Adolescent counseling can help improve the child’s overall mood, self-worth, and confidence, boost their self-esteem while also working with them to use various outside resources to cope with their situations.
What is Young Adult Psychotherapy?
Young adult psychotherapy is a type of therapy provided by a mental health professional that focuses on a broad range of issues affecting young adults and helps them with problem-solving or teaching specific techniques to cope with or avoid problem areas.
Young adult is generally defined as an age group between 18 and 24. Young adult issues may occur in those who are in their late teens and early twenties and may consist of issues such as sexual or developmental concerns, difficulties with peers, challenges pertaining to school, college, or career, differences in family, and many others. Because the numerous and rapid changes often associated with this stage may be too much to cope with, young adults may find the resources of a therapist, counselor, or other mental health professional to be helpful as they progress from adolescence to adulthood, especially if they experience mental health concerns or other challenges as they become accustomed to new roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
Young adults may benefit from psychotherapy to address a variety of issues with living, such as stress, depression, anxiety, problems in relationships, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and other mental health problems. Psychotherapy can help young adults improve their functioning, engage in personal growth, and enhance their overall well-being.
What are Common Issues Pertaining to Young Adults?
Some of the common issues that young adults experience in their lives include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Substance or alcohol abuse/addiction
- Body image issues
- Sexism or stereotyping
- Sexual abuse/harassment
- Family issues
- Peer upset or conflict
- Coping behaviors
- Bullying
- Obsessional thinking
- Low mood
- Isolation
- Low self-esteem
- Self-harming behaviors
- Prescription drug abuse
- Societal expectations
Mental Health and Young Adults
A variety of serious mental health concerns can appear in the late teens and early twenties, additionally complicating an already complex stage of life. Mental health issues, such as schizophrenia and bipolar, among others, may be identifiable around this time. Other common concerns that young adults are usually susceptible to include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse. Many studies have indicated that the onset of most mental health issues occurs during young adulthood. Young adults were noted to experience issues, such as major depressive episodes, problematic psychological distress, and substance or alcohol abuse issues at a much higher rate than adults in the age group of 26 to 34 years.
Many young adults also experience challenges or changes in their world views. As young adults enter new workplace environments, new social circles, or new academic settings, values and beliefs held throughout childhood and adolescence may be challenged by others from diverse and different backgrounds or questioned by new ideas. This characteristic of young adulthood may clash with one’s identity and trigger feelings that could contribute to mental health problems like depression or anxiety. Young adults also have a higher risk for suicide.
Therapy Involved with Young Adult Psychotherapy
When young adults seek assistance for mental health issues, they can benefit from a wide range of therapeutic modalities and interventions. Among these are interpersonal therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, both of which are therapeutic approaches that can assist young adults to identify and modify negative feelings and thought patterns and work towards achieving personal goals. In therapy, young adults will also be motivated to connect with and develop support networks. Family therapy may be an excellent option for young adults dealing with changing family dynamics, particularly when an issue has cropped up that impacts familial relations.
In general, common therapeutic methods a psychotherapist may use to help young adults include:
- Psychodynamic Therapy: This is also referred to as insight-oriented therapy and helps young adults understand how their past experiences impact their present ones. It is the oldest type of psychotherapy. This therapy has an objective of identifying a patient’s unconscious defense mechanisms. Although psychodynamic therapy achieves this aim by motivating patients to speak about whatever comes to their mind, this therapy can be modified into a more focused type to cure specific problems.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps you to recognize and change disturbing or destructive thought patterns that have a negative influence on your behavior and emotions. It also assists you to improve your coping skills in relation to transitional challenges in life.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): In this therapy, psychotherapists assist young adults to work toward acceptance of their behaviors and emotions rather than being in conflict with them or avoiding them. As patients communicate their personal value systems, they pledge to change those behaviors that are counterproductive and do not align with the accepted norms or values.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): This is a sub-branch of cognitive behavior therapy and is specifically designed to assist young adults with borderline personality disorder, but can also be used in multiple different circumstances. The aim of DBT is for the psychotherapist to assist the client in a non-judgmental approach, and for the patient to experience emotions and feelings in a non-judgmental manner.
- Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT): This is an evidence-based, relational therapy that has shown results in improving outlook, mood, and functioning. Mentalization assists young adults to see themselves more clearly and improve their relationships with others. Mentalization can be beneficial in treating posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and other personality disorders.
Benefits of Young Adult Psychotherapy
Some of the benefits of young adult psychotherapy include:
- Helps to understand things better in relation to others
- Helps to identify issues in a relationship
- Improves communication skills
- Resolves personal issues and conflicts
- Improves problems solving and coping skills
- Helps to avoid negative thoughts and dysfunctional behavior
- Helps to establish connections with friends and romantic partners
- Helps to feel more connected with your feelings and your partner
- Helps to feel more secure and spontaneous in a relationship
- Reinforces intimacy, bonding, attachment, and friendship
- Helps to set future goals and achieve them with ease
- Improves satisfaction and overall quality of life