Psychological Therapy is More Important Than You Think

A child’s development is incomplete without play. Why? Because it allows them to be creative and make friends while also ensuring their cognitive development. Enabling children to express thoughts, feelings and experiences, play is an integral part of development where the little ones can survive even when they hardly have the words or the confidence to say out loud. Did you know? Kids too have social anxieties and special educational needs, which can be resolved with the help of play – a safe and constructive way to develop essential skills. Thus, child therapy is ideal in order to help your little ones grow better by overcoming their anxiety issues. Let’s break this therapy into pieces – Cognitive Development As you must have noticed, children are always thinking and learning. With the help of spaces and objects, kids take in brand new information about people and the world that revolves around them. Every little thing they come across teaches them to make decisions, enhance mem...

Teens don’t have to worry about bills, career, household chores or anything that an adult often worries about. However, it’s not like they don’t have any stress. There are issues they deal with – bullying, peer pressure, love problems and academic issues. These are on their own very stressful and most of the times teens cannot overcome these problems without appropriate support in the form of a reliable stress management therapy . Stressed-out teens are at a higher risk for mental health problems, academic problems as well as other health issues. Thus, it is important to look out for warning signs to be sure that a teen is going through a stressed phase. Following are some of the very evident symptom of stress – 1.      Physical Pain - Stress often causes physical health complaints like frequent headaches, stomach aches and other somatic concerns. Thus, when a teen is stressed, their body is affected not only mentally but also physically. 2.    ...

Trouble in marriages is not a very unusual; in fact, it is a very fact that marriages come with a baggage of expectations and egos that lead to couple to a number of troubles. Most of the times, most of the couples reach a point in their marriage where their troubles and problems overwhelm them to the level that they start feeling suffocated with each other. This can be resolved, but it is important to understand that you do not have to get your relationship to this level in order to seek help. All you need is good marriage and couple therapy . It’s simple – just like you seek medical help when your body is sick and not functioning well, you need therapy in order to lead a healthy marital life, and there’s nothing to be ashamed about it. Marriage and family therapy are designed to ensure easy confrontation of problems between the couples. Know that not all marital problems have solutions, which is why it is important to learn to manage some of your problems as you take your steps th...

Therapy is an important part of healing from depression and many other mental troubles. Now there are two types of therapies – one-on-one and group. Here, let’s find out how group therapy is beneficial for mental health treatment – Group therapy provides support - Hearing about other people’s problems helps you understand that you’re not the only one having challenges facing the world. Whether you're grappling with panic attacks, depression or another mental health issue, therapy comes as a sense of relief, especially group therapy. Group therapy lets you be heard - When you are a part of a group therapy session, you feel heard and because you are allowed to portray your life events and situations in your point of view without being judged. Also, you get to hear from other people about how you come across, which is a very powerful factor in terms of healing. Group therapy gives you a wide range of perspectives on your situation, and this can help you deal with your problems in...

Mental health counselling can be beneficial for people suffering from any kind of mental trauma, life challenges, or emotional difficulties. Therapy helps people cope up with mental and emotional challenges. It is proven that therapy and counselling give better results than just medication. People respond differently to medication and may not completely overcome their trauma without counselling sessions. A counselling session can take place in various forms. Individual therapy sessions involve one-on-one sessions whereas group therapy involves a session with 10 - 12 individuals and a counsellor lead it.  Research suggests that mental illnesses are very common and 1 out of every 5 individuals suffers from a mental illness. However, the stigma revolving around mental health and therapy leads to very few numbers who visit a doctor.  Here’s why you should go to therapy:   1.      You learn more about yourself. Your therapist listens to you and con...

Group therapy is one of the forms of psychotherapy that involves working with one or more therapists in a group setting. This can take place at a hospital, a clinic, or any other private space set up by the therapist. Group therapy is often used in a comprehensive way along with individual therapy. Initially, the idea of sharing your most personal stuff in a group setting seems daunting. However, with time the individuals understand the purpose behind group therapy and why their therapist recommended the same. Therapists often have a very tactical approach to group sessions and always have their agenda sorted before the session. They conduct certain activities that help individual’s warm-up to each other and the therapist. They also take note of the actions, answers, and reactions during the activity and then address them individually.    Benefits of group therapy -   1.      Group therapy helps individuals feel like they belong.  The gro...

Psychotherapy or talk therapy is one of the effective ways to treat depression. Psychotherapy can help understand one the different underlying reasons for depression and various coping mechanisms involved. Depression therapy can take various forms and it is suggested that psychotherapy along with antidepressants is one of the best ways to treat depression as it focuses on the bio-psycho aspects of it. There are many kinds of therapy that can help treat depression and the one that is suitable for you depends on your symptoms, your preferences, and your therapy goals. Cognitive therapy: Working on your thoughts and emotions lies at the core of cognitive therapy. It usually lasts for six to 12 weeks and the therapist helps you understand the different perspectives of every emotion you’ve feeling. Your thinking patterns that previously dwelled in the negative, now try to look at the silver lining. Behavioural therapy: Behavioural therapy focuses on changing the behavioural pat...

None of us saw this coming. It was not just us who were caught by surprise, even world leaders, genius billionaires, full time philanthropists did not anticipate this year to turn out the way it did. Yes, a few scientists said there were warning signs but nothing concrete in evidence was ever submitted. I am obviously talking about this lockdown, caused by a pandemic. Couples are either stuck together in close quarters or far apart from each other. It is fair to say that couple therapy will be in demand once we can go out and see other people. Now, will that be for couples stuck together or for those who cannot see each other? Only time will tell. But it is fair to assume that it might be for both. A lockdown is not a weekend getaway or a holiday. It is staying with each other all the time with very little breathing room and the extra stress of a pandemic. While it might seem normal for couples living together, it really is not. In normal circumstances, a two people living together...

Often, support groups and group counseling are used interchangeably. While the fact that these two activities are even being talked about is a huge deal in today’s world, it is worth noting that they are not the same. In fact, apart from they are being technically different, they are also meant for different kinds of people. So, group therapy or support groups? What is ideal for you? To answer this, first let’s understand what they both mean. A support group, simply put, is where a group of people come together to discuss and share their trauma or struggles. Now, owing to pop culture, you are probably the most familiar with support groups for addiction, however, support groups exist for all kinds of things and issues. Right from alcoholism to divorce loss of a loved one, support groups offer a safe space for people going through different kinds of pain. Group counseling, on the other hand, is about more than just support. Although it is similar to support groups in the sense th...

Attending group therapy at first can be very intimidating and challenging – especially for somebody who is undergoing mental health problems and is anyway embarrassed of their condition and doesn't want to be the centre of attention. Here are some group therapy activities that a therapist uses during group therapy which are simple and very effective. Reading about these might ease your experience as you may anticipate what is coming and it may relax you in, or it may help you ease somebody’s else's anxiety who you know is attending group therapy.  1.      The therapist might ask you what causes you to abuse substances. They may try to do this to understand your triggers. They may also ask you what kind of coping strategies you use to beat these triggers and what you are hoping to achieve through group therapy .  2.     The therapist may try to understand if certain words, phrases or parts of language influence your thoughts and are ass...

Family Therapy  Family therapy encompasses the counseling given to an entire family and focuses on problems that the family faces as a whole unit and ones that affect the entire family, as well as problems that affect family members as individuals that cause problems within the family. Family counseling operates on the ideology that a family works as one big unit and each family member plays a very important, vital role in the dynamic of the family. The primary motive of family counseling is to resolve conflicts within the family and make family members more aware of the dynamics within the family as well as the pain points that cause power struggles, stress and problems within the family.  Group Therapy  Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy that involves a larger group of people than a family and is led by trained therapists or counselors. Group therapy sessions are held on a weekly basis and specifically target individual struggles and problems that...

What is Group Counseling? Group counseling is a method of psychotherapy that encapsulates meeting a group of individuals who face similar problems and concerns. Group sessions facilitate sharing experiences and listening to other people's experiences. Group counseling ensures and provides a supportive environment to discuss concerns and helps individuals to work towards their goals. Groups meet on a weekly or a quarterly basis and each group has up to 5 to 10 students who are led by a counselor. Each group session may have a different time duration but on an average the duration varies from 50 to 80 minutes depending on the nature and members of the group.  Benefits of group counseling: 1.      A feeling of belonging - Groups help individuals realize that they are not alone in their journey and that other individuals face similar challenges and problems as well. This helps individuals realize that they are not suffering by themselves and together, t...

Children have an inbuild ability to express themselves and through the means of play, resolve conflicts as they arise. Keeping this in mind, group therapy for children is designed to incorporate the aspect of play like role playing, drawing together or indulging in board games. Group therapy for children primarily uses a combination of talk therapy and structured activities that motivates similar aged peers to mingle and work as a team. Group therapy, in a nutshell, is extremely suitable for children for it does all good and no harm. Here are a few benefits of group therapy for children: Expression & Sharing : Group therapy encourages children to indulge in appropriate activities that help them articulate their thoughts and feelings and share them to elicit social feedback that encourages them to be expressive. Universality of Problems : Children may often feel like they are the only ones who face problems and that their problems are unique to them which may cause them to...

If your child or teenager suffer from anxiety, mental health issues of any kind, grief, or any other mental health troubles, then group therapy is a plausible and good option to consider. Even though individual therapy is very resourceful and helpful for children, group therapy has been proven to be far more helpful. Why? You will find out by the end of this article. Even though individual therapy helps children explore their stressors, emotions and expressions in a safe and secure environment, it does not address specific issues and problems that kids may face in social situations like speaking in a classroom, speaking on stage, playing with other children or any other form of social anxiety. Group therapy gives children an opportunity to interact with other children. This specifically helps children who suffer from poor social skills, inattentiveness etc. Group therapy also serves as a great source for children to deal with problems such as bullying, grief, anxiety, depression a...

Group therapy is a form of psychological therapy that is characterized by one or more therapists working in coordination with multiple individuals at the same time. Grouptherapy is widely used in a lot of medical health facilities like hospitals, private counseling practices, mental health clinics, community centers etc. Group therapy is sometimes used by itself and is sometimes integrated into a comprehensive treatment plan used in synchronization with individual therapy and prescribed medication. Principles of Group Therapy - Counselors and therapists over the years have outlined some key therapeutic principles for group counseling that have been chalked out and derived from the reviews and reports from individuals who have participated actively in group counseling sessions. Here are a few core principles:         Instillation of hope : Group counseling brings together individuals who are suffering and are at different stages of the treatment process. G...