Human beings live in groups. Family is the first and most powerful group association humans are born into. All members of one’s family are interwoven and as each person’s behavior affects others within it, a person begins to see himself or herself as directly influenced by the relationship he or she may have with the other family members. Human beings relate to others through perception and develop understanding of others subjectively. This is in different manner than how a person sees himself or herself. Families, although genetically connected are not all alike, and much like a group, run through a structure and hierarchy. Like families, “a therapeutic group is not about conforming, being all alike . . . it is however, about symmetry, everyone being equally important” (Foulkes, 1948, Chazan, 2001, p.10). The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of group therapy and processes.Group Therapy With Older Adults Essay
History of Group Therapy
Group processes in relation to group therapy refers to how members and leaders react to each other, as well as reactions to
An alternative to individual therapy, group therapy presents a viable option for people to develop personal understanding or enhance relationships and interactions with others. Depending of the focus of the group it can afford the members a chance to identify and change behaviors, learn new skills, and more effective way to deal with stress and personal struggle. A group is made up of not only the members but also the “therapist whose principle function is to create a positive and safe group culture in which therapeutic experiences can take place” (MacKenzie, 2002, p.891).Groups also offer a supportive learning environment that can teach members more effective ways to interact with others. There are as many different types of group therapy as there are issues that need to be addressed, as group make up can vary by participant or by reason.Group Therapy With Older Adults Essay
“Group psychotherapy is the treatment of psychological, behavioral, emotional and interpersonal problems in a group context” (IEBS, 2008, p.6426). Irvin Yalom (2005) refers to this process as interpersonal learning, and in Yalom’s view this is the cornerstone of group therapy simply because a person can see him or herself and how he or she is perceived by others through the group. This method naturally provides the client an opportunity to gain and build new skills, try them out within the safety of the group and in turn, internalize those skills to be used successfully in interactions with other relationships outside of the group.
Group therapy began as a didactic technique and has been developed to include contemporary psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral psychodrama, and system theories. Although these techniques are different, the process goal is the same; to impact a sense of hope to the client, encourage social learning, and promote self disclosure, self expression and personal insight.Group Therapy With Older Adults Essay
Defining Group
Groups become an entity when group members connect. The general system theory and understanding of groups is that as an entity, they are in totality the product of interactions between the members. The dynamics within a group can vary based on the individual group members and the focus of the group. As part of the system, members fulfill a function through participation. This takes place in the form of observing others, developing a desire to understand conflict that may arise and solve it, as well as the reciprocity of giving to the group and receiving from it. As a group member differentiates him self or herself while taking care of personal needs while integrating and doing things with other members of the group.Group Therapy With Older Adults Essay
Groups can encompass any number of daily activities whether personal or business, and can even include inpatient treatment and substance abuse recovery. There are different therapeutic principles that psychotherapeutic groups can use: transactional analysis, reality therapy, Alderian, person centered, existential, Gestalt and psychodrama to name a few. Groups can also be used to address issues across the lifespan, with distinction by stages of development: Child, adolescent, adult, and older adult to address issues that one encounters through life. Regardless of the focus or purpose an integration of theories and philosophies can be utilized to increase the therapeutic effectiveness of the group.
Socio-metric choice is a process that happens within the group (Hogg, 1992) and develops through the patterns of member behavior. Member’s choices of preferences between individuals can influence how people within the group choose to conform to the group’s structure (in-group) or break into subgroups
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