Group Therapy Program
Group therapy is the best type of modern psychotherapy, and is in turn based on bringing together a group of patients called a therapeutic group, led by one or more experienced therapists, where group approaches and dynamics are used for change and development, and a vision and study of interpersonal relationships within the group to explore The patient is inside a microcosm of the surrounding community.
It also gives the patient a sense of security and gives an atmosphere of participation and helps out of self-sufficiency through contact with others
Group Therapy
It is a type of therapy in which a group of people with a psychological problem or suffering, led by an experienced therapist in order to bring about a qualitative change in their personalities, the therapist uses the interaction between the members of the group to bring about that change; Group therapy is distinguished by its collective strengths over other types of therapy:
1. The ability to get quick and direct feedback from colleagues for every little change that occurs or real participation, and these reactions are characterized as normal (unprocessed) people and this gives them a certain kind of credibility.
2. The patient and the therapist together can observe the patient’s psychological and behavioral response to different types of people, which leads to a different transformation (if the type of relationship with the therapist is that of the parents, for example, in the group, the patient gets a sibling relationship, fellowship…etc, and also These relationships help him in solving problems in his personality that appear only in these relationships: jealousy, competition, reliability, etc.
What are the types of group therapy?
Therefore, there are several types of group therapy that differ in terms of organization, frequency, duration and the role of the therapist. Here are some examples:
Analytically oriented group
Analytical group therapy
Supportive Group Therapy
Supportive group therapy
Transactional Group
Interactive Group Therapy
Behavioral Group
Behavioral group therapy
Why group therapy without other treatments?
Group therapy is characterized by time and effort, and to treat a number of individuals suffering from the same problem at the same time, and group therapy is characterized by its ability to obtain quick and direct feedback from colleagues for every change that occurs or real participation.
Group therapy is an effective treatment for those who suffer from shyness or who suffer from social introspection, group therapy is also characterized by the opportunity to build new relationships with and connect with new individuals, group therapy is an opportunity to release the energy of the person who feels that he is the result of the problem, and these quick responses are characterized by being people Ordinary, which gives a kind of credibility.
Effective therapeutic agents in group therapy
1. Catharsis – Bringing pent-up traumatic experiences back into awareness and life with the group.
2. Comfort – the expression of one’s feelings and thoughts in an atmosphere of general acceptance and sympathy brings great comfort to the person.
3. Acceptance - acceptance from others despite disagreement, no confiscation of opinions, no preaching, no advice.
4. Imitation – the conscious imitation of behavior acceptable to another person and vice versa
5. Also autism - that one of the group members (not consciously) unites with another member and takes traits from his personality that he loves so that they enter into his personality.
6. Existence - sharing in someone else's conscience. He understands and feels it.
7. Altruism - putting the needs of the other before the needs of the self and taking into account that there is value in giving to others.
8. Collusive dependence - is to place the needs of the other and neglect the needs of the self.
9. Solidarity - Not long after, the group feels a kind of solidarity or unity because of the interaction and a sense of common purpose.
10. Contagion - an individual's expression of a feeling that makes the other aware of the presence of this feeling in him as well and makes it easier for him to express it.
11. Inspiration - to be a member or the change that takes place a source of inspiration and optimism for another member gives hope that they can change too.
12. Interaction - the free exchange of thoughts and feelings helps insight and change.
13. Subtractive relationships: presenting feelings and internal conflicts to other individuals to help resolve them.
14. Public - the patient's awareness that he is not alone in what he is in, as many people have problems.
15. Correction - correcting concepts that may be wrong or verifying the correctness of other concepts by comparing them to others. (Correcting False Prophecies)
16. Interpretation - when the therapist in the group context interprets a certain behavior or symbol, which gives the patient a framework that helps him understand himself and his behavior.
17. Also insight - insight into psychological conflicts and symptoms of negative behaviors and a real desire for change.
group size
The optimal number may be 5 individuals, and in theory the number of group members can reach up to 15, but most therapists prefer the number from 8 to 10 individuals.
The frequency of the group
Once a week - regularity is more important than the duration of the group.
Group Duration
From one to two hours (but the time must be fixed, the time can be exceeded by five minutes at most if the time for the end of the group comes during the participation of a person)
Conditions for exclusion from the group therapy group
1. Also anti-social behaviour.
2. Severe depression (the depressed patient benefits from group therapy after the acute symptoms subside and after forming a trusting relationship with the therapist through individual therapy.
3. Also, patients with active mania.
4. Any type of active psychosis.
5. Addicts who suffer from withdrawal symptoms.
6. Those who engage in verbal or physical violence.
What are the methods of group therapy?
1) Psychodrama: This method is also Jacob Moreno, and it is also a theatrical portrayal of psychological problems in the form of free expression in a group situation that provides the opportunity for spontaneous emotional catharsis and self-insight by patients. br>
2) Theatrical social representation (role-play/sociodrama): Therefore, it is considered a twin of theatrical psychological representation and deals with social and societal problems.
Therefore, one of the most famous methods of theatrical psychological representation is inverting roles, where one patient plays the role of the teacher and another patient plays the role of a student, and after their spontaneous performance escalates and they merge, the therapist asks them to turn the roles so that the teacher plays the role of the student and the student the role of the teacher.
3) Lectures and group discussions: One of the pioneers of this method is Maxwell Jones, where members of the therapeutic group are usually homogeneous in terms of the type of disorders, and the topic of lectures includes mental health, mental illness, causes of mental disorders, and psychological adjustment problems, and the lecturer is Is the therapist or some specialists, and this method aims to change the direction in patients, and is also widely used in prevention, especially in schools and institutions.
4) Family therapy: A method B of group psychotherapy that deals with family members as a group and not as a will, and it is a treatment that works to uncover problems and disturbances resulting from the interaction between family members as a social system.
Therefore, trying to overcome these problems by helping family members as a group to change the patterns of pathological interaction within the family, and there are many models of it, and the reasons for its use are the following:
A - There is also a disturbance in family relations, and the exchange of accusations and omissions.
B- Disturbance of the marital relationship.
C - family turmoil and breakdown.