Group psychotherapy
There may be two types of groups:
- Closed, one-moment (the group is formed, treatment is provided, after finishing it is dismissed and a new group will be formed)
- Opened, continuously working (joining the group is continuous, new patients come, the “old” ones finish their treatment process in the group and are discharged, new patients enter the group
«Small groups» is a generally accepted name when there are up to 8 – 12 persons in groups, and large groups – up to 25. It is better for a psychotherapist to start working like with a class, i.e. to carry out the same work as if with one patient, ti.e. influencing on each patient individually and on the group as a whole, admitting discussions, mutual help in solving some problems. In future – to favour discussions on some troubles, life problems, in finding the essence of everyday life, problems of disorders in the «nervous» system, what the psychical stability is, etc. Further on, to include the factor of group dynamics, where mechanisms of group functioning are included.
The members of the group must be ready and inwardly agree to be influenced by the entire group, as well as by individual members and the therapist, so as to be rearranged and changed, to acquire new inner experience and forms of response, behaviour. To acquire and adsorb experience received in the group with transferring it to the everyday life. To expand the repertoire of his own probable behaviour, to feel his own efficiency and variance in behaviour and reactions.
The therapist in the groups creates a tendency of recovery mechanism origination.
- Catharsis — response of the available emotional tension, formation of adequate spontaneity.
- Self-knowledge, self-investigation through opening of your internal world in the group and group response to demonstration of your “self” in order to change it in the desired direction.
- Consolidation of new forms of behaviour, responses to these or those situations in the group and transferring them into the real life, seeking for and holding of new, most adequate decisions, problems, relations and reactions, adequate style of behavior.
In case of group psychotherapy the therapist takes into account the individual features of members of the group. He forms the ability to undertake the role of the leader for each meber of the group and at the same time to let others play this role. The group psychotherapy can serve as one of solutions of psychotherapy tasks that stand at many stages of the psychotherapy process.
