How to write a nursing essay on Group Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia

How to write a nursing essay on Group Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia

Recognition and identification of characteristics within the group

Psychotherapy groups are individual; therefore, the time required to transition from one stage to another differs significantly. Corey (2016) asserts that it is common in groups for stages to overlap and is particularly common when moving from the transition to the working stage. It is a leader’s responsibility to recognize and identify the characteristics of the working stage to guide members through the process by implementing appropriate actions.

Generally, the working stage is denoted by every member’s inclusion in the interventions established in previous stages carried out within the group. One of the characteristics is that the participants are working together as a team to achieve the common aims of recovery. Ezhumalai et al. (2018) assert that increased flexibility is demonstrated in their pattern of working together as they develop an increased ability to achieve their goals. Therefore, I would recognize this stage by the minimized need for controlling and structuring participant’s interactions. Also, once members willingly take responsibility for their actions and volunteer to share their thoughts and feelings on the issue being discussed, I would establish the working stage.

Interventions employed during the working stage

Group interventions employed at the working stage prioritize increasing self-awareness and personal change to find customized solutions to the identified problems. Lazzer and Muhlheim (2016) establish that cognitive-behavioural therapy has demonstrated a considerable level of success when used in the treatment of eating disorders.

In cognitive behavioural therapy, several interventions can be integrated into participants’ daily lives to help them achieve their recovery goals. Some possible interventions include challenging dietary rules. Here, the participants identify common dietary rules such as having a heavy main meal and snacks in between. Instead, the participant can have a heavy snack such as a sandwich for lunch. Another intervention is keeping a journal. The journal would be containing their food records and their immediate thoughts, feelings, and behaviours following a meal or a snack. Keeping a journal is a significant way of enhancing learning and self-awareness of a person’s concealed thoughts and feelings behind a particular behaviour, which could potentially cause the eating disorder.

Therapeutic factors in a group

The working stage is marked with performance to achieve recovery goals. Therapeutic factors are the visible signs of a participant’s improvement. Corey (2016) describes them as the process that denotes progress in the group, and they include “catharsis, cognitive reconstruction, confrontation, self-disclosure, and commitment to change, among others.

Participants’ commitment to change would demonstrate progress in the group work. This would be demonstrated through processes such as faithful daily completion of journals. Keeping a track record of one’s meals and afterthoughts in a journal can be challenging, especially since it happens more than once a day. It, therefore, requires a high level of discipline and commitment to implement (Lazzer & Muhlheim, 2016). When a good percentage of participants keep their journals even two times a day, it is a sign of good progress. Additionally, participants planning their meals and following up on their plans would indicate good progress. Lazzer and Muhlheim (2016) establish that meal planning is one of the essential skills, especially for people recovering from eating disorders.

References

Corey, G. (2016). Theory and practice of group counseling (9 th  ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Ezhumalai, S., Muralidhar, D., Dhanasekarapandian, R., & Nikketha, B. S. (2018). Group

https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_42_18 interventions. Indian journal of psychiatry, 60(Suppl 4), S514–S521.

Lazzer, S. D., & Muhlheim, L. (2016). Eating disorders and scope of competence for outpatient psychotherapists. Practice Innovations, 1(2), 89.

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