a moral responsibility of keeping a professional distance from their clients. Counselors and clients should refrain from relationships that can undermine the professional duty to provide therapy (Than & Papp, 2017). Clients with dual relationships with counselors should be referred to other therapists. The major reason is that dual relationships will undermine the ability to provide quality and bias-free therapy.
Conclusion
Psychotherapy with groups and families involves various therapeutic approaches. Cognitive behavior group therapy is effective for the client in the case study. The information shows the client is suffering from depression. The expected outcomes are that the client will learn new strategies for coping with their challenges. Pursuing the counseling goals requires adherence to ethical and legal considerations, including informed consent, duty to avoid harming clients, confidentiality, and maintaining a professional distance. The considerations are essential in maintaining a professional approach to therapy.

References
Cuijpers, P., Quero, S., Papola, D., Cristea, I. A., & Karyotaki, E. (2020). Care-as-usual control groups across different settings in randomized trials on psychotherapy for adult depression: a meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 1-11.
Sharma, P., Mehta, M., & Sagar, R. (2017). Efficacy of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral group therapy for anxiety disorders and headache in adolescents. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 46, 78-84.
Smith, N. G., Hart, T. A., Moody, C., Willis, A. C., – free research essay topics, paper writing help Andersen, M. F., Blais, M., & Adam, B. (2016: 2024 – Do my homework – Help write my assignment online). Project PRIDE: a cognitive-behavioral group intervention to reduce HIV risk behaviors among HIV-negative young gay and bisexual men. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 23(3), 398-411.
Than, N. G., & Papp, Z. (2017). Ethical issues in genetic counseling. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 43, 32-49.
Tolentino, J. C., & Schmidt, S. L. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). DSM-5 criteria and depression severity: implications for clinical practice. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 450.

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