Group therapy

Group therapy
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Abstract
Group therapy is increasingly becoming an option for therapists treating mental health patients, and this involves a group of patients who meet with either one or more therapists. Group therapy can occur in private therapeutic centers, health clinics and hospitals.
Therapeutic factors help to facilitate cohesiveness in group therapy as well as change participants in the therapy sessions as conceptualized by Yalom (Sternberg, 2003). However, for the therapy process to succeed there is a need for therapy leaders to create an enabling environment that facilitates interaction. In a study conducted by (Vlastelica et al., 2003), self-understanding was identified as the main therapeutic factor.
Group therapy would be ineffective if it does not impart information on the participants and better than individual therapy (Erdman, 2009). Thus, the group therapy sessions need to incorporate sharing and giving of information. For the mental health participants, this includes information about their conditions and common symptoms that may affect them.
Introduction
Group therapy is increasingly becoming an option for therapists treating mental health patients, and this involves a group of patients who meet with either one or more therapists. Group therapy can occur in private therapeutic centers, health clinics and hospitals. One of the main reasons for adoption of this approach is that patients tend to have similar experiences, and hence offers great opportunities towards improving socialization techniques and coping mechanisms. Additionally, individual psychotherapy might take a lot of time, but group therapy is a cost effective way to address mental health care for a group (Burlingame & McClendon, 2008). Even though, pharmacological approaches are at times necessary for people, use of group therapy car lower reliance on pharmacological treatments. This paper explores the role of therapeutic factors, experiences of group therapy clients and the roles of therapeutic facilitators.
Therapeutic Factors
Therapeutic factors help to facilitate cohesiveness in group therapy as well as change participants in the therapy sessions as conceptualized by Yalom (Sternberg, 2003). However, for the therapy process to succeed there is a need for therapy leaders to create an enabling environment that facilitates interaction. In a study conducted by (Vlastelica et al., 2003), self-understanding was identified as the main therapeutic factor. Participants suffering from some form of metal health typically suffer isolation. Thus, it is necessary for group leaders to instill hope among the participants. This will eventually lead to a more positive outcome from the patients throughout the group therapy sessions. In other words when patients feel secure and have faith on the effectiveness of group therapy, then they are more likely to be receptive to therapists. Equally, when other participants g...