GROUP COUNSELING THEORIES

At the community mental health center you are assigned to counsel an adult client who has Bipolar Disorder. He is a 48-year-old who also has addiction issues. He is starting to decompensate and beginning to go into a manic phase of his illness. He sleeps less than 2-3 hours per night, engages in risky sexual behaviors, and decreased self-care. He states that he is starting to have auditory hallucinations consistent with Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features. He also reports that he has started using drugs again to calm himself down because he couldn’t afford the psychotropic medication due to losing his job and insurance 3 months ago. He further tells you that years ago he managed his symptoms the best when he was in group therapy but could not remember the type of group he was in.

After referring this client to the psychiatrist for an urgent medication evaluation due to decompensation, bring this case to the next staff meeting to discuss with the team, explaining your initial counseling plan, initial concerns, and back up plans for this patient. Include a 1-3 sentence response to all of the following:

• 1-2 initial concerns for this patient
• 1 initial goal and objective to plan for this patient
• 1 goal and objective as a back-up plan for this patient
• Include 1-3 sentence responses to all of the following:

Which 1 of the following group therapies would you start with to assist this client most effectively?

• Dual Diagnosis Group
• Psycho-educational Groups
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
  • Give 1-2 reasons why you would utilize your chosen group.
  • Provide a description of at least 2 benefits and 1 drawback that therapy provides

Answer preview

The case of the Bipolar Disorder patient raises a few concerns related to his health. First, the main issue that stands out is that the patient no longer has medication for his disorder. The level of intensity of the patient’s condition cannot go without medication. If this persists further, the results in his case are detrimental. Also, the patient does not sleep enough. He only sleeps two to three hours every night. The patient is very unwell but does not get proper rest as recommended for his condition…