Group Therapy: Uses and Benefits Over Individual Therapy

The classic form of psychotherapy is a one-on-one contact with the client and the therapist. Group therapy, however, is a form of treatment that involves the simultaneous treatment of two or more clients and may require one or more therapists. Furthermore, group therapy encompasses many of the techniques that are utilized in individual psychotherapy, but on a larger scale.

Group therapy can be used as an alternative, or in conjunction with, individual psychotherapy. In a therapeutic group setting, people often feel a sense of connection with other members of the group, a feeling of mutual support and assistance, and experience a decreased sense of loneliness as they work together to form solutions as one united whole.

There are a variety of group therapies and each reflects a certain dimension of which it is categorized. The primary dimension is the type of people that form a particular group for a therapeutic setting. For instance, in couples therapy and family therapy, the various members have a previous relationship, though in most therapeutic group settings the members are initially strangers. Moreover, different groups share different characteristics in order to reach a common goal for the entire body. Certain groups may be formed to treat clients with similar psychological disturbances, treat pregnant women, or to comfort clients who have similar therapeutic goals.

Therapeutic groups also vary in the methodology of treatment techniques, the frequency of meetings, and whether or not the therapist will have a role in the group. There are some groups that involve the therapist in acting out a passive role as well as others that recognize the therapist as the group leader. More importantly, the group may focus on either interrelationships and the dynamics of communication or on the individual person. Groups are organized in order to provide assistance in solving problems and, more importantly, provide techniques to prevent future troubles.

Regardless of the wide range of diversity in groups, successful groups tend to share similar features and techniques that help influence positive changes in clients:

Involvement In a Social Setting
Groups offer members the ability to become involved with other people in realistic social settings. This experience allows each member to interact with other members and, thus, recognize how his or her behavior may be affecting or influencing others. One fundamental notion of group therapy is that problems are caused by interpersonal interactions with other people. Therefore, by allowing the group member to recognize their behavior, problems in the behavior can be pinpointed and resolved.

Developing of New Skills
One of the most powerful mechanisms that group therapy can offer is the ability for members to gain social skills, communication skills, and insight. This is due to the fact that group therapy provides an environment for emulative learning and practice of these essential interpersonal skills.

More Accurate Feedback
In individual psychotherapy, the therapist must rely on the information provided by the client’s experiences of social relationships or must base such relationships on client-therapist interaction. However, in group therapy the therapist can view the interactions of members in a real-world social setting. Therefore, allowing response patterns to be empirically analyzed and assessed thus providing more accurate feedback to the client.

Lowered Sense of Isolation and Fear
Many clients enter therapy due to the belief that there problems are exclusively their own and that no one could ever experience similar thoughts or fears. This anxiety of having other people find out how mentally disturbed they feel, may be as disturbing as there own actual disorders. The realization that there are other people who have very similar problems helps clients feel more at ease in regards to openly communicating about their problems.

Providing of Social and Emotional Support
Groups can provide a member with strong feelings of belongings, trust, and protection. Furthermore, these feelings may not be common to them in their everyday lives and, thus, can be a powerful reinforcing factor to helping a client tackle ones problem and seek ways to rise above it. A group can provide a safe environment where one can share their innermost thoughts and ideas without the fear of being rejected or ridiculed for them.

Couples & Family Therapy
Other forms of group therapy are Couples Therapy and Family Therapy. The term couples therapy is more appropriate than the more commonly used marital therapy for the reason that it includes both marital relationships and intimate relationships with unmarried couples. Couple therapy is a treatment aimed at helping couples recognize and clarify their communications, functions in the relationship, unfulfilled necessities, and impractical unmet expectations. Family therapy is essentially group therapy that aims to achieve harmony by modifying relationships in a family network. Furthermore, in family therapy the problems of the “identified patients” are only symptoms, and the family itself is the client.

Additionally, there are no simple rules that determine whether individual therapy or group therapy should be employed. The decision is usually based on the client’s needs, therapist’s opinion, and availability of the treatment.