Group Dynamics

  • eleven primary factors

    • Instillation of hope

    • Universality

    • Imparting Information

    • Altruism

    • The corrective recapitulation of the primary family group

    • Development of Socializing Techniques

    • Imitative Behavior

    • Interpersonal Learning

    • Group Cohesiveness

    • Catharsis

    • Existential Factors

Instillation of Hope

  • research by irvin yalom

  • instillation and maintaining hope is crucial in psychotherapy

  • group therapy helps instill hope

  • pre-group orientation

    • therapists reinforce positive expectations

      • correct negative preconceptions

      • explain group (benefits)

      • vital for therapist to believe in themself and efficacy of group

  • inspiration provided by peers in group therapy is key

    • groups improve medical outcomes, reduce health care costs, promote a sense of self-efficacy, and make group interventions more impactful than individual

Universality

  • most people enter therapy thinking they are helpless/hopeless

  • early stages of group - disconfirmation of clients feelings of uniqueness (alone in feelings of helplessness) is a source of relief

    • beginning of recovery, central gesture of healing context

  • secrecy can be isolating

  • sexual abuse groups grow from experiencing universality

  • when a group is diverse, the group leader needs to pay attention to universality

Imparting Information: Didactic Instruction

  • at the conclusion of successful interpersonal group therapy, students should have learned:

    • empathy

    • the meaning of symptoms

    • interpersonal and group dynamics

    • the process of psychotherapy

  • implicit learning

  • didactic instruction in group happens when talking about how therapy works

  • in psychoeducational groups it occurs more often

  • self-help groups (AA, NA) emphasize the imparting of information

    • partnership, collaboration

    • strong psychoeducational proponent

  • groups often teach mindfulness, meditation, stress-reduction approaches

  • most group therapists use anticipatory guidance

  • didactic used to:

    • transfer information

    • structure the group

    • explain the process of illness

    • alter sabotaging thought patterns

  • direct advice

    • occurs without exception in every group

    • early life of the group

    • sort of works as a wall, give advice instead of relating on a deeper level

Altruism

  • Altruism

    • humans need to feel that we are needed and useful

    • Victor Frankl - a sense of life meaning ensues but cannot be deliberately pursued

    • life meaning is a derivative of transcendence

Recapitulation of Primary Family Group

  • therapy group resembles family

    • authority/parental figures

    • peer/sibling figures

    • deep personal revelations

    • strong emotions

    • deep intimacy

    • hostile, competitive feelings

  • often led by male and female therapy team in effort to stimulate parental configuration

  • if therapist is seen as parent, they will draw reactions associated with parental authority (transference)

    • members may become helpless/dependent on leaders

    • others blindly defy the leaders

  • in some forms of psychotherapy, therapists work to treat the transference

Development of Socializing Techniques

  • based off social learning theory (Albert Bandura)

  • social learning operates in all therapy groups

  • for those without intimate relationships, group represents the first opportunity for accurate interpersonal feedback

  • group provides members an opportunity to learn how they contribute t their own isolation and loneliness

  • group provides opportunity for small talk, great socialization

Imitative Behavior

  • clients may begin to behave like therapists

  • evidence of it occurring in both individual and group therapy

  • learn from therapy peers as well

  • therapists influence by modeling communication patterns, self-disclosure, support, timely feedback

  • importance is difficult to gauge, likely underestimated

  • imitative behavior important in early stages of group

Interpersonal Learning

  • a broad and complex therapeutic factor

    • insight

      • gaining understanding of yourself, others, and interactions in the world

    • working through transference

      • transference - putting the feelings

    • corrective emotional experience

      • learns adaptive emotional skills from therapist and group peers

  • goes back to attachment in early life

    • early childhood attachments/styles affect us throughout lifestyle

    • can change

  • early secure attachment promotes resilience

  • built on ideas of Harry Stack Sullivan

    • seven stages of development

    • interpersonal relationships are paramount to personality development

    • states of euphoria and tension

    • dynamisms - similar to physical universe, ongoing transfers of energy between ourselves and people we interact with

    • self-system - helps integrate and provide meaning to experience

    • dynamisms of difficulty - psychological illness arises from interpersonal difficulties

Psychoeducational Groups

  • these offer an opportunity for group members to become informed about concerns or issues

  • they grow in self-understanding and in interpersonal relationships and become more effective in understanding and dolving problems that affect them

  • the success of these groups are the leader’s self-understanding, expertise, and skills

    • leader must be observer and understand the individual members

  • advantages

    • specific time boundaries

    • safe environment

      • uncomfortable/distressing feelings can be expressed openly

      • members may not want to express feelings with family out of fear

    • dissemination of information

      • value of proper education should not be underestimated

      • can be helpful to bring in other experts

    • promotion of connectedness

      • reduces feelings of isolation

      • can be very important for the psychological and physical well being of members

    • alleviation of blame/stigma

      • members often blame themselves

    • correction of misinformation

      • correction about procedures, medication, antecedents for conditions, etc.

    • learning strategies to better cope

    • discussion of difficult topic

  • groups have become increasingly popular

  • disadvantages

    • time constraints

    • determining the root cause

    • leaders lacking specific info

    • connections and cohesions may not develop in time

    • lack of screening for many group

  • two types of life psychoeducation groups

    • general life transition (ex. grief, retirement, aging parents, etc.)

    • for families and caretakers

KASST Model

“knowledge, art, science, skills, and techniques”

  • knowledge

    • primary knowledge factors: group dynamics, stages of group development, group therapeutic factors, culture and diversity, ethics, instruction and learning principles, body of info, group and learning theories

    • group dynamics is major forces that are impacting the group

    • group leaders need body of knowledge about groups, topics, and conditions of the group

      • usually a central focus, major task is knowing the right information and how to structure for the target audience

  • art

    • refers to the leader and their attributes that are essential for developing therapeutic relationships with group members

      • personal development

      • potential countertransference issues

      • basic core attributes

      • empathy

      • containing and managing personal emotions

Planning

  • group leader begins work before it starts

  • three phases to planning

    • info gathering

    • decisions about proposed group

    • preparing the plan

  • consider

    • target audience

    • age range and educational levels