Thinking about Group Therapy?

History: Groups are a normal part of life, existed since forever, and can be seen everywhere including with animals and nature.  Before the 1900s group were divided by socioeconomic class, race, and gender, which tends to continuously occur.

However, dividing groups where sometimes medically necessary such as with tuberculosis (1905) or to help a group of people like Alcohol Anonymous (founded in the 1930s).

Group therapy was more developed around World War II, as a serious social intervention, when it wasn’t enough psychiatrists to accommodate the number of people affected with mental health issues from the war. Group therapy was so successful and cost-effective that it has since been applied to many other settings.

Advantages: Cost-effective, provide commonality to reduce feeling isolated and distress, can provide more objective views about behaviors and their effect on others, plus change is more likely to follow with stated behaviors. Group therapy also functions to teach social norms, support, and empowerment for completion of tasks, improve social interactions, education on illness or medication, and development of rules, regulations, and policies. It’s a valuable asset in facilities or in mental health treatment:

Disadvantages: People generally know, NOT everyone can be in a group. Confidentiality/safety/trust is harder to maintain in group therapy and sometimes group leaders are inexperienced. Also with groups, there’s not enough time or great variations of those who need help and who actually gets it. Members may have issues with conformity and peer pressure and a disruptive person can cause more harm especially if group leaders have less control. Read about The Problems of Group Therapy.

Considerations for Forming a Group

Members must have the capacity to engage in the primary functions or activities enough to be able to efficiently communicate with each other. People who have the most difficult relationships are those who benefit the most. Exclusion factors include an acute situational crisis, a client with antisocial personality disorder (usually will not engage), sexual assault (groups may be triggering), and taking precautions with people who have an eating disorder (may possibly encourage new methods to not consumer food) so some group therapies should be conducted by trained, experienced staff.

Types of Groups

• Psychotherapy Groups: focus on personality reconstruction or remediation of severe psychological problems.
• Task Group: complete a specific task or reach a specific outcome i.e. community organizations, committees, planning groups, task force.
• Teaching (Guidance/psychoeducational) Groups: educate about a particular topic or issue and can also help cope with that same issue i.e. prepare students to enter high school, the risk of drugs, and alcohol, bullying, or peer pressure.
• Self-Help: no formal or trained group leader but offers resourceful peers for the client with specific issues i.e. Alcoholics/Gamblers/Narcotics Anonymous.
• Supportive/Therapeutic: development of adaptive and healthy coping, connectedness, and promotion of mental health i.e. grief, divorce, veterans, refugees.

Selecting Members

• Location and Availability: my biggest factor for a group were people’s work schedules and having a means of transportation. The group leader may also have to consider incentives or providing refreshments.
• Assess Readiness: clients should have the minimum level of interpersonal skills, motivation for treatment basic ability to relate to and be influenced by others

Pre-screening Questions

• What are your expectations for the group as you understand it?
• What crossed your mind when you were referred to the group program vs. what is on your mind now?
• Are they any concerns that you may have in group therapy?

Most people are concerned about privacy, embarrassment, and humiliation, which are usually addressed in the group rules while encouraging safety and respect. Consider having the group members sign a consent.