Group Processes and Stages of Formation
Group therapy is a suitable treatment approach for different health and social problems affecting people (Malhotra & Baker, 2020; Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). The treatment method involves a therapist working with several individuals at the same time. The approach helps to instill hope, promote universality among patients, and support the development of socialization techniques (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). The approach is more cost-efficient compared to individual therapy. It is essential to have an understanding of the technique to successfully develop groups and use them in a therapeutic approach. In this paper, a discussion on the group’s processes, stage of formation, curative factors, and intragroup conflict is presented.
Group’s Processes and Stage of Formation
Group processes involve communications and interactions taking place between therapist and patient during treatment sessions (American Counseling Association, 2015). Through group processes, members work together with therapists to accomplish a common objective. In the video, Group therapy: A live demonstration, group members involve individuals experiencing social challenges (Psychotherapy.net, 2011a). Through the group processes, members discuss how to deal with specific issues such as relationship problems.
Stages of group formation involve forming, norming, storming, performance stage, and adjournment stage (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). The focus of the forming stage is orientation allowing members to explore the benefits of the group in dealing with specific issues. The storming stage is characterized by competition and conflict of group members. In the storming stage, members are required to work toward overcoming obstacles and respect individual differences. The Norming stage allows group members to solve conflict to promote unity. In the norming stage, members work together by focusing on team goals (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). In the performing stage, members have established cooperation and consensus, and the team is well-functioning. The main emphasis of the adjourning stage is concluding the final tasks and documenting the results.
Curative Factors
The main curative factors in the group included interpersonal learning, imparting of information, hope installation, and universality (Sink & Dice, 2019; Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). Through interpersonal learning, members of the group interacted with each other and the therapist to help in solving their issues. Imparting of information helped members share their experiences to help each other. For instance, group members offered information to help Gill deal with his marriage issue (Psychotherapy.net, 2011a). Hope installation was essential to members such as Gill in helping them to cope with their situation through the encouragement of individuals who have experienced the same social issues. Another curative factor that occurred in the group is a universality that involved team members having experienced similar social issues. Universality helped the members to learn to deal with the problems from each other. The curative factors helped to improve the process of the clients in learning to deal with the social issues affecting them (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). For instance, by imparting information, team members leaned different approaches to dealing with their problems.
Intragroup Conflict
The main intragroup conflict that occurred relates to arguments among the members resulting from their past experiences (Psychotherapy.net, 2011a). Arguments emerged when members were sharing about their past encounters relating to relationship issues. A suitable strategy for dealing with intragroup conflict is collaborating. The strategy allows members involved in the conflict to negotiate and agree to solve their differences. The other strategy is compromising that allows members to reach a concession by finding a middle ground (Zanbar, 2018).
Conclusion
Group therapy helps members to interact and work with a therapist to deal with issues such as social problems affecting them. The approach is preferred by clients and therapists because it is cost-efficient compared to individual therapy. The approach enables members to interact to address specific issues such as relationship problems. Stages of group formation involve the storming, forming, norming, performance stage, and adjournment stage. The main curative factors in the group included universality, interpersonal learning, imparting of information, and hope installation. The main intragroup conflict that affected members is an argument among the members. The conflict can be addressed through collaborating and compromising strategies.
