Group counseling allows people to freely interact with the team members creating an environment where their concern is best understood. Every member can participate actively within a group and further creates a magnified interaction since it incorporates the roles and responsibilities of each member. Within the group, the new perspective mind develops from diverse views of the members and helps to create contact and developed many long-lasting friends ( Group Therapy vs. Individual Therapy , 2017). Despite these benefits, group counseling has the following challenges; first, there might arise personality clashes as a result of the different nature of individuals with diverse views. There arise trust issues which would make some people uncomfortable to reveal their problems and share their personal issues. Attending discussion might be expensive since it often accounts for an intense intimacy and scrutiny of individuals.
In individual therapy, the primary focus is on an individual therefore, one does not have to share time with another client and the environment is often confidential and safe. The setting is highly personal which creates a conducive environment for a client to share his or her issues without fear (Panas et al, 2003). However, in individual counseling, there is limited perspective available to the client; therefore, the client would not benefit from diverse options and views that would have helped solve the issue better.
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Individual counseling in most instances will focus on an individual’s immediate or even near future concerns ( Group Therapy vs. Individual Therapy , 2017). Therefore, major issues discussed here include career counseling, health problems, grief after losing a loved one or even marriage issues. On the other hand, group counseling targets several individuals that face a similar concern. It is suitable for individual facing divorce or even child custody.
Individual, small group and classroom guidance differ significantly in their approaches and issues that they try to address. The three varies concerning many people involved where in individual counseling only one client is involved, in small group two or more individuals are involved while in class guidance, a large number of persons is involved. Individual counseling would focus on personal issues such as health and grief after losing a loved one. In group counseling, issues addressed might include child custody and divorce while classroom guidance often focuses on career development, relationship issues, and academic performance (Schmidt, 2003). Classroom guidance and personal counseling in most instances are planned and goal oriented, and short-termed but small group counseling is goal-oriented only to meet a specific objective.
References
Group Therapy vs. Individual Therapy . (2017). American Addiction Centers . Retrieved from http://americanaddictioncenters.org/therapy-treatment/group- individual/
Panas, L., Caspi, Y., Fournier, E., & McCarty, D. (2003). Performance measures for outpatient substance abuse services: Group versus individual counseling. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment , 25 (4), 271-278.
Schmidt, J. J. (2003). Counseling in schools: Essential services and comprehensive programs . Allyn & Bacon.
