The Effects Of Group Therapy On Depression

Depression may cause mood fluctuations and thus raise unpredictability in parenting styles. Rejections by the parent get internalised by the child who then perceives itself as undeserving of love. This could affect the child 's self-esteem and as they start interacting with others they may have impaired social skills that would further aggravate their anxiety. Schore (2007) suggests that rejection at a young age could also be linked to later developing antisocial traits like borderline personality disorders.

The parent may express their anger in non-verbal ways like the silent treatment (Field, 1989) which may be too vague for the child to comprehend and they may feel confused on how to behave and they also may not learn ways express their

This is especially beneficial in building a positive relationship, changing negative perceptions, creating a space for social learning and also for the sharing of information between one another (Yalom, 1995). Being in a group with others with similar experiences for both mother and child would function as a mirror in understanding different perspectives and gaining social support. Ponteri (2001) in a group of mothers and toddlers found that group art therapy helped build the mother-child relationship and created more positive self-perceptions in just 8 weeks. Group therapy can be used as a first step for getting the social anxious child to start developing social skills in a safe space before they feel confident enough to explore outside of

For example, if the therapist suspects that the child 's needs are not met by the parent even though the parent claims that they no longer feel depressed the therapist may face a dilemma concerning whether they should contact the child protection services or whether they must arrange a meeting with the parent. The therapist might be unsure about whether the meeting with the parent would be productive and whether child would be better cared for or that it would be impractical as the parent is still having difficulties themselves and may even terminate the child from therapy as they would be afraid that the child may disclose scenarios from home in therapy. However, if the non-depressed parent can make changes and support the child it would prevent the child protection from being involved with which there may be a risk of the child losing a home and being separated from the parents. Since the child is already dealing with social anxiety he or she may not be able to adapt to a new environment. Therefore the situation needs to be assessed carefully on what is best for the