Online Bereavement Support Group Analysis

Individual therapy carried out over the Internet can include asynchronous methods, such as e-mail, synchronous methods, such as web-based messaging (instant messaging), chat, videoconferencing or voice-over IP (Internet phone). Virtual reality therapy and online video game therapy are two additional emerging online modalities. Online counseling may be provided as the primary treatment modality or as an adjunct to more traditional forms of mental health treatment. There are many advantages of online counseling. First of all, it provides accessibility to individuals who are disabled or housebound. Then, it is also always affordable and convenient. Internet makes mental health information more accessible. Later, people also feel comfortable while talking to friends and family about their health care issues, but may not feel the same discussing mental health

Grief is defined as a type of emotional or mental suffering from a loss, sorrow, or regret (Dictionary.com, LLC, 2010). Grief affects people of all ages, races, and sexes around the world. Approximately, 36% of the world’s population does or has suffered from grief and only a mere 10% of these people will seek out help (Theravive, 2009). Once a person is suffering from grief it is important to receive treatment. All too often, people ignore grief resulting in deep depression, substance abuse, and other disorders (Theravive, 2009). Grief counseling is very common and can be very helpful to a person in need of assistance. Grief counseling provides the support, understanding, and

This paper examines the implications of grief, bereavement and disenfranchised grief. Grief in response to a loss is a unique experience and is expressed distinctively by every individual. It is helpful to have models that outline the stages of grief that need to be experienced in order to achieve acceptance. However, their utility is limited by the reality that grief is immeasurably complex and individualized. Veterans and children are two groups at risk of developing disenfranchised grief. Therefore, it will be important for nurses to be able to identify those suffering with disenfranchised grief or other forms of maladaptive grief so appropriate intervention may be employed.

It also enables therapists to experience therapy from the clients’ perspective and “ has a wide range of beneficial outcomes, the most important of which is the increased empathy for the client”.

I chose the GriefShare support group because as nurses we will need to help our patients and their families with the grief process when a loved one passes away. On March 29, 2014, I met Claudette St. John, the group leader, at 6:45pm at Northwest Christian Church in Acworth, GA. Rick Baldwin also attended the meeting. The group meets from 7-8:30pm. Claudette shared that she has been doing grief support classes for the past 20 years and the past 3 years she has been doing GriefShare at Northwest Christian. She lost her teenage daughter in a car accident 20 years ago. She expressed that there really are not any rules, other than just respecting each individual. She tasks herself with keeping the meetings on track and has a democratic leadership style. GriefShare is a Christian based program consisting of 13 weekly session. Participants do not need to attend all 13 sessions, the sessions can also be done individually. A workbook is given to those that are participating in the program. GriefShare’s goal is to help those experiencing grief, work through the process and recognize the different aspects of grief that they may encounter.

People going through grief often feel disorganized and have difficulty eating, sleeping or concentrating. Grief counselors ease the expression of emotion and thought about the loss and give insight to their feelings (Doka 1996). There are numerous reactions to grief, both good and bad. Behaviors that deal with grief positively are through art, writing, support groups or celebrations of the loved one. Some negative ways to deal with grief include feelings of anger, frustration, helplessness, depression and withdrawal from family and friends. A common yet self-destructive way to cope with loss is by turning to substances such as alcohol or drugs. This also requires counselors in order to help them get to the root of their problems.

I believe in conclusion we could benefit from these services as long as we are really aware that they are legit and trustworthy. In my case I believe sometimes I could benefit from therapy but simply have no time. One of the reasons I choose online schooling. Definitely I would use these services and give it a try. There are programs offer here in California that can help you as a guide to search for help. The Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) would like to make the following recommendations to California consumers who choose to seek therapy or counseling over the Internet. Individuals, who provide psychotherapy or counseling, either in person, by telephone, or over the Internet, are required by law to be licensed. Licensing requirements vary by state. Individuals who provide psychotherapy or counseling

Death is a universally experienced phenomenon. In the United States alone, over 2.6 million people die each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). For practitioners, it is of utmost importance to better understand the process of grief to develop better interventions for bereaved individuals.

Psychoeducational groups emphasize, “using education methods to acquire information and develop related meaning and skills.” (Brown, 1997, p.1) This grief support group works as a psychoeducational group, through focusing on education and knowledge for healing and growth. In this group, members value knowledge as it further brings growth through their grief journey. The facilitator educates the group with thirty-minute videos made by grief experts to support the members in learning proper coping skills and processing certain aspects of their grief. The group also characterizes a psychoeducational group through providing emotional support with discussion before and after each video. During this short discussion time the group worked together, to help apply the skills to their lives and process topics discusses in the video.

Ring, ring another phone therapy session is here. Phone therapy is definitely not a good way to have therapy and this article proves that this is valid. The article that I read has no clear meaning and definitely doesn’t give you a clear look into if phone therapy is helpful for depression. The article states that receiving therapy over the phone is helpful and is a valuable thing over doing actual, physical meetings. The article starts out by saying that researchers have discovered that people who have interactions on the phone got better at the same rate as those who spent time with a counselor in person. The claim that the author is trying to get across to us readers is that phone therapy helps with depression and it is easier and more efficient to do phone therapy versus in person therapy. They also claim that phone therapy helps more because of people’s busy lives. Depression effects 21-30 million and out of all of these people a lot of them drop out due to busy schedule. The study was 325 people and the study talks about people with depression getting eighteen sessions of

New technology has change the dying and mourning process by providing patients and family members access to sources like online health support groups

As mentioned above, therapeutic interventions may be delivered by numerous routes, including email, web text-chat, and video chat. Some programs are utilized as self-help or as adjuncts to professionally administered therapy. These resources include online support forums for specific concerns, support chat rooms, psychoeducational resources, and structured programs that are based on therapeutic approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (iCBT in this context). Such distinctions may have very important implications for the acceptability of the program in question as well as for efficacy and user adherence. The efficacy of online psychotherapy services is an important topic. Different studies report varying results, likely as a result of the broad variability of web-based interventions that are being studied. Some researchers in this area have attempted to tackle the problems that this variability presents by proposing a system of categorization for different types of programs. Barack et al (2009) suggested that implementing a four-category system that distinguishes among web-based interventions, online counseling/therapy, Internet operated psychotherapeutic software, and other online programs considered

Online therapy has emerged as a viable new option in the helping profession. Online therapy or e-therapy occurs when a therapist provides therapy and support over the Internet. E-mail, chat, video, or smart phone are all ways individuals can communicate through online therapy. Online therapy websites are abounding on the Internet, any individual seeking online therapy will surely find what they are looking for. This paper will evaluate and explain the content from

Online support groups can help someone gain a sense of control or empowerment and reduce their levels of stress, depression, or anxiety by promoting open, honest sharing of personal feelings, mutual emotional support, comfort, “virtual” hugging, sharing of practical treatment information, coping strategies, personal experiences, and “success stories” by way of e-mails and Internet group discussion boards (Wessel, K, 1996).

Such communities can also help people who can not go out to find friends in the real life because they are disabled. Therefore they can chat with other people via the internet. Sometimes it is also easier for people, who are afraid to look into the other's face while talking, to chat with a person that they do not know. There is something between them which makes it easier for them to communicate. It also does not matter if you have a terrible appearance because you can pretend to be whatever you want. You can also change your gender and your age to talk about topics which you do not normally