Group psychotherapy Totally Explained

Everything about Group Psychotherapy totally explained

Group psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy during which one or several therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. Although initially adopted to decrease costs and increase efficiency, practitioners soon recognized a number of positive therapeutic benefits that couldn't be gained from one-on-one therapies. Group therapy often consists of "talk" therapy, but may also include other therapeutic forms than such as expressive therapy, psychodrama, and even non-"talk" types of therapy, such as the TaKeTiNa Rhythm Process. Quoted with permission is the report of one client:
ť What I got out of group therapy: I was treated with respect, listened to, not judged. I was able to say in "public" what my symptoms were and how I felt. I met other people who had what I'd which relieved the feeling of isolation. I learned from the other members of the group what worked for them and copied the skills that worked for me. I got encouragement from the others when I wanted to die. I got compliments when I did well or said something they liked. I'd a chance to give and get feedback. I got to hear myself think out loud as I vocally processed what I was dealing with, thus getting it clearer in my own mind.

In group therapy the interactions between the members of the group and the therapists become the material with which the therapy is conducted, alongside past experiences and experiences outside the therapeutic group. These interactions are not necessarily as positive as reported as above, as the problems which the client experiences in daily life will also show up in his or her interactions in the group. Nevertheless, this allows such problems to be worked through in a therapeutic setting, generating experiences which may be translated to "real life." Group therapy isn't based on a single psychotherapeutic theory, but takes from many what works.
Some of the many benefits of group therapy:

Exploring issues in a social context more accurately reflects real life.
Group therapy provides an opportunity to observe and reflect on your own and others' social skills.
Group therapy provides an opportunity to benefit both through active participation and through observation.
Group therapy offers an opportunity to give and get immediate feedback about concerns, issues and problems affecting one's life.
Group therapy members benefit by working through personal issues in a supportive, confidential environment and by helping others to work through theirs.

The history of group psychotherapy

The founders of group psychotherapy in the USA were Joseph H. Pratt, Trigant Burrow and Paul Schilder. All three of them were active and working at the East Coast in first half of the 20th century. After world war II group psychotherapy was further developed by Jacob L. Moreno and Samuel Slavson, Hyman Spotnitz, Irvin Yalom,and Lou Ormont.
In the United Kingdom group psychotherapy initially developed independently, with pioneers S. H. Foulkes and Wilfred Bion using group therapy as an approach to treating combat fatigue in the Second World War. Foulkes and Bion were psychoanalysts and incorporated psychoanalysis into group therapy by recognising that transference can arise not only between group members and the therapist but also among group members. Furthermore the psychoanalytic concept of the unconscious was extended with a recognition of a group unconscious, in which the unconscious processes of group members could be acted out in the form of irrational processes in group sessions. Foulkes went on to found London's Institute of Group Analysis and Bion was influenial in the development of group therapy at the Tavistock Clinic. Bion has been criticised, for example by Yalom, for his technical approach which had an exclusive focus on analysis of whole-group processes to the exclusion of any exploration of indvidual group members' issues. Despite this, his recognition of group defences in the "Basic Assumption Group", has been highly influential. Bion's approach is comparable to Social Therapy, first developed in the United States in the late 1970's by Lois Holzman and Fred Newman, which is a group therapy in which practitioners relate to the group, not its individuals, as the fundamental unit of development. The task of the group is to "build the group" rather than focus on problem solving or "fixing" individuals.

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