A therapist's guide to issues of intimacy and hostility viewed as group-level phenomena

Conflict Management in Group Psychotherapy

This article combines theoretical material and the author's experience in a discussion of conflict and its management in group psychotherapy. The author emphasizes that conflict is an inevitable and important factor in group development. Particular emphasis is placed on the therapist's ability to manage group conflict and how this ability is communicated to the group members. Techniques that aid in the highlighting and resolution of conflict situations are discussed, accompanied by illustrations of group situations arising from the author's practice. Cited in the article is some of the literature discussing the sources and importance of conflicts in groups, conflict related to group development theory, transference and the role of the group leader in managing conflict, the group contract, and resistance.

Group Development and Team Effectiveness

The authors reconceptualize the theory of group development for application to task groups and propose two key sequential phases: membership and competence. A method for measuring developmental progress in task teams based on congruence in group cognitive representations of the team as it is, the ideal team, and the team as it ought to be is proposed. A system for computing group states based on structural connections among member cognitive representations is offered. Measures of group state representations in 49 project teams were collected at beginning, midpoint, and end of each team and related to team effectiveness. Hypotheses based on group development theory predicting effects of convergence and congruence in group state representations on team effectiveness are supported. Further insights into the developmental process of group states are discussed. The authors conclude by arguing for the return of group development theory as an explanation for disparate findings in team research.

Overview of the Evidence Base for Family Interventions in Child Psychiatry

This article provides updated information about evidence-based family interventions for child and adolescent mental health issues. The article reviews randomized controlled trials for family-based interventions carried out over the last 15 years. The studies were selected from an evidence-based clearinghouse search for family therapy, and specific child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. It is hoped this review guides clinical treatment and encourages clinicians to consider family involvement in treatment. This is specifically necessary when there is a limited response to psychopharmacologic and individual or group psychotherapy treatment.

Hamlet at the millennium: assisting today's teens through the group psychotherapy process

This article reviews Shakespeare's Hamlet and its universal appeal 400 years after it was written. Focusing on the soliloquy "to be or not to be," the author notes that the play examines the fundamental philosophical question of whether to continue with life, or not. The article then discusses difficulties experienced by adolescents at admission to an inpatient psychiatric program by referring to them as modern day Hamlets. An examination of the theme of ambivalence as it complicates the assessment and treatment process is undertaken. A checklist of therapist responses to ambivalence in the conducting of inpatient group psychotherapy in an adolescent psychiatric hospital unit is offered.

Multidimensional family therapy for adolescent drug abuse: results of a randomized clinical trial

Random assignment was made of 182 clinically referred marijuana- and alcohol-abusing adolescents to one of three treatments: multidimensional family therapy (MDFT), adolescent group therapy (AGT), and multifamily educational intervention (MEI). Each treatment represented a different theory base and treatment format. All treatments were based on a manual and were delivered on a once-a-week outpatient basis. The therapists were experienced community clinicians trained to model-specific competence prior to the study and then supervised throughout the clinical trial. A theory-based multimodal assessment strategy measured symptom changes and prosocial functioning at intake, termination, and 6 and 12 months following termination. Results indicate improvement among youths in all three treatments, with MDFT showing superior improvement overall. MDFT participants also demonstrated change at the 1-year follow-up period in the important prosocial factors of school/academic performance and family functioning as measured by behavioral ratings. Results support the efficacy of MDFT, a relatively short-term, multicomponent, multitarget, family-based intervention in significantly reducing adolescent drug abuse and facilitating adaptive and protective developmental processes.

Therapist anger in group psychotherapy

Countertransference anger serves as a defense against the experience of shame, which occurs when therapists fail to live up to jointly created idealized expectations. The author describes ways of changing these expectations in order to reduce the transference-countertransference resonance, which is based on narcissistic needs. The author distinguishes countertransference anger (which should not be disclosed to group members) from realistic therapist anger, which has therapeutic value. Realistic anger can be used as a therapeutic tool to dispel distortions, provide an interpersonal connection, help members trust the reality of the situation, and provide a balance of good and bad between the members and therapists.

A sociometric test to identify emergent leader and member roles: phase I

This is the first phase in the design of a sociometric test for the empirical identification of four leadership roles: Task, Emotional, Scapegoat, and Defiant Leaders and one Nonleader member role. Eighteen different questions have been used in studying 273 cases in 31 closed psychotherapy groups. (1) A factor analysis identified two factors that describe an involvement/commitment dimension (Factor 1) and a positive/negative change dimension (Factor 2). (2) A discriminant function analysis showed that the five roles were differentiated at a statistically significant level. (3) Role assignments, based on weights, produced by this test were compared to clinically identified leaders with an overall hit rate of 97%, indicating a low error factor when the formulas were applied to this data base. Steps for the next phases in the construction of this test are outlined.