You Are Not Alone Analysis

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“You’re Not Alone: Mental Health Outcomes in Therapy Groups for Abused Women” by Leslie M. Tutty is a peer-reviewed article describing a 14-week therapy group for women that have previously been involved in an abusive relationship with a spouse or significant other. Assessing this type of group is a key component to understanding how group leaders can improve future meetings to better assist victims of domestic violence in reaching their own personal goals and to aid others in doing the same for themselves. Three-hundred and seventeen women were evaluated for this study by examining their mental health, self-esteem, depression, and stress-levels through a test that was given at the start of the first meeting and during the last to measure their …show more content…
It consists of six to twelve women that meet once a week for two hours to share their personal experiences based on the topic/theme that’s chosen for that session and discuss how they can develop new belief systems and perspectives. The primary goals of this group are for the members to 1.) be able to recognize abuse, 2.) take responsibility for their actions and choices, 3.) trust their instincts, and 4.) understand and believe wholeheartedly that it’s possible to thrive in a healthy and abuse-free relationship. A female and a male assists in the process of the group functions and one leader is present at all times. The mixed-gender roles helps confront gender stereotypes that the group members may understandably have. Once the session is completed, they’re encouraged to come back if needed; however, it doesn’t always happen. For this reason, members that don’t return are asked why in a later …show more content…
According to the article written by Leslie M. Tutty, 379 women started out in the “You Are Not Alone” therapy group and only 272 women had demographics available due to missing information. Less than half of those women still lived with their abusers; however, 45% were divorced or separated. Most of them were poor and had children. The majority had previously been to counseling, almost half due to depression. Notably, almost two-thirds of the women had a history of experiencing abuse in their childhood. 56.5% of the group members completed every session; those that dropped out had significantly more serious cases of abuse.
“The 184 women that completed the posttest and pretest reported statistically significant improvements on all four clinical variables: the QQ-45, generalized contentment (depression), clinical stress, and self-esteem” (Tutty 2015, p. 494). 71.8% replied to “How would you rate the quality of service you received?” with “excellent,” 26.5% with “good” and 1.7% with “fair.” Overall, the women in the group 1.) realized that they didn’t deserve to be abused, 2.) grew to be more compassionate to themselves, and 3.) were able to identify abusive behavior and change