Counseling Intervention Model for Enhancement of Positive Lifestyle in Youth Experiencing Psychological Distress

Abstract

Ross (2002) explained Psychological distress as a state of emotional suffering that is termed by symptoms of depression such as loss of interest; sadness; anxiety, restlessness or general feelings of tense. World Health Organization (2016) quoted that common mental disorders are increasing worldwide. From the year 1990 to 2013; the number of people distressing from depression and the likes of anxiety increased by nearly 50% i.e. almost from 416 million - 615 million. In this nearly 10% of the total world s population is affected and as per the WHO estimates, as close as 1 in 5 people are affected by depression and anxiety. Counseling interventions, on the other hand, are more preventive in approach and curative in their nature. These interventions focus on the management of normal day to day mental concerns of people and are focused on strength based healing and active solution focused approach. The objective is to study the level of Psychological Distress, Depression and Anxiety in a sample of 60 youth from age categories of 18-35 years, to evaluate the impact of the application of the Counseling Intervention Model designed by Arthur .E .Jongsma, L. Mark Peterson and William. P. Mclnnis on the Indian Youth suffering from Psychological distress, Depression and Anxiety and to study the effect of Counseling Intervention Model on the enhancement of Positive Lifestyle. Pre-diagnosed counseling cases of Depression, Anxiety, and Psychological Distress were taken into account; Purposive sampling was done on 60 young adults in the age category of 18-35 years from Delhi/NCR who formed the distressed population. The Pre-test and post-test for Beck s Depression Inventory, Kessler Psychological distress Scale, Sinha s Comprehensive Anxiety test and Simple Lifestyle Indicator Questionnaire were administered and t score was calculated. Counseling interventions were associated with lower levels of Depression, anxiety and psychological distress and enhanced levels of positive lifestyle.