Gifted and Talented Anxiety Group

Title Used for Advertising: A sigh of relief

By: Liz Lowe and Sarah Sargent

Targeted members:
Juniors and senior attending Indiana Academy.
Rationale for the Group: There are three main reasons for this group as follows:
1. Literature suggests that gifted adolescents are prone to anxiety and stress disorders due to
various psychosocial maladjustment (Birely & Genshaft, 1991).
2. A needs assessment disseminated to the student body suggest that students are
experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety.
3. A group intervention would allow for the needs of many students to be met at the same
time, while also working with the social component of a group atmosphere. Group
Counseling provides an excellent forum to promote student-to-student learning (Prusse,
2009).
Main Objective(s):
1. To educate each student about the nature of stress and anxiety and how it impacts other
areas of their life.
2. To develop healthy coping skills
3. Apply coping skills to diverse situation that may induce anxiety and stress.
Weekly expectations:
We expect each weekly meeting to begin on time and each member to be prompt and present. We
expect each week members will:
1. Open to disusing personal experience in anxiety provoking situation.
2. Fully engages in activities during group
3. Respectful of all group members
4. Participate in goal setting
Expected Total Length: 7 weekly consecutive sessions.
Expected Session Length: 60 minutes. The reason we would prefer the group to be 60 minute to
allow for enough time to cover the content.
Measuring Progress:
1. At the start of the first session, pretest will be given
2. Each week each member will rate anxiety level on a scale 0-10
3. At final session, posttest will be given and compare with the result of the pretest.
Gathering/attracting members:
Students will be identity based of the needs assessment that is disseminated. Student that
participate will be given 1 Wellness Credit for each session attended.

Closed Group: This will be a closed group. Once the 8-10 members are selected, if anyone else is
interested they will be put on the list for the next round of the group. If a group member is
considering leaving the group they will meet individually with one of the leaders.
Risks:
We will educate all members of the following risks
1. All therapy entails some amount of risk
2. Members will be in a group and therefore lack of confidentiality is a risk
3. Members will not immediately feel better, improvement take time.
Ethical issues to consider:
None, other than the risks mentioned above.
Screening process:
Student will be screened based on knowledge of students, as well as their responses from the
needs assessment
Inclusionary Criteria:
1. Reported moderate/high anxiety on the needs assessment.
2. Possess ability to reflect and discuss self within a group.
3. Ability to interact with others who are different from oneself.
Exclusionary Criteria:
1. If student is in acute crises.
2. If they are in need of an immediately solution
3. If student is not willing to communicate in a group setting, individual counseling will be
pursued.
Rejection of Members:
If we decide to reject members it will be prior to the first session. Members could also be
rejected if they are so disruptive in group that they are taking away learning from other group
members
Main components of your therapy that you think will lead to therapeutic change.
1. Being a member of a group may allow students to feel universality; which is the
knowledge that others share certain experiences and feelings reduces the sense of
isolation that many students feel (Prusse, 2009). This help the student see that are not
alone.
2. Education covering the different aspects related to anxiety will be presented. Through
education, the student will develop different ways to cope with their anxiety. Some
prevention and intervention approaches that have been found useful in supporting the
healthy social and emotional development of gifted students are: 1) support and
encouragement of accelerative learning experience, 2) time to learn with other of similar
abilities, interest, and motivation, 3) engagement in areas of interests with a variety of

peers, 4) mentoring and pragmatic coach to cope with the stress, criticism, and social
milieu associated with high levels of performance (Reis, & Renzulli, 2004).
3. Building repertoire of coping skills can be an agent of change. When a student feels that
they have the resources to manage a stressful situation, he or she is less likely to perceive
the situation as traumatic and may experience less anxiety (Barlow, 2000). By equipping
students with a variety of coping skills, we are empowering them to face challenges head
on, while reducing anxiety.
4. Applying coping skills to various situations. There is a difference between having a skill,
and being able to apply it to actual situations (Bandura, et al., 2003). This group is
designed to enable students to actually practice the skills in various settings which are
challenging and prone to induce anxiety/stress. This interactive component helps the
students see that they are able to apply the coping skills to real life situationss, which may
result in continued use of the skills.
Session Outline:
Session 1: Introduction
I. Introduction of leaders
II.

Introduction of members
a. Ice breaker activity

III.

Rules
a. Confidentiality
a.i. Why might this be important for everyone?
a.i.1. Risks of group
a.ii. As the leaders, we may have to break confidentially in three
different situations:
a.ii.1.

If you report you are being abused by someone

a.ii.2.
If you report that you are a danger to someone or
yourself
a.ii.3.
IV.

Court ordered

Pretest

Session 2: Stress Inoculation Training Phase 1 (Szabo & Marian, 2012)

I. Check in: Rate level of stress/anxiety on a scale of 1-10
II. Introduction to Stress and Anxiety
1. What is it?
2. Potential Causes

3. Biological/Neurological substrates/implications
4. Implications of long-term stress/anxiety
III. Group Processing: Identify stressors in your life and how you respond
1. Retraining how you respond
Session 3: Stress Inoculation Training Phase 2 (Szabo & Marian, 2012)
I. Check in: Rate level of stress/anxiety on a scale of 1-10
II. Coping Skill Acquisition
1. Overview of general coping skills
2. Practice new skills (as group, role plays, etc.)
III. Group Processing: Which skills can you apply to which situation (related to individualspecific stressors)
IV.

Sessions 4-6: Continued application of newly acquired coping skills to specific anxietyinducing situations
Session 4: Performance anxiety
I.

Checking in: Review/Reflect on last week session.

II.

Introduce topic: performance anxiety

a. Irrational thinking
b. Perfectionism is a major characteristic of associated with gifted students
b.i. 2 types:
b.i.1.
Normal Perfectionism: strive for excellence, gain
satisfaction from concerted effort and are receptive to outcomes
that are less precise as the situation permits. They approach tasks
with a confident desire for mastery and expectation for
improvement.
b.i.2.
Neurotic Perfectionists: never perceive their performance
as good enough and rarely feel satisfied with their efforts. They
can be afraid of failure, which can lead to task avoidance, worries
about deficiencies, and anxiety.
(Wang, Fu, & Rice, 2012)

III.

Group Processing/Discussion

Session 5: College anxiety

I.

Checking in: Review/Reflect on last week session.

II.

Introduce topic: College anxiety

III.

Group Processing
a. Where are the students in the college search process currently
b. Complete career assessment on Indiana Career Explorer
b.i. Process the results and how they fit the students views of themselves

Session 6: Social anxiety

I.

Checking in: Review/Reflect on last week session.

II.

Introduce topic: Social anxiety

a. Role Playing Games
a.i. Role playing games (RPG) create a space where participants may
experiment with various emotional states and behaviors, through the role
of imaginary characters they create. RPGs foster change, familiarize
clients with new ways of regulating their emotions and social interactions,
facilitates the transfer of these skills to real-world settings through the
safety of rules and limit settings and the clinical investigation of what
happens in the game (Rosselet, & Stauffer, 2013).

III.

Group Processing

Session 7: Termination;
I.

Checking in: Review/Reflect on last week session.

II.

Posttest

III.

Group Processing

IV.

Wrap up/termination

References
Bandura, A., Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Gerbino, M., & Pastorelli, C. (2003). Role of
affective self- regulatory efficacy in diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning. Child
Development, 74 (3), 769-782.
Barlow, D.H. (2000). Unraveling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the perspective
of emotion theory. American Psychologist, 55(11), 1247-1263.
Bireley, M., & Genshaft, J. (1991). Understanding the gifted adolescent: Educational,
developmental, and multicultural issues. New York, NY US: Teachers College Press.
Prusse, R. V. (2009). Group counseling in the schools. Psychology In The Schools, 46(3), 225231.
Reis, S. M., & Renzulli, J. S. (2004). Current research on the social and emotional development
of gifted and talented students: Good news and future possibilities. Psychology In The
Schools, 41(1), 119-130.
Rosselet, J. G., & Stauffer, S. D. (2013). Using group role-playing games with gifted children
and adolescents: A psychosocial intervention model. International Journal Of Play
Therapy, 22(4), 173-192. doi:10.1037/a0034557
Szabo, Z., Marian, M. (2012). Stress inoculation training in adolescents: Classroom intervention
benefits. Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, 12(2), 175-188.
Wang, K. T., Fu, C., & Rice, K. G. (2012). Perfectionism in gifted students: Moderating effects
of goal orientation and contingent self-worth. School Psychology Quarterly, 27(2), 96108. doi:10.1037/a0029215