Group therapy Flashcards
What are 3 types of group therapy?
support; psycho-educational, interpersonal processes
support groups
focuses on providing support for specific issues and offering
comfort and connectedness to others; focus on the clients supporting and
validating each other
Psycho-educational groups
focuses on providing information about particular topics and developing skills. It is more information based, less personal sharing,
less self-disclosure.
Interpersonal process groups
focuses on the “process” of being in the group,
guiding the clients to note how they interact with other group members and
how that mirrors their lived experiences. Attention is paid to feelings,
thoughts, and experiences that arise in the group—there will be opportunities
to explore the meaning of these behaviors
Who may benefit from group therapy?
– People who have difficult time in relationships may benefit
significantly from process groups
– Almost anyone can benefit from a group
– Usually form a group by creating exclusion criteria
Who may be excluded from group therapy?
possible reasons for exclusion:
– Acute situational crisis
– Suicidal clients
– Members who are unable to attend regularly
– Clients with Antisocial Personality Disorder
What are some considerations for group therapy?
■ Group Size: Varies from 3 to several hundred members depending upon the type of group. Process group usually work best with 6-8
members
■ Duration of Sessions: Group sessions usually range from 1-2 hours
■ Group Structure: Varies from open (allows members to enter and leave the group as needed) to closed (only the group members who started
at the beginning are in the group at the end)
■ Ethics: Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed
What is therapists’ role in group therapy?
■ Expresses concern, acceptance, genuineness, and empathy towards
all group members
■ Facilitates dialogue
■ Serve as a role model of how to give and receive feedback to group
members
■ In psychoeducational groups, offers instruction, education, and
examples
What are some process components that therapists need to pay attention to?
■ Who communicates? How long & how often? To whom? Who interrupts whom? Any speaker patterns related to gender, age, race?
■ What roles are people taking in the discussion (leader, antagonist, the silent one, wise person, clown)?
■ How does conflict surface: what is it about, who is involved, resolution?
■ What is the emotional content of the discussion?
■ What are some of the unstated assumptions underlying the
discussion?
What are some techniques that are commonly used in group therapy?
■ Creation & Maintenance of the Group
– Group screening interview
■ Culture Building
– Norms of process
– Models desired behavior
■ Using the Here-and-Now
– Process illumination (i.e., help group members figure out what’s
going on inside of them)
– Self-reflection
What are the 5 group stages?
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
Stage 1: Forming
■ Orientation stage
– Typically polite, limited interactions
– Members are getting to know their role
– Greater dependency on therapist
■ Therapist role
– Provide structure and direction at this point
Step 2: Storming
■ Conflict stage
– Ideas are criticized and challenged; coalitions begin to form
– Members may be judgmental of one another
– Power-struggle among members
■ Therapist role
– Distinguish between an attack on your person and an attack on
your role/ideas
– Unpleasant stage for most therapists
Step 3: Norming
■ Structure stage
– Agreement on procedures
– “We” feeling among group members
– Cohesion
■ Concerns among group members
– Not being liked
– Not being close enough with others
■ Therapist role
– Foster group cohesion so group can be optimally effective
Step 4: Performing
■ Work stage
– High task orientation
– Emphasize performance and cooperation
– Full expression of positive and negative emotions
– Most productive therapy at this stage
■ Therapist role
– Look out for subgrouping, conflict, and self-disclosure
Stage 5: Adjourning
■ Dissolution/Termination stage
– Completion of tasks; increased independence and emotionality
– Termination
■ Therapist role
– Assist in termination process
– Guide client conclusions
what are the advantages of group therapy?
■ Group dynamics can replicate dynamics outside the group and thus
help group members work out those issues
■ Accountability
■ Skill building
■ Members receive feedback/support/challenge that encourage or
facilitate change
■ Groups offer diversity of perspectives
■ Cost-effective
what are the disadvantages of group therapy?
■ Not everyone can be in a group
■ Confidentiality more difficult to maintain
■ Can be harder to build trust and safety
■ Group leaders are not always properly trained
■ Group leaders have less control than in individual therapy
■ Concerns regarding what a disruptive person could do
Therapeutic Considerations
■ Subgrouping
– Inevitable in all groups; often disruptive in therapy groups if kept
secret
■ Conflict
– Cannot and should not be eliminated from group
■ Self-disclosure
– Essential for therapeutic benefit; member must reveal personal
information for group therapy to be useful
Yalom’s Therapeutic Factors
■ Hope
■ Universality
■ Imparting information
■ Altruism
■ Corrective emotional experiences
■ Development of Social Skills
■ Imitative Behavior
■ Interpersonal Learning
■ Group Cohesiveness
■ Catharsis
■ Existential Factors
