Schoolgirls’ perspectives on self-disclosure in a group-based mental health intervention at school: acquiring friends or risking harassment?

Abstract

The article draws on interviews with participants in a psychotherapeutic education programme, called Depression in Swedish Adolescents, which has seen wide distribution within Swedish schools. We demonstrate how, in their accounts, self-disclosure in front of classmates is made into a central and both positive and problematic aspect of the programme. Sharing private matters in a group setting consisting of classmates might strengthen their interpersonal relations; but at the same time, it carries the risk of triggering already ongoing destructive interactions such as bullying and harassment. Voluntary participation, group composition and paying attention to how members respond to one another and make use of the private information shared stand out as important criteria to consider. However, in order to meet these criteria, an intervention involving self-disclosure in front of classmates needs to challenge the tradition in school of practising mandatory participation, as well as the class structures with their predefined group composition.

Keywords::

• student's perspectives
• self-disclosure
• psycho-education
• school-based intervention
• therapeutic culture

Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments during the review process. We also thank Dr Karin Osvaldsson Cromdal for her helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. The participants who made the study possible are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. The message that one should dare to speak about one's mental ill-health is promoted through media campaigns, Internet blogs, books and debate articles (a Google search generates 57800 hits in Swedish). For example, a well-known Swedish politician, Maria Wetterstrand, published an article on the subject arguing that people need to start talking about mental ill-health and sharing such information in order to counteract the lack of knowledge and the shame many people feel concerning these matters (see Våga tala om psykisk ohälsa, 2012).

^2. Ethics approval was obtained from the Regional Ethical Review Board of Linköping University (Reg. no. 181–09).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (HFÅ 2008/213).