The Effectiveness of Group Therapy on Self-Esteem of Teenage Girls - Essay Sample

Introduction

There is extensive research on the effectiveness of Group Counselling to boost the self-esteem of teenage girls. Group counseling and therapy comprises of approximately eight people who meet in weekly sessions facilitated by professional psychologists who help them overcome challenges that they go through. The effectiveness of group therapy is based on the opportunities the people are provided for free interaction with each other hence they can generate solutions to their challenges. Group therapy enables patients to develop social skills and alternative methods of interacting with the community.

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Nevertheless, group therapies face a lot of criticism because of failing to retain suitable and adequate ethical necessities. Group therapy is also criticized due to limited time and attention towards each member of the group. This study used a wellness-based group therapy intervention to discuss the problem of low self-esteem in teenage girls. The response pointed at concentrating on and developing the positive features of the members instead of trying to fix the harmful elements of the members.

Personal and Professional Values

The group therapy for self-esteem intervention resonates with my personal and professional values as the researcher took precautions to maximize privacy by protecting the identity of the participants. The members who decided to take part in the group counseling signed an agreement of a legal custodian and individual agreement before completion of any questionnaires.

Group Therapy Evaluation

The research took place in an out-of-town middle school located in Monroe County of New York. The study involved diverse people as the participants were Caucasians, Black Americans, Latinos, and Asians. The school population was six hundred and seventy-seven students in the seventh and eighth grade. The group sessions took place in the conference room in the school during a forty-minute lunch break. The group consisted of ten students who reported cases of low self-esteem. The group sessions took place one in a week for seven weeks.

The group activities included group guidelines, outlooks, and wellness debates. The educational activities that were discussed in the seven weeks included emotional wellness, occupational wellness, social wellness, intellectual wellness, physical wellness, environmental wellness, and spiritual wellness (Elissa, 2013). The group sessions were facilitated by the researcher who followed the Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines and was very familiar with wellness-based intervention. Additionally, the researcher used a questionnaire to assess self-esteem and the capability of identifying strengths. The outcomes of the questionnaire were to clarify whether the well-based group therapy would raise self-esteem.

Ethical Considerations

One of the ethical consideration in this study is confidentiality. For the protection of privacy, the students finalized their questionnaires using dividers. The researcher was using the number coding structure for identification because the names of the students were not used in the questionnaires. Another ethical consideration was the use of a relaxation exercise by the researcher for every participant to express themselves without shying away easily.

Group Therapy Skills

From this study, I have learned the importance of facilitating effective interaction in group counseling. The researcher assisted the teenage girls to develop personal goals such as hard-working, risk-taking, being honest and determined that enable them to integrate to the society. Effective interaction allows the participants to learn from one another. Also, I have learned about the relation technique which helps in slowing down the session activities of the participants hence provide an opportunity to share the profound experiences the participants might be feeling. The relaxation mood offers a chance for the participants to raise problems that the conscious mind fails to speak.

Utilizing the Intervention

I would use this intervention in my work as a group therapist because group therapy offers a sense of acceptance and belonging to the members (cohesion) which enables them to bond, cooperate, and dedicate their time to work within the group procedure. Group therapy provides a comfortable environment to share common challenges and the opportunity to view the problem from a different perspective. Group therapy enables the therapist to meet and address a set of participants at one time hence strengthening the therapeutic procedure through the participation of other participants.

Importance of the Intervention

The group therapy on self-esteem intervention helps in advancing members' human rights as it boosts the confidence of every member. Self-esteem is directly related to success opportunities, feelings of proficiency, believing in oneself. High self-esteem enables the students to succeed which indicates future success academically. Individuals with high self-esteem are more persistent and resilient when they face conflict from society. Low self-esteem leads to drug abuse, committing crimes, engaging in harmful sexual behaviors, and consumption of excessive alcohol.

Conclusion

Group therapy is an effective method of helping people learn from other members in the group through the sharing of similar problems hence easy generation of friendly remedies. Professional therapists offer useful guidance and maintain high ethical matters in the group thereby enhancing group productivity through the establishment of long-term solutions to the issues faced by the participants. Confidentiality is highly observed in group counseling hence members are supposed to take a pledge of observing privacy. Group participants improve their confidence in decision making, communication, and the ability to express and share their ideas. Participants are encouraged by observing the milestones achieved by members who have successfully undergone a therapeutic process.

Reference

Elissa, T., (2013). The Effectiveness of Group Counseling on the Self-Esteem of Adolescent Girls. Counselor Education Master's Theses 142. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/edc_theses/142