Group therapy has evolved since the early 1900s to become a widely used therapeutic approach. It involves 6-12 clients meeting regularly with a trained leader to address interpersonal issues, learn social skills, and process emotions. Benefits include universality, social support, and behavioral rehearsal in a cost-effective format. Effective group therapy balances structure with participant autonomy and focuses on personal growth through feedback and insight.

2. By Sidra Akhtar

3.  History of group therapy
 What is group therapy?
 Application of Group therapy
 Types of Groups
 Why do we conduct group therapy?
 Practices of Group Therapy
 Who is involved in group therapy?
 How is group therapy conducted?

4.  1907 – Dr. Joseph Pratt created group treatment for
tuberculosis
 1934 – Burrow, Schilder & Pratt founded group analysis and
created the term, “Group Therapy”
 1940 – Alfred Adler (“Collective Counseling”) and a few
others
 1942 – Samuel Slavson founded the American Group
Psychotherapy Association ( AGPA)
 1991 – Division 49 (Group Psychology) formed and approved
 Early efforts similar to today’s group guidance and psycho-
educational groups

5.  After the Second World War psychotherapists
were faced by significant numbers of returning
veteran with war-related neuroses.
 Group treatment was first used simply as a way of
providing treatment to as many people as possible,
 Several psychotherapists reported that the results
were superior to those of individual therapy
progress was made more quickly with group
therapy, and the outcomes were less superficial
(Foulkes & Anthony, 1965).

6.  Group therapy has been described as a product of
modem marketing techniques, a method of making
psychotherapy available to the small consumer at
a price he or she can afford (Ehrenwald, 1976).

7. Group Therapy focuses on interpersonal learning:
• It helps individuals get along in a more honest
and authentic way with other people.
• It provides a support network for specific
problems and challenges.

8.  Engage in Individual Therapy – Combined Individual
Therapy and Group Therapy
 Criminals
 Couple Therapy
 Family Therapy
 Drug Addicts
 Crises such as Earth Quick, Disaster
 Some disorders such PTSD

9.  Organizational Groups
 Groups for Children (street children's & Child Abuse)
 Adolescents
 Homogenous Groups of clients with certain medical
illnesses
 Homogenous or Heterogeneous groups of clients with
psychological disorders – depression, anxiety, grief
reactions, Psychological trauma (homogenous groups
preferred),

10.  Psychotherapy Groups: These groups focus on
personality reconstruction
 Support Groups: These deal with special
populations and deal with specific issues and offer
support, comfort, and connectedness to others
 Self-help Groups: These have no formal or trained
group leader. (e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous or
Gamblers Anonymous)

11.  Task Groups: A group that comes together to
perform a task that has a concrete goal
 Guidance/Psycho-educational Group: that help
group members learn information about a particular
topic or issue and might also help group members
cope with that same issue
 Counseling/Interpersonal Problem-Solving
Groups: These groups help participants resolve
problems of living through interpersonal support and
problem solving

12.  Therapeutic groups vs. group therapy
• Group therapy has a sound theoretical base,
and leaders generally have advanced degrees in
psychology, social work, nursing, or medicine
• Therapeutic groups are based to a lesser extent
on theory. Focus is on group relations, interactions
between group members, and the consideration of
a selected issue
• Leaders of both types of groups must be
knowledgeable about group process (the way in
which group members interact with each other) as
well as group content (the topic or issue being
discussed in the group)

14.  Instilling hope,
 Universality
 Imparting information,
 Altruism
 Corrective recapitulation of problems from the
person's original family
 Developing social skills
 Imitating others
 Emotional processing
 Cognitive reflection, inter personal learning
 Group cohesiveness.

15. Groups usually consist of 6-12 members
• If too small – lack of universality and
cohesiveness
• If too large – mechanical feedback, lack of
sensitivity
Duration
• May be on-going or time-limited
• Each session usually lasts longer than sessions in
individual therapy – 2 hours is common

16.  Group Analytic Psychotherapy (as distinct from all
aspects of Group Therapy) provides the development
of an awareness of both Conscious and Unconscious
factors.
 Consists of having regular meetings of a particular
group of patients under the guidance of the same
psychotherapist.
 At first patients talk to each other about their specific
symptoms,
 Then they move on to discussions of their personal
difficulties and emotional conflicts.

17.  In the process, group members develop and express
emotional feelings about the other participants,
 They learn to understand and accept the feelings
expressed by the others.
 The principle technique is interpretation in which
patients help others relate their symptoms to the
emotions they seem to be experiencing and
expressing (Walker, 1957).

18. Parent training, assertiveness training,
treatment of obesity, and social skills
training, have been addressed via group
therapy both for convenience and for
theoretical reasons,
Especially the social learning theory
concepts of modeling and observational
learning.

19. Behavior therapists have been divided on
how to view behavioral group therapy.
• Some views it as a matter of delivering the same
intervention to multiple participants for
convenience.
• Others view it as behavior therapy that operates
through the group process (Franks & Wilson,
1973).

20. Behavioral Group Therapy Often Involves
Homogenous groups of clients, such as
people with PTSD or panic disorder , who
are treated together for convenience or as
part of a research protocol.

21.  Including existential, Gestalt, and client-
centered group therapies,
 Is aimed at helping clients make positive
behavioral and attitudinal changes.
 The emphasis is on
• Free will.
• Participant’s ability to make growth-producing choices
• Self-awareness.
• Self-actualization is viewed as the essential process.

22. The therapist must trust the abilities of the
group members to help one another grow
in positive directions.
Group members determine the direction of
the group for themselves.
This format is known as unstructured
group therapy.

23. Having a limited number of participants
Having designated Ieaders or therapists
Having the aim of providing a therapeutic
experience, with the expectation of
beneficial emotional, cognitive, and
behavioral change (Shaffer & Galinsky,
1974).

24. Sense of Belonging:
Developing a sense of belonging
Economy:
group therapy is less expensive
Group support:
there is comfort in knowing that others
have similar problems
Feedback:
group members learn from each other
Behavioral rehearsal:
group members can role-play the activities
of the key persons in a member’s life

25.  Not everyone can be in a group (e.g; issues, interpersonal
skills)
 Confidentiality more difficult to maintain
 Harder to build trust and safety
 Group leaders are not always properly trained
 Not enough time to deal with each person thoroughly
 Group leaders have less control than in individual therapy
 There are concerns with conformity and peer pressure
 Scape-goating may occur
 A disruptive person can cause more harm
 Casualties are more likely to occur