Group Therapy - Assignment Example

Group Therapy Proposal for Social Anxiety Introduction Group therapy means psychotherapy process where one or several therapists treat clients together in group(s). The term also describes psychotherapy type that is applied in groups; for example, interpersonal therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Broader application of group therapy entails helping process occurring within the group. Examples include; skills training groups (anger management, social relations and relaxation training), support groups and finally psycho-education teams or groups (Bogels et al, 2010). Social anxiety is a term that is used to describe a full range of psychiatric disorders shown in members of the society. Whereas in times past, individuals may have characterized anxiety merely as stress, the way in which professionals now understand and can characterize the symptoms of anxiety has become greatly more pronounced. Ultimately, rather than making the individual’s life less fulfilling, chronic anxiety has the ability to cause a litany of other health problems in addition to shortening the individual’s overall life expectancy in the most extreme cases (Lewis et al, 2010). As a means of better understanding anxiety, it is necessary to understand that clinical anxiety is represented within a myriad of different disorders. With this in mind, post traumatic stress disorder (known by its acronym PTSD) is a specific type of anxiety that has come to be recognized as a much more powerful disorder than was previously thought. As researchers of the past several decades specifically understood PTSD to be related to shell shock or issues faced by soldiers returning from the theater of combat, psychiatrists and psychologists now engage a much broader understanding of PTSD and anxiety related to it; based upon the understanding that it can be represented within the life of nearly any individual that has undergone a stressful period within their life. As a function of seeking to understand PTSD to a more significant degree, the following anxiety research proposal will analyze a group of middle class, female university students that have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders to determine whether or not the symptoms and relevance of their anxiety could potentially be understood as stemming from a traumatic event; or otherwise indicative of the tell-tale markers of PTSD (Zhao, 2013). Literature Review As Bogels et al. (2010) indicates, anxiety disorders ultimately break down into the following two categories: continuous or episodic. As the name implies, episodic anxiety disorders are generally ones which afflict the individual for a brief period of time. Comparatively, continual anxiety disorders are those that are chronic; and only therapy and/or pharmaceutical intervention is able to lessen or reduce their occurrences. Moreover it can and should be understood that anxiety itself relates to four different aspects of experience that an individual might have. These differentials of experience relate to the following physical tension, dissociative anxiety, mental apprehension, and physical apprehension. This is indicated with regard to research engaged by Bogels et al. (2010). Still further, anxiety disorders are almost invariably differentiated between phobic disorders, panic disorders and generalized anxiety disorders. As a function of the vast level of differential that exists within the definition and understanding of anxiety, the reader can come to a more complete and profound understanding of the way in which such an occurrence impacts upon a multitude of levels of personal health and well-being. Scholars such as Podina & Visler (2014) identify the fact that anxiety disorders ultimately break down into the following two categories: continuous or episodic. As the name implies, episodic anxiety disorders are generally ones which afflict the individual for a brief period of time. Comparatively, continual anxiety disorders are those that are chronic; and only therapy and/or pharmaceutical intervention is able to lessen or reduce their occurrences (Bystristsky, 2006). Moreover it can and should be understood that anxiety itself relates to four different aspects of experience that an individual might have. These differentials of experience relate to the following physical tension, dissociative anxiety, mental apprehension, and physical apprehension. Still further, anxiety disorders are almost invariably differentiated between phobic disorders, panic disorders and generalized anxiety disorders (Eng, 2002). As a function of the vast level of differential that exists within the definition and understanding of anxiety, the reader can come to a more complete and profound understanding of the way in which such an occurrence impacts upon a multitude of levels of personal health and well-being. Further, Lewis-Fernandez et al. (2010) illustrates that as with many psychotic episodes, anxiety and the many disorders that are defined by it oftentimes do not have any type of cure. Rather, they can only be treated by a combination of therapy and pharmaceuticals. Of these two means of treatment, therapy is oftentimes the most effective if it can be integrated within the very first few months or years after the anxiety is first evidenced (Kuiper et al., 2014). The increase of effectiveness of therapy within this brief window of time is mainly attributed to the fact that the individual is able to relearn, reclassify, and redefine the way in which this anxiety integrates with their life and an understanding of reality. Similarly, other scholars denote that if anxiety cannot be effectively reduced or eliminated with the proper application of therapy, it is oftentimes necessary for pharmacological means to be utilized (Yu et al., 2013). Ultimately, as with all use of pharmaceuticals, such an application of drugs only masks the symptoms and cannot provide any level of sure to the individual. Saito et al. (2014) seeks to take a statistically manageable group of subjects, as a means of performing research into inference with regard to whether or not higher rates of neuroticism are indeed exhibited against a control group that does not suffer from sleep apnea or another sleep related disorder. Medical scholarship has indicated that a litany of physiological factors impact on an individual’s propensity to suffer from sleep apnea; however, the broader question that still remains unanswered is whether or not psychological factors are contribute to (Moller et al., 2014). Mission Statement As with many psychotic episodes, anxiety and the many disorders that are defined by it oftentimes do not have any type of cure; however, rather than viewing this as a reason to ignore PTSD and continue on misidentifying the symptoms of the disorder or ignoring its relevance whatsoever, the mission of this piece of this research will be to further analyze the level to which PTSD is misdiagnosed within the demographic in question and illustrate the fact that PTSD need not only be linked to a disorder that is experienced by individuals that are returning from the theater or war or conflict (Brown, 2011). Similarly, it is the goal of the analysis to gain useful inference with respect to the way that stress should be defined; as it relates to PTSD. As many scientists have recently come to understand that anxiety disorders (inclusive of PTSD) are oftentimes the result of issues that have occurred at some point during the life of the individual that suffers from them, revealing what some of these factors might be and seeking to underpin potential causations of PTSD will serve as another fundamental goal towards which the study will seek to operationalize. There are three research objectives. First objective is to critically understand the meaning of group therapy. Secondly, to critically analyze the meaning of social anxiety and its different categories like PTSD. The final objective is to identify the best possible approaches of treating social anxiety (Bystritisky, 2006). Logistics of the Group The logistics of this particular group will of course be to quantify answers and understand root causes relating to anxiety disorders as exhibited within a relatively large group of female university students (Eng, 2002). As such, not each and every participant within the study will necessarily experience some form of anxiety; or ever have been treated by medical professional for anxiety related issue in the past. As a direct result of this, a very large test group will be required in order to gain valuable inference upon those individuals that in fact have been diagnosed with anxiety issue or exhibit symptoms within their own life that are at least somewhat recognizable. As a function of this, a sample size of 2500 participants drawn from online blind surveys will be represented through five different university systems within the United States. All responses from university aged females have chosen to participate within a given study will be gathered; however, only those individuals that identify as coming from a middle-class/middle income background will ultimately be tabulated. The survey itself will be offered via a voluntary format; with cooperative interest being generated by psychology professors within these respective institutions. The period in which the survey will be offered and information will be tabulated will extend for a period of approximately 2 months during the spring semester of 2015. In terms of the overall material resources that will be required as a function of making this study available for engagement, a website will need to be created and the means of tabulating and recording the answers provided will also be necessary. Marketing In terms of the way that users and respondents will be engaged to participate in the survey, this will take place as a function of their respective professors encouraging them, on a voluntary basis, to dedicate at least some of their time to the furtherance of psychological research. In this way, the professors of the universities in question will work with the researcher to engage interest and direct participants, of the chosen demographic and gender, to complete the study and therefore provide valuable raw material for further psychological research relating to anxiety disorders (Kuiper & Pound, 2014). Screening and Preparation Criteria The overall importance of screening and selection criteria is essential to the furtherance of any group study or the understanding of any issue. Accordingly, this particular group analysis will take place under the rubric that the University professors which will encourage stakeholders to participate in ongoing and active levels of research with respect to psychology will not indicate that the research is concentric upon anxiety disorders (Lewis etal, 2010). It is only upon the point at which the individual begins answering the screening questions that they might come to be aware of the fact that the entire purpose for the study is to gain valuable inference with respect to PTSD or other anxiety related issues. Likewise, by encouraging the professors to only make the case for females within their classes to participate within the study, it is the hope of the researcher that the target demographic will effectively be represented with regard to the final submissions. As with any study, one particular issue that is represented has to do with the issue of bias. It is very likely that the individuals who will agree to complete the study voluntarily will only be those that place a certain level of importance on engaging with psychological research. Likewise, it is tangentially possible that the answers that will be achieved from these individuals will be those that are provided based upon a desired response; not based upon the actual psychological state or experience of the individual in question. Although there is ultimately no way to ameliorate this, avoiding direct questions related to PTSD within the initial part of the questionnaire could potentially winnow this bias to a statistically acceptable degree (Moller et al, 2014). Obstacles in Managing Research Population The main challenge is convincing volunteers to participate in the research exercise; for example provision of information during the screening process. This challenge will be solved through adequately training the participants on the aims and benefits of the research. A good benefit entails creation of knowledge that will be applied in treating social anxiety (Podina & Visla, 2014). Group Techniques Whereas there are many group techniques that have been discussed within class which would no doubt be relevant to the situation at hand, this particular researcher has chosen to perform the double-blind survey; realizing that it offers the highest possibility of engaging student interest and revealing a potentially beneficial level of inference (Yu et al, 2014). This approach was chosen due to the fact that it represents the least level of bias and can potentially engage with the research question at hand to a far better degree as compared to many of the alternate approaches. The decision to use a double blind study also was influenced with regard to this author’s own personal family dynamics; in that the researcher realized that a double blind study was one of the best ways of minimizing group think and the possibility for the participants to discuss the results that they were submitting beforehand. As an individual from a relatively large family, the danger of having single point of view gain traction within a discussion and drowning out the useful data points that might otherwise be harvested was enough to push the researcher towards this particular approach as compared to the myriad of other alternatives (Brown, 2001). Significance of Family Upbringing My family upbringing has developed the competent human relations and communication skills that I possess. The two skills are very essential in ensuring effective development and management of groups. Effective group operation ensures adequate realization of aims, and hence success of the group therapy process. Communication skills enhance the sharing of knowledge on the negative effects of social anxiety, and possible solutions. Human relations skills ensure respects, tolerance and understanding in the group. Group members should accept the opinions and experiences of others (Yaman, 2014). Understanding “Success” Success will be measured based upon the overall level of responses and the quality of the information that is achieved. As the study itself is not interested in proving whether or not PTSD exists, the response ratio and quality of responses will be the best determinant in measuring that prevalence of undiagnosed or existential PTSD represented within the demographic in question. The low failure rate of the study that has been crafted is one of the most applicable reasons for why this recommendation was chosen for research as compared to the myriad of other topics that could have been analyzed (Yaman, 2014). References Bogels, S., Alden, L., Beidel, D., Clark, L., Pine, D., Stein, M., & Voncken, M. (2010). Social anxiety disorder: questions and answers for the DSM-V. Depression And Anxiety, 27(2), 168-189. doi:10.1002/da.20670 Brown, T. A., Di Nardo, P. A., Lehman, C. L., Campbell, L. A. (2001) Reliability of DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders: implications for the classification of emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110(1), 49-58. doi: 10.1037/0021- 843X.110.1.49 Bystritsky, A. (2006). Treatment-resistant anxiety disorders. Molecular Psychiatry, 11(9), 805- 14. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001852 Eng, E. L. (2002). Recognizing anxiety disorders in the aftermath of the world trade center crisis. Journal of Religion and Health, 41(1), 27-31 Kuiper, N. A., Aiken, A., & Pound, M. (2014). Humor use, reactions to social comments, and social anxiety. Humor: International Journal Of Humor Research, 27(3), 423-439. doi:10.1515/humor-2014-0072 Lewis-Fernandez, R., Hinton, D., Larua, A., Patterson, E., Hofmann, S., Craske, M., & Liao, B. (2010). Culture and the anxiety disorders: recommendations for DSM-V. Depression And Anxiety, 27(2), 212-229. doi:10.1002/da.20647 Möller, E., Majdandžić, M., Vriends, N., & Bögels, S. (2014). Social Referencing and Child Anxiety: The Evolutionary Based Role of Fathers Versus Mothers Signals. Journal Of Child & Family Studies, 23(7), 1268-1277. doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9787-1 PODINĂ, I. R., & VÎSLĂ, A. (2014). BEING SOCIALLY ANXIOUS IS NOT ENOUGH: RESPONSE EXPECTANCY MEDIATES THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL ANXIETY ON STATE ANXIETY IN RESPONSE TO A SOCIAL-EVALUATIVE THREAT. Journal Of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 14(1), 85-94. YAMAN, H. (2014). The Relation Between a Definition of General Anxiety and Social Phobias. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 14(3), 1117-1122. doi:10.12738/estp.2014.3.2151 Yu, W., Shanshan, Z., Xu, L., & Qunying, F. (2014). Effects of the medial or basolateral amygdala upon social anxiety and social recognition in mice. Turkish Journal Of Medical Sciences, 44(3), 353-359. doi:10.3906/sag-1301-2 Zhao, X. (2013). Revisiting the Social Surrogate Hypothesis: Social Anxiety and Recruiting Others for Social Events. (2014). Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 33(7), 653-672. doi:10.1521/jscp.2014.33.7.653 Read More