Response on Group Formation and Application of Family Therapy Post

Please respond to the post below. All references 5 years or less.
Hello everyone! Can’t believe we are at Week 6!
Locate a brief video (approximately 5 minutes or less) portraying a group therapy session on YouTube or another website. Include a link to the video in your initial discussion post.
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=6Fe8D0hAQh0Links to an external site.
Analyze the interactions between the group members. Identify the phase of group formation the group appears to be in. Include your rationale and evidence for your treatment phase selection.
This clip is of a family group session with what appears to be a mother, father, and daughter. The clip starts what appears to be in the middle of a session. With back-and-forth dialogue between the mother and daughter, with short verbal observations by the therapist to continue the conversation. This initial scene I feel are in a storming phase, due to the conflicts that are happening between mother and daughter. Storming phase in group therapy is distinct with conflict and competition. This conflict is happening due to the group members needing to change ideas, attitude on the topic, and feelings. A important step to build cohesion yet sometimes uncomfortable step of others to witness. This is when members are guided by the therapist through reassurance and affirming to resolve conflicts and tension (States of group, 2021).
This clip jumped to another scene in a future group session with the same clients. This clip is a lot calmer and the father is actually able to speak his thoughts regarding the relationship between the mother and daughter. The therapist summaries the mother’s speech with “your worried about her safety” in regards to the curfew time set for the daughter on the weekend. At the end of the video the therapist works on focusing the parents’ concerns with the curfew not only being the time but the safety concerns. This clip appears that the clients are in performing phase. This stage the members are more of a cohesive group working towards the same goal. They can feel a sense of acceptance and belonging. Each individual can relate to each other with respect and honesty. The therapist assists the clients with accepting differences and encouraging empathy (States of group, 2021).
Describe the therapeutic approach and techniques the therapist is using.
This therapist is using solution focused therapy model. Initially the mother and daughter have a disagreement about the quality of someone that she is spending time with the therapist verbalizes the observation that the mother disapproves of this person. The next seen the group members are calmy discussing reasoning for the parents’ frustrations with the daughter pushing boundaries of her weekend curfew. Three techniques that I feel that the therapist is using in this video include minimal encouragement, paraphrasing, and focusing as described (Therapist techniques, (2022). Throughout both scenes the therapist has a minimal encouragement technique where she allows the group members to discuss among themselves without her frequent interruption. This can encourage the group members to continue their train of thought. In both scenes this therapist also uses a lot of paraphrasing therapy technique. The mother has some long-winded explanations that can get lost, the therapist paraphrases this into a brief but accurate reflection of the important points she is trying to make. At the end of the video after a long dialogue with the group members the therapist seems to try to focus the conversation and the therapy experience to get the underlying feelings that are driving each individual's’ actions.
Discuss other therapy approaches that might be used by a therapist conducting the group.
The article “Therapist Techniques” (2022) had other psychotherapy techniques separated in to different categories including relationship building, confrontation, behavioral, and experiential. One that might be effective for this scenario that is directed at the daughter is a cognitive technique that they called catastrophizing. This is when the therapist asks the client to discuss the worst possible outcomes of a behavior and discuss possible coping strategies as well gaining another perspective (Therapist Techniques, 2022). This may work when trying to get the daughter to understand the parents’ ill feelings about changing her curfew for concern of her safety at night. Another technique that the therapist could of implemented is interpretative proper intervention aimed at uncovering the clients unconscious meaning behind actions and feelings (Kernberg, 2017). This could be used for the mothers’ aggressive feelings on her daughters’ peers, and the immoveable mindset of what a curfew should be. As well as the daughter listening and following her parents set rules and expectations.
References
Kernberg, O. (2017). The four basic components of psychoanalytic technique and derived psychoanalytic psychotherapies. World Psychiatry. 15(3): 287-288.
Stages of group therapy: How does it proceed. (2021). A Space Between. https://www(dot)aspacebetween(dot)com(dot)sg/blog/group-therapy/stages#:~:text=accomplish%20group%20tasks.-,Stage%202%3A%20Storming,beliefs%20to%20suit%20the%20group Links to an external site..
Therapist techniques. (2022).Psychology. https://psychology(dot)iresearchnet(dot)com/counseling-psychology/counseling-therapy/therapist-techniques/Links to an external site.

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