Individual outpatient therapy with adolescents can sometimes be limited in that
1) It can fall into Question and Answer sessions-losing the spontaneity and flow of a helpful interaction
2) Adolescents have shorter attention spans, and keeping them focused on painful topics on purpose can be, well, painful!
3) Sharing personal information with an adult you don’t know, but were paired up with because your parents are making you, doesn’t always have the desired results.
4) Adolescents aren’t necessarily going to do things differently because an adult is telling them to.
Group therapy has several advantages in that
1) Its members will be able to tell your daughter if they like it, how it is helpful, and what it has done for them.
2) It is private (no one knows each other outside of the groups) and participation can be minimal (it doesn’t have to be about you all the time).
3) Group members can help each other think things through, make decisions, look at consequences, generate feedback, and put words on experiences in way that an adult provider may not be able to.
4) Talking about peer situations leads to identifying oneself in peer situations- thus what matters is sometimes brought up by someone other than yourself- or an adult, who may not have a clue.
(Hey! I’m not in high school anymore!)
Click here to see more on what group can do for your daughter.