“Oh, I have been in this group for more than 12 years” shared by a gentleman from a gambling anonymous (GA) group that I attended as a homework assignment. My first impression for group psychotherapy is that group will help people to reduce stress level without knowing how, why or what group counseling actually is. With the limited knowledge regarding group counseling, I am surprised to learn how much impact a support group can have for each person who participates. During the first lecture, although we were taught that group therapy has the same effectiveness as individual therapy in many situation, I did not completely accept it (Kinnier, 2016). What went into my mind was that “how is a group setting be as effective as the individual setting?”
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It is crucial to be aware of our sub-cultural, and keep in mind that every person has some biases (Kinnier, 2016). Lack of knowledge of other’s cultural norms could harm members in the group. To become a better group psychotherapy therapist, counselors need to continue to try to achieve on overcoming our biases, be conscious regarding others’ sub-cultures, increase our multicultural competence and respect others for who they are (Kinnier, 2016). Multicultural consideration is also one of the 16 ethical guidelines for working with groups (Kinnier, …show more content…
Group psychotherapy could be as adequate as individual counseling. Group counseling may have more impact on certain clients in individual counseling such as clients who are suffering from addition issue or clients who look for someone that share similar experiences. One concern that I have regarding group counseling is termination. Termination seems more difficult in group settings that does not require a leader such as self-help groups and support groups. These groups tend to last years, and members become attached to each other. Although having a support group as a support system provides benefits to each member, the group dynamic changes over time. Due to pervious reasons, group psychotherapy will be incorporated in my future practice. I really enjoyed our T-group sessions. T-group stands for sensitivity training; members obtain new insights by acting out conflicts (Yalom & Leszcz 2005). Leaning that T-group is not offered by many organizations or therapists gives me the desire to conduct T-groups for people who are in different developmental periods. I believe that group psychotherapy will definitely contribute a lot to clients for different ages. It will even be more beneficial for some clients to have both individual and group
It is crucial to be aware of our sub-cultural, and keep in mind that every person has some biases (Kinnier, 2016). Lack of knowledge of other’s cultural norms could harm members in the group. To become a better group psychotherapy therapist, counselors need to continue to try to achieve on overcoming our biases, be conscious regarding others’ sub-cultures, increase our multicultural competence and respect others for who they are (Kinnier, 2016). Multicultural consideration is also one of the 16 ethical guidelines for working with groups (Kinnier, …show more content…
Group psychotherapy could be as adequate as individual counseling. Group counseling may have more impact on certain clients in individual counseling such as clients who are suffering from addition issue or clients who look for someone that share similar experiences. One concern that I have regarding group counseling is termination. Termination seems more difficult in group settings that does not require a leader such as self-help groups and support groups. These groups tend to last years, and members become attached to each other. Although having a support group as a support system provides benefits to each member, the group dynamic changes over time. Due to pervious reasons, group psychotherapy will be incorporated in my future practice. I really enjoyed our T-group sessions. T-group stands for sensitivity training; members obtain new insights by acting out conflicts (Yalom & Leszcz 2005). Leaning that T-group is not offered by many organizations or therapists gives me the desire to conduct T-groups for people who are in different developmental periods. I believe that group psychotherapy will definitely contribute a lot to clients for different ages. It will even be more beneficial for some clients to have both individual and group