Group Purpose And Rationale

Title page

Group purpose & rationale

Introduction

College students are most likely to become victims of stress due to different pressures and expectations. Stress plays negative role in maintenance of health and their academic life. Ongoing struggle with anxiety puts unnecessary pressure and undermines the physical and mental health. It is crucial to identify the factors that contributes to stress and adopt adequate measures for helping them in overcoming stress. Psychoeducational sessions are designed for addressing the issue of stress in college students with the goal of improving their mental health and academic performance.

Main issue

The purpose of this paper is to offer a rationale for 5 session-psychoeducational group about stress to the college students. This will provide students the opportunity to learn stress management techniques that will improve their overall mental health. Psychoeducation emphasize on adoption of adequate stress awareness programs that will educate the students on their mental health and teach them strategies that will assist them in overcoming their depression. It us critical to understand stress among college students and them adopt counseling methodologies for mitigating them.

Main issue defined

Students at colleges are often face stress that depicts the need for adopting psychoeducational programs that could help students in dealing with stress. Academic pressures and expectations are two major causes of stress among teenage students. Understanding sources of stress is important for the students because it adds to their competency of managing it more efficiently. “The five dimensions of sources such as personal inadequacy, fear of failure, interpersonal difficulties with teachers, teacher pupil relationship and inadequate study facilities” CITATION KJa18 \l 1033 (Reddy, Menon, & AnjanaThattil, 2018).

Why the issue is problematic?

Stress is a problematic issue because students who are victims are unable to concentrate on studies. Many students who suffer from stress never need proper treatment because it remains unexplored. Both parents and teachers are unable to identify the cause of their low academic performance. They are unable to understand that educational pressures create burdens that leads to development of stress and thus undermines their ability to perform in academics. The issue is problematic because most of the parents lack awareness about stress and how it might hinder the educational performance of their children. From existential view anxiety is the anxiety when a person feels anxious and undergo feelings of anger. It diminishes human self-image and resulting from profound social and political changes. Contemporary angst is also the result of neural processes. It is the result of uncontrolled emotions and causes feelings of restlessness and aggression. An individual is unable to control anger or anxiousness.

Prevalence

National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) reports that eight in every ten-college students are suffering from stress. Different factors contribute to the development of stress among college students that include the fear of getting admission to a good college, expectations of parents, staying in hostels away from homes and maintaining good grades. These factors have significantly caused high level of stress among students. Socioeconomic status and concerns of social inclusion also contributes to stress CITATION Str19 \l 1033 (Stress, 2019). Level of competition at colleges also raises burdens on students that is linked to high level of stress. A large population of college students also fears social rejection that also leads to stress. The surroundings and social environment impacts the personality of people. Psychologists states the importance of establishing social interest without which maladaptive behaviors occur. This also causes the development if inferior feelings. The early memory influence them to overcome their feelings of inferiority such as by becoming superior. This also causes internal struggle as an individual wants to change their personality and life.

What subtopics will be addressed?

The subtopics related to this topic that will be addressed include behavioral interventions and psychotherapies for improving the mental health of the college students. Other sub-topics that will be addressed include cognitive behavior therapy, counseling, awareness and stress management strategies. Ego lives on the level of consciousness, precociousness and unconsciousness. It is based on the reality principle and involve secondary process thinking CITATION Pad11 \l 1033 (Padilla & Griffiths, 2011).

What has been done to intervene with the issue?

Numerous studies are available that examines the role of stress in health and academic performance of the college students. Harvard Medical School researchers examine 67,000 college students from 100 institutions in 2015 for determining the factors that causes stress. They study also found that students who were undergoing extreme stress exhibited thoughts of suicide. Since 2005 majority of the American colleges adopted stress management programs including awareness, education and counseling that help students in improving their mental performance. Colleges have also taken initiative of providing counseling services to the students. Many awareness campaigns are also held in the form of workshops and interactive sessions.

Solutions

The first session stresses on changing the irrational beliefs of the students. It is important to change the irrational beliefs of the students that are root cause of stress and negative thoughts including suicide. Irrational belief is the idea residing in the brain of adults who think that they must be appreciated for everything they do. Another example of irrational beliefs is that some acts are wrong or immoral and doing them will bring bad luck CITATION Pad11 \l 1033 (Padilla & Griffiths, 2011). These beliefs are damaging because they undermine individual’s ability of thinking in a progressive manner. This also constraints their thinking and have negative impact on personality. The therapist will discuss with the students what they feel and try to identify their negative thoughts that undermined their pessimism and ambition for life CITATION Str19 \l 1033 (Stress, 2019).

The second session with the client will be focused on changing their state of mind by developing self-awareness. This can be attained only when students accept that their thoughts are unnecessary and they need to change them. Cognitive behavior therapy states that an individual must accept personal responsibility. This stresses on the concept of self-awareness and establishing link between freedom and responsibility. It also focuses on searching the meaning for life and goals. Self-awareness allow individuals to make better choices by accepting that the life is limited and they must take actions on time. Individuals are free to choose and must take the right decision that adds to their wellness. An individual must trust himself and take a right decision my making a choice. CBT indicates that change is occurring in orienting assumption CITATION Xiu18 \l 1033 (Walker, 2019). It involve contextual concepts that stresses on personal relationships and emotions. Third wave stresses on the issues of mindfulness, acceptance, emotions, relationships, values and goals.

The third session will be focused on helping students to find meaning of life. Frankl’s theory of meaning stresses on searching the meaning. This is an effective way of overcoming stress. It claims that, “lack of meaning is the chief source of stress as well as anxiety, and logotherapy aids the patients to reach the meaning of life”. Finding meaning give people motivation and they manage to control stress. This can help students to explore meaning and aim in life. This theory suggests providing counseling to the students that will help them in finding the root of their anxiety. The therapist will encourage them to think what they want to become in life such as a doctor or a musician. This is a practical way of giving them hope and removing negative thought patterns CITATION KJa18 \l 1033 (Reddy, Menon, & AnjanaThattil, 2018).

The fourth session will be on adopting practical interventions such as meditation and relaxation therapies. The therapist will discuss the techniques that will allow students to overcome their negative thoughts. This will include daily goals on exercise such as running, cycling and swimming. The participants will be encouraged to daily give 30 minutes to meditation CITATION Xiu18 \l 1033 (Walker, 2019). Students will also be encouraged to practice walk and talk therapy. The therapist will provide education on engaging in social activities such as talking with friends and hanging out CITATION Xiu18 \l 1033 (Walker, 2019).

Why this solution is best?

The best solution for overcoming stress is cognitive behavior intervention. The students will learn to transform their behavior CITATION Dou102 \l 1033 (Jacobs, 2010). CBT help me to change my thought process and overcome stress. Students will develop self-awareness and managing stress. Students learn to adopt flexible behavior and handle their anxiety. By giving time to meditation they will be able to develop ability of overcoming negative thoughts. This therapy will also allow students to improve their self-awareness by becoming conscious of their thoughts and tensions.

Conclusion

Irrational beliefs limit one’s thinking capacity as individuals rely on old customs or myths. Ellis irrational beliefs also promote negative thoughts. These people are not open-minded and are unable to accept change. Cognitive behavior focuses on automatic thoughts means states that negative thoughts are the cause of depression. It is crucial to identify the factors that contribute to stress and adopt adequate measures for helping them in overcoming stress. Cognitive behavior therapy states that an individual must accept personal responsibility.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Walker, C. B. (2019). Why some practitioners of walk-and-talk therapy think it is especially helpful for teens. Retrieved 07 31, 2019, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/why-some-practitioners-of-walk-and-talk-therapy-think-it-is-especially-helpful-for-teens/2019/05/28/ab0b54d4-7272-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a7cef53cc81c

Jacobs, D. G. (2010). PRACTICE GUIDELINE FOR THE Assessment and Treatment of Patients With Suicidal Behaviors. American Psychiatric Association.

Padilla, C. R., & Griffiths, Y. (2011). A Professional Legacy: The Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectures in Occupational Therapy, 1955-2010. AOTA Press.

Stress. (2019). Stress: An Epidemic Among College Students . Retrieved 09 29, 2019, from https://www.stress.org/stress-an-epidemic-among-college-students

Reddy, K. J., Menon, K. R., & AnjanaThattil. (2018). Academic Stress and its Sources Among University Students . Biomed Pharmacol J , 11 (1).