International Journal of Group Psychotherapy最新文献

Group supervision presents unique opportunities for psychotherapy trainees to deepen their understanding of alliance ruptures and repair strategies. Trainees can explore challenging clinical moments and benefit from diverse perspectives and support. Group supervision also provides trainees with multiple opportunities to experience ruptures and repairs firsthand in their interactions with the supervisor and other group members. More research, particularly research using observer-based methods, would enhance our knowledge of rupture and repair processes in group supervision. In this study, seven sessions of Alliance-Focused Training, a group supervision that specifically aims to improve trainees' abilities to recognize and negotiate ruptures, were coded for alliance rupture markers and repair strategies using a modified version of the Rupture Resolution Rating System (3RS). Excerpts of the coded sessions were used to illustrate AFT process in the absence of ruptures, and in the context of ruptures between the supervisor and trainees, between trainees, and between a trainee and the group. There were no clear examples of ruptures between trainees. The ruptures between the supervisor and the trainees were deemed to have only a minor impact on the alliance, and these minor ruptures were at least partly addressed. Based on the coding, themes related to supervisor authority, complex and subtle ruptures, and the use of metacommunication within the AFT group were discussed. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that the 3RS can be useful for measuring process in group supervision, and that greater attention to group process and ruptures within the group holds promise for enhancing the effectiveness of AFT.

This introduction to the special section of this issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy provides context for the articles that follow. I discuss how recent events (both within and outside of the American Group Psychotherapy Association) highlight the need for an ongoing discussion about how group psychotherapists have a duty to provide ethical and affirming care of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals. I then provide a brief overview of some foundational terms and constructs related to gender identity and briefly review the existing literature before previewing the two articles in the special section that focus on ethical issues in group psychotherapy with TGNC individuals (Darby, this issue, 2020) and in providing affirming group psychotherapy (Chen et al., this issue, 2020). I conclude with recommendations for readers to gain additional knowledge, awareness, and skills related to gender identity and to working with TGNC clients in group psychotherapy.

Drawing from the existing literature on minority stress and stigma, this article highlights challenges - psychological, social, and interpersonal - confronting transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in relation to their gender identity and expression. TGNC individuals are at risk for poor health due to societal stigma and stressors they face as a gender minority group. Further, TGNC individuals may experience stigma in different shapes and forms; specifically, stigma may occur as enacted, felt, internalized, and anticipated stigma. In maintaining an identity that is socially devalued but often invisible to others, TGNC individuals confront additional challenges in negotiating the risks and benefits of disclosing their stigmatized identity. Affirmative group therapy is proposed as a strength-based and social justice-oriented approach for demarginalizing TGNC individuals' stigmatized identity. Group therapists are called on to address how forms of stigma impact TGNC individuals within and outside of the group, provide validation and space for practicing disclosure, highlight their strengths and resilience, and serve as social justice advocates.

This article explores the ethical and clinical issues that may arise when utilizing group psychotherapy to work with transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals. Considering the unique barriers to mental health services experienced by this community, the authors identify ethical standards that may be especially salient in this work, including: justice and respect for people's rights and dignity, competence, consent, and navigating multiple relationships. The article also explores the authors' TGD therapy group and how they have worked with and addressed such ethical considerations and concerns.

This article addresses some of the group psychotherapy process issues involved in treating an ethno-religiously homogeneous population of Orthodox Jewish men using a case-study approach. The single-gender group, which consisted of two coleaders from the same community, occurred in a mental health clinic in Jerusalem, Israel. Eight community members attended the weekly 1.5-hour psychodynamic group meetings for a period of 5 years. Examples from those encounters illustrate three important concerns when working with a homogeneous religious group: (a) contagion and amplification of resistance to discussing taboo subjects based on religious principles; (b) indirect communication and the use of first-person plural pronouns and cliches; and (c) the shame and loneliness associated with nonconformity to religious and cultural expectations. Suggestions for clinical practice are provided based on the case study and existing literature about homogeneous groups in group psychotherapy and the treatment of Orthodox Jews.

Co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) following combat exposure affects a significant proportion of military veterans. Guilt and shame are common to PTSD-SUD, suggesting a possible role as a mechanism underlying both disorders. Cultivating self-compassion (SC) among veterans is a logical approach to treating guilt and shame. The purpose of this article is threefold: (a) present scientific theories of SC in the veteran population with emphasis on PTSD, substance use, and guilt and shame; (b) present a case study that highlights how self-compassion-focused treatment (SCFT) can be utilized in a group format with veterans with PTSD-SUD and posttraumatic guilt; and (c) discuss implications of our findings for refining SCFT within a group intervention setting among this population and for future research.

The study explores the therapeutic factors in two types of group interventions--film therapy (n = 69) and affective support therapy (n = 48) for Arab adolescents (ages 13-14) in Israel. Film therapy is a relatively new method for groups, aimed at enhancing adolescents' engagement in the process of group counseling. Six-hundred students from 11 schools were screened for the level of parent-adolescent conflict, based on a self-report measure. The 117 students who met the cutoff point constituted our sample. They were randomly divided into 12 small groups (6 in each type of intervention). A previous study reported the outcomes of these two interventions, showing equal progress in both groups (compared to control). The current study explores process variables, specifically therapeutic factors, in an attempt to enhance our understanding of those outcomes. Results indicated common therapeutic factors across both types of intervention. The factors of relationship-climate and other- versus self-focus were ranked the highest and, contrary to expectations, were significantly higher in affective support therapy than in film therapy.