5 Advantages of group therapy over individual therapy

It is said that individual therapy is a great way to deal with struggling teenagers to help them improve their moods and overcome their fears. But there are some young adults facing social problems who are not able to benefit from individual therapy.

This is because the teenagers facing social problems or anxieties in classrooms, recess or lunch sessions will behave quite well in individual sessions and will exhibit intelligence or a sense of humor. Because they do not feel challenged the way they are among people in social settings.

However, it has been researched that the outcome of group therapy with children and teenagers proved to be more effective and satisfying as compared to individual therapy sessions. This is because the group setting enables the therapists to observe the social or group reactions of children more closely as compared to the individual sessions. Fear of bullying, shyness, inattentiveness and anxiety is easier to catch when the subject is actually performing in a group. It then enables the therapist to help those teenagers overcome their fears and bad habits and make new choices for themselves.

Kids who suffer from acute shyness, fear of bullying, social isolation, peer rejection, identity conflicts and anger management issues are the ones who can benefit the most from group therapies.

Group therapy is often a better option because it acts like an improvement platform for social skills. Teenagers develop positive interpersonal behaviors, group experiences and abilities. They become confident enough to speak up in class, stand up for themselves, resist negative peer pressure and help them to develop emotional assertiveness and self-expression. When their social anxieties begin to disappear, they become more comfortable talking to peers and adults.

Following is the five point checklist for the benefits of group therapy:

1. Group therapy gives kids social confidence and a place to develop and enhance their social behaviors. This helps them to become socially assertive and confident enough to speak in groups.
2. It helps to develop in teenagers better communication skills. Since socially shy kids find it difficult to communicate their emotions. They become moody, irritable and defiant in public and develop emotional stress. The group therapy helps these kids to face their fears and explore their feelings in front of other teenagers and become emotionally mature.
3. Peer influences affect young adult’s life in both positive and negative ways. When kids are among the peers who are always trying to prove themselves and make themselves better develop positive attributes in struggling kids. They learn to celebrate each other’s victories and overcome self-doubts by taking more social initiatives.
4. Group therapy helps teenagers to develop positive and improved relationships with their peers. In isolation they are more likely to suffer from depression, withdrawal, anxiety and insecurity. Group therapy helps them to get out of their fort of isolation and communicate with other kids outside the school grounds.
5. Group therapy helps kids to unburden themselves and reduce stress levels by working with kids in a group who understand them. Teenagers who feel humiliated by academic and social pressures learn to address their difficulties in a healthier perspective and develop a healthy sense of humor by keeping stress at bay.

This can be a new beginning for kids who are not gifted with good social skills. In no time they become better at communicating themselves socially in groups. Group therapy hence develops in them a sense of self confidence and self-assurance making them well equipped to carry themselves among peers.