A study of curative factors in group psychotherapy with adolescents

The "Voice" and Perspectives of Adolescents Participating in a Short-Term Psychotherapy Group

Group psychotherapy is an ideal choice for adolescents who engage in mental health treatment. It is considered a "natural" fit, as adolescents are focused on their peer group. This research study presents the effectiveness of an adolescent psychotherapy group with an interpersonal approach, using their "voices" and perspectives. A qualitative descriptive design was selected. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with eight adolescents who attended a process-oriented psychotherapy group for a period of three months. The data were analyzed using manifest content analysis. All eight participants described their experiences and the meaning of their experiences. A number of therapeutic factors emerged from the data consistent with Yalom's theoretical framework. The participants also described a number of benefits and identified several recommendations for group therapists.

Curative Factors in Adolescent Day Programs: Participant, Therapist, and Parent Perspectives

Adolescent day programs (ADPs) have treatment outcomes as good as, or better than, regular outpatient treatment for adolescents who present with emotional, behavioral, social, and psychiatric disorders. However, they may be more costly, and the mechanisms of change within them are unknown. Identification of the most important curative factors could enable the streamlining of these programs. This descriptive study examined the perceptions of curative factors in ADP treatment as rated by 38 participants, 51 of their parents, and 14 clinicians. Findings were variable across informant groups. Adolescent respondents reported Universality, Acceptance, Learning from Interpersonal Action, Decision Making, Altruism, Guidance, and Instillation of Hope to be equally the most helpful curative factors in the program. Clinicians ranked Acceptance to be the most important factor, followed by Decision Making, Self-Understanding, Vicarious Learning, and Universality. Parents ranked Acceptance, Universality, Guidance, and Instillation of Hope as being most helpful. The findings provide directions for the enhancement of ADPs.

Consistency of Matter

This article presents a comparative analysis of individual and group psychotherapy process research. Commonalities between these to treatment formats are identified across the therapeutic dimensions of relationship, interventions, and factors. The distinctive characteristics of group treatment are explored, and conceptual implications are tendered for the practice and study, of group counseling and psychotherapy.

“I’m Not the Only One!” Group Therapy with Older Children and Adolescents Who Have Learning Disabilities

Children and adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) are vulnerable to psychosocial difficulties. Both the detrimental impact of LD on social adjustment and the significance of peer relations for developmental needs make group therapy a natural intervention. Despite modifications that are required due to their cognitive deficits, many students with LD fit the criteria and can benefit from group psychotherapy. In this paper, a model of group therapy for older children and adolescents with LD is presented. The approach is informed by a combination of self psychology, mutual aid, and interpersonal group therapy. The leaders use special techniques to accommodate the LD and to foster the group process. Examples are presented to illustrate the approach.

Using therapeutic board games to promote child mental health

This article focuses on group work with children using a board game format. Combining the principles of group work and board games helps to engage and motivate children and adolescents to address and work through their difficulties. Lifegames are a series of six therapeutic board games developed for group work with children and adolescents who encounter adversity in their life as a consequence of bereavement, family break up, poor relationships, bullying, chronic illness or obesity. The games facilitate the understanding and disclosure of the complex feelings experienced by children and young people when they are confronted with traumatic life events. The games encourage and assist the participants to obtain and maintain behavioural change. Lifegames are a means to assist professionals in their group work with children and adolescents.

Evaluation of Peer-Led Support Groups for Graduate Nursing Students

The purpose of this article is to explore the educational and experiential benefits for graduate nursing students as both leaders and members of a peer-led support group. The published literature on the stress associated with nursing education and methods used to decrease nursing students' anxiety will be reviewed, and a peer-led support group model will be described. An evaluation of the outcomes for participants as they relate to the goals of decreasing the stress inherent in nursing education and assisting with nursing role transition will be examined. In addition, the benefits of using peer group leaders as part of their group therapy training will be discussed.

A peer approach to high risk youth

Denver's Gang Rescue and Support Project (GRASP) is a peer run intervention for youth involved in gangs and those feeling pressure to affiliate with them. GRASP utilizes small group meetings and mentoring to encourage young people to pursue positive life-style changes.

In their own words: therapeutic factors for adolescents who have learning disabilities

A qualitative study explored the therapeutic elements in psychodynamic group therapy for adolescents with learning disabilities and related psychosocial problems. Four boys and four girls, diagnosed with learning disabilities, were interviewed on completion of group therapy, to obtain their subjective experiences. Therapeutic factors were identified, grouped, and found to be operative through an interpersonal process, termed mutual recognition. Mutual recognition is defined as the adolescents realizing that they saw themselves in the others and that the others saw themselves in the participants. The subcategories were trust, connection, and group issues/process. The subcategories were interactive: they contributed to, and were influenced by, mutual recognition.

Group psychotherapy for depressed adolescents: a critical review

The usefulness and efficacy of group psychotherapy with a variety of adolescent problems has been well documented. Far less has been reported with respect to group treatment approaches for youthful depressives, however. Currently available treatments lack specificity, making replication difficult. Additionally, they often focus on a narrow range of deficit areas rather than addressing the multifaceted range of dysfunction characteristic of depression in adolescents. This paper critically reviews the available literature on group treatments with depressed adolescents, explores some of the shortcomings inherent in these reports, and suggests alternatives for future group protocols. It is proposed that subsequent interventions be manualized and that they target affective, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of adolescent depression. Such an approach would be more amenable to scientific investigation, replication, and comparison with alternative approaches.

A comparison of curative factors in different types of group psychotherapy

The authors have constructed a Dutch version of Yalom's "Questionnaire for Curative Factors." This Dutch version has been administered to 134 participants of 22 psychotherapy groups in various psychiatric services in the Netherlands. Results concerning validity and reliability of the instrument are presented, as well as concerning the homogeneity of the hypothesized "factors." Differences between types of groups and categories of group members were tested by means of techniques of analysis of variance (ANOVA). Multiple regression analysis was applied in order to detect variables of differential qualities on one or more factors. Only the factor identification, neglected in literature on curative factors, was highly predictable.

Short-term group therapy with depressed adolescent outpatients

A selected review of the literature about short-term therapy and social skills as they may apply to depressed adolescents is presented. Two forms of group therapy are described. These are social skills and a traditional discussion group format. Some of the difficulties in establishing and evaluating a group therapy program are outlined.

The effects of group therapy on adolescents with cancer

The value of group therapy for adolescents with cancer has not been well documented. This quasi-experimental and descriptive study was completed to determine the effects of participation in a support group on measures of psychosocial functioning of adolescents with cancer and to describe the process and content of such a group. Seven control and seven experimental subjects were tested prior to beginning the group and again following its completion. Descriptive data were obtained from a process log of the sessions and from participant evaluations. Descriptive findings suggest that the group may have had therapeutic value for the participants by helping them cope with such stresses as over-protective parents and isolation from peers. Empirical findings showed no significant differences on any measures of psychosocial functioning. Results of the study implied that adolescents with cancer may benefit from having a specific time to discuss concerns. However, further study is needed with a larger sample and improved methodology in order to support this finding empirically.

Camping marathon group psychotherapy for adolescents

The effects of adolescent group psychotherapy were studied on 253 adolescent patients and 98 parents who participated in a camping marathon group psychotherapy (MGT) conducted every summer from 1972 to 1982 by the staff of the psychiatry division of Fukuoka University Hospital. Among the factors examined were the relations of the present therapy with age, individual therapy, types of disorders, the nature of conflicts of the patients, the attitudes of the patients and their parents toward the therapy and countertransference of the therapists. The objects and adjustment patterns of patients in the group therapy are considered to be dependent on these and other interrelated factors. Some of the patients adjusted to their psychological trauma resulting from their past human relations through re-experiencing identity crisis in the group as a transitional object. They did not maintain their enhanced self-esteem through the group experience, but apparently utilized the transitional object they identified with as a model in overcoming their crises when they returned to the real life situation and confronted their actual problems. The actual effect of the camping MGT, therefore, may be evaluated when the nature of the disorders and therapeutic goals of individual patients, revealed during the present therapy, are further dealt with in the family, individual and regular group therapy following the camping MGT.

Brief, problem-focused group psychotherapy with adolescents

Practical issues and treatment considerations in brief, problem-focused group therapy with adolescents are discussed, including selectivity factors, group composition, and leadership style. The need for therapists using this approach to engage actively in emotional exchange and self-disclosure is emphasized, and the varieties of interventions encompassed in this approach are illustrated by case vignettes.