YEDITEPE
UNIVERSITY
FACULTY
OF EDUCATION
PSYCHOLOGICAL
COUNSELING & GUIDANCE
ED 364
GROUP
COUNSELING
(AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY)
WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR ADOLESCENTS WITH RISKY
BEHAVIOR:
GROUP COUNSELING OR INDIVIDUAL COUNELING
BURCIN
HASANOGLU
ASSIST.
PROF. AYSE BASEL
2012
SPRING
Adolescent Time: A Risky Period
Adolescence can be a difficult
time. It is an important time in life for making many decisions that are made
during this time including education, friends, dating, and sex. Some of which
can affect teens for the rest of their life. For example, research shows that
one in four adolescents has an STD3, there are major risks associated
withtobacco and drug use, and reports show that risks such as homicide and
suicide are very high in the teen years (Newby& Snyder, 2009).
Why Adolescents Tent to Erroneous
Decision
As
stated in an adolescent’s brain especially often the last part of the brain to
develop is the frontal cortex, aka the section of the brain that aids in
decision-making and impulse control is not complete. This may lead many
teens—who are trying to learn a new world of complex decisions—to make choices
quickly or impulsively without a lot of critical thought. In addition, these
decisions can also be influenced by a variety of things including parents,
peers, siblings, and sports and extracurricular activities.
Youth Risk Behavior in Key
Domains
Tobacco
Use
According to the
findings of a research named Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)
mentioned in Newby & Snyder’s article (2009), the data presents that
·
About 13% of all students in 2007 reported smoking before age 13, nearly 20%
smoked in the past 30 days, and 6.5% report using other tobacco products.
·
A higher percent of males report engaging in all three measures of tobacco use.
·
Racial and ethnic differences in those currently smoking and those using other
kinds of tobacco are especially pronounced.
·
The percent of non-Hispanic whites who report current smoking and other tobacco
is
significantly more than that of
non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics.
·
A higher percent of non-Hispanic whites engage in all three indicators of
tobacco use (YRBSS, 2007).
Violence
Violent
behavior is not a new problem, nor is it unique to this age period, however,
during adolescence incidences of violence across demographics tend to be
heightened. Violence, which is potentially life threatening to teens, can be
very dangerous. It is problematic in any context, but especially in a
schoolsetting. According to the findings found in 2007 by YRBSS:
·
Most students do not engage in overt acts of violence at school.
·
Males engage in more violent behavior than females. They are more than twice as
likely to get in a fight, and are almost five times as likely to bring a weapon
to school as females.
·
There are some racial and ethnic differences in school violence. The percent
who report bringing weapons to school is similar across groups; however,
fighting is higher among non-Hispanic blacks (YRBSS, 2007).
Drinking and Marijuana
Drinking and marijuana
use are unsafe for teenagers (Newby& Snyder, 2009). So it has been
shown that teens who drink before 15 are more likely to develop dependence than
those who start drinking after 21. Alcohol is the leading factor in the three
leading causes of death for teenagers: Automobile crashes, homicide, and suicide.
Additionally, prolonged alcohol and marijuana use has harmful health effects.
And the findings of drinking and marijuana are:
·
Overall upwards of 20% of students report engaging in all three behaviors.
·
More males report engaging in all three risk behaviors than females, which is
consistent with earlier trends.
·
Marijuana use is almost evenly distributed across whites, blacks, and
Hispanics.
·
Non-Hispanic blacks are much less likely to binge drink than Hispanic or white
teens.
·
Non-Hispanic whites represented the lowest amount of early initiation drinking
among other males; however, they score the highest in binge drinking (YRBSS,
2007).
Sexual Behavior
And the
final risky behaviors are sexual behaviors. One in three girls will get
pregnant before they are 20 years old. Compared to other industrialized
countries, the United States has the highest teen birth rate, having one and
half times more than the United Kingdom, coming in second. Mothers who have
children before 18 are less likely to graduate from high school and their
children are more likely to grow up in poverty and the earlier a person
initiates sexual behavior, the more sexual partners they are likely to have.
Furthermore, the more sexual partners a person has, the more at risk he or she
is for contracting a sexually transmitted disease, with the risks increasing
exponentially (Newby& Snyder, 2009). And the findings of sexual
behavior show that:
·
Almost
half of all students in 2007 report ever having sex, 17.1% report four or more
past partners, and 7.1% has sex before they were age 13.
·
Males and
females are almost equally as likely to have had sex, though males are more
likely to have sex before the age of 13.
·
A higher
percent of non-Hispanic blacks report having had sex and having four or more
partners.
·
Non-Hispanic
blacks and Hispanic teens are more likely to have sex before 13 (YRBSS, 2007).
What is Counseling
As
stated in UT Counseling and Mental Health Center (n.d.) website counseling is a
process that can help people identify more effective strategies both to cope
with difficult situations such as chronic emotional difficulties and to achieve
their goals and this process is conducted by the counselors who are objective
listeners - someone who doesn't judge and who can help them see new
alternatives.
According to Southern Connecticut
State University Counseling Service (n.d.)
individual counseling is a collaborative process in which a unique,
confidential helping relationship is developed between a counselor and a
willing client and in this relationship, the counselor acts as a facilitator
who aims to help the client to understand more accurately themselves and
the world around themselves. During the sessions the counselor and client,
together, explore the client's feelings and behaviors, relationships with
others, choices and decisions, as well as the client's current situation.
Group therapy is a type of
psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people
at the same time (Cherry, n.d). Group Counseling (therapy) also has some
principles which are the important components of this counseling process
(Cherry, n.d):
·
The Instillation of Hope: Since group has many members with
different stages of treatment process, new members have the chance to see how
people cope and feel in this process which give hope to the new ones,
·
Universality: Seeing people who suffer from the same problems makes
people feel that they are not alone,
·
Imparting Information: Experiences are shared so that
group members learn from each other,
·
Alturism:
Sharing strengths and
helping each other in the group can boost self-esteem and confidence,
·
The Corrective Recapitulation of the Primary Family
Group: The
group is like a family so that members can explore their childhood experiences
and avoid behaviors that are harmful in their real life,
·
Development of Socialization
Techniques: The group setting is a safe place for practicing new behaviors that help
them socialize,
·
Imitative behavior: Individuals can imitate both each
other and the therapist’s behaviors.
·
Interpersonal learning: Getting feedback from each other as
the result of the interaction, the individuals can gain a grater understanding
of themselves,
·
Group cohesiveness: Having a common goal makes people
gain a sense of belonging and acceptance,
·
Catharsis: Sharing feelings and experiences enables people vent
their pains and guilt,
·
Existential factors: Through support and guidance in the
group, group therapy helps the group members realize that they are responsible
for their own lives.
What is the Best for the
Adolescents with Risky Behaviors: Individual or Group Counseling
Teens and
young adults face many pressures and decisions involving alcohol, drugs, and
sexual activity—decisions that often occur simultaneously and research has
shown that many health risk behaviors occur in combination with one another,
yet it is often unclear which behavior comes first ( www.kff.org, 2002). Substance
use increases the probability that an adolescent will initiate sexual activity,
and relatedly, sexually experienced adolescents are more likely to initiate
substance use. And also,alcohol and drug use by young people may lead to
earlier sexual initiation, unprotected sexual intercourse, and multiple
partners as well as putting young people at risk for sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs), unintended pregnancy, and sexual violence ( www.kff.org, 2002).
According
to what is mentioned above here, I believe that individual counseling works
best, because risky behaviors are triggered by substance use. I believe that
adolescents are unable to communicate their issues to the people who are close
to them. As a result, they feel upset and lonely which results in substance
use. Such issues (problems, unsolved and unfinished business, etc.) must
be dealt with the adolescent in individual counseling first. The therapist
should provide them with the trust which was not provided by their close
relatives; they should purge their mind and their angry, feeling of loneliness
or other negative emotions. The individual therapy will help them understand
themselves and realize that they have been engaged in risky behaviors to substitute
for the emptiness caused by their past experiences.
On the
other hand, I do not believe that individual counseling is enough for the full
recovery of the adolescents with risky behaviors. Since all the adolescent go
through the same periods, they should attend group counseling, as well, to see
that they are not the one to be suffering from such psychological problems or
nervous breakdowns or they are not alone in this process. When they meet people
with the same bad experiences, they will gain self- confidence and self-
esteem. Observing people with similar backgrounds will help them see how much
they have hurt themselves and the beloved ones and help them refrain from doing
the same mistakes and learn lesson from the group members.
In
conclusion, both individual and group counseling are inseparable to the
recovery of adolescents with risky behaviors which help them aware of the fact
that they are not alone in this process and will be able to sympathize with the
people having suffered the bad, similar experiences.
References
Newby, K., Snyder, A. (2009). Fact Sheet:
Family Science. Teen Risk Behavior. Retrieved April 25, 2012 from http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/pdf/5240.pdf
Individual Counseling. (n.d). Retrieved April
25, 2012 from http://www.cmhc.utexas.edu/individualcounseling.html
Southern Connecticut State University.(n.d.).
Individual Counseling. Retrieved April 25, 2012 from http://www.southernct.edu/counseling/whatiscounseling/
Cherry,
K. (n.d). What Is Group Therapy.Retrieved April 25,
2012 from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/f/group-therapy.htm
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (Feb., 2002). Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behavior: Attitudes and
Practices Among Adolescents and Young Adults Retrieved April 25, 2012 from http://www.kff.org/youthhivstds/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=14907i,
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