mental health counseling
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Understanding social and interpersonal psychology helps counselors understand people’s interactions and relationships with one another. It dissects the dynamics of interpersonal relationships and investigates the social contexts that shape human behaviors and beliefs.

The developments in psychological sciences have increased research into how complex mental health conditions can be. These developments pave the way for more effective treatment strategies that will enhance the credibility of mental health counseling.

If you’re aiming to specialize in this transformative work, apply for an online master’s clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) at the American International College (AIC). This program offers a comprehensive curriculum that’s 100% online, finds residencies near you, and has a CACREP-aligned curriculum, so you’d be licensed in any state in the US. This specialized education equips you with the ability to recognize and understand complex behaviors in your potential patients and treat them accordingly.This blog post will show you what social and interpersonal psychology means and how it can help your practice.

What is social and interpersonal psychology?

Social and interpersonal psychology focuses on the relationships between individuals and their social settings. It entails the minute and complex experiences that shape people’s idea of themselves. This could be their community’s influence on them, the people they interact with, or pressure from peer groups. It also uncovers the underlying factors that help people understand what influences them and how they, in turn, influence people around them.

An example of this is the ‘groupthink’ phenomenon, which is where a person’s decisions are influenced by the pressures of conforming to group norms.Awareness of the groupthink phenomenon in a therapeutic setting introduces a dynamic that can help you, as a counselor, approach the issue from a more holistic perspective. This helps you solve the root cause of the problem, which in this context is how the client is influenced by peer pressureand how it shapes their decision-making process.

How does social and interpersonal psychology relate to mental health?

Social and interpersonal psychology can help counselors understand their patients better. Interactions with family, friends, colleagues, and strangers shape everyone’s mental well-being. All of these elements influence a person’s life. A counselor with knowledge in the field of social and interpersonal psychology can get a clearer picture of how the various elements of a patient’s life may contribute to or exacerbate mental health issues. Through their knowledge, mental health counselors can discover how the client’s relationships influence their thoughts and how it could lead to mental health issues.

Three ways social and interpersonal psychology helps with treatment strategies

An understanding of the field can help you approach mental health illnesses differently. Instead of just considering the client’s past experiences and history, you can take a broader approach that accounts for how social relationships affect their way of life. Aside from this, here are other ways social and interpersonal psychology helps in treating mental health illnesses:

Individualized assessment

A vital part of efficient mental health counseling is giving unique treatment to each client. What worked for Client A with anxiety issues may not work for Client B with similar problems. Why? The underlying factors that contributed to their experiences are different. This is why recognizing the importance of social cognition (how people think about themselves) in people’s experiences can help shape their perspective on life.

In other words, when you understand how your client interprets, analyzes, and uses information, you can know if they have a hostile or friendly perspective toward life and if this attitude contributes to their mental health challenge in any way.

For example, in client A’s interaction with colleagues at work, the counselor may learn that their thought pattern is influenced by how they think they’re perceived at work. This means that their anxiety issue is triggered by fear of being judged or gossiped about. While these perceptions may trigger anxiety for Client A, the triggers for Client B may be different. And that’s why the counselor must individually address the broader social challenges that affect their clients.

Strategic interventions

Any strategic approach to mental health issues requires a holistic understanding. This is why cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for example, is widely used to identify and change distorted or negative thought patterns. It’s effective for conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress disorders, and seasonal affective disorder(SAD). It also helps address how a client thinks or acts in social situations.

For instance, CBT can incorporate concepts such as “social cognition” and “social influence” to help clients understand how social relationships shape their thought patterns. Clients with social anxiety may harbor distorted beliefs about social gatherings based on their previous experiences. For example, they may conclude that “everyone is judging me” or “I’m not interesting enough” due to negative past social interactions.

Through CBT techniques, counselors can help clients challenge these distorted beliefs by offering coping mechanisms. This helps the client develop strategies to cope with any social situation that hurts their confidence.

Crisis management

Acute crises are points where psychological vulnerabilities intersect with intense social pressures or dysfunctional interpersonal relationships. During this time, the client may be thinking about self-harming, and counselors need long-term strategies to prevent the possibility of such. How does social and interpersonal psychology help here?

A client within a family crisis (domestic abuse, estrangement, or emotional abuse) needs a counselor who understands power dynamics, family roles, and the concept of dependencies in the family setting. A counselor with knowledge in this area can identify a victim and the cause of their troubles. Using this information, a mental health counselor can create a solution that keeps the client safe in the short term as well as addresses any long-term concerns.

Conclusion

Social and interpersonal psychology helps mental health counselors better comprehend their clients’ challenges so they can treat them thoroughly and effectively. By incorporating its principles, counselors can create interventions that account for individual experiences and how each specific client’s social relationship contributes to their behaviors. In other words, this field deepens the understanding needed to address mental health challenges for long-term stability.

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