TYPES OF PARTICIPANTS IN THERAPEUTIC GROUPS

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

A boring member of a therapy group. In a psychotherapy group, boredom participants can bore other members of the group, as well as the leaders. A boring group member is a group member who is inhibited in his reactions, spontaneous and afraid to take risks. Everything that a bored participant says is always predictable. Such participants say only what, in their opinion, "public opinion" requires of them, i.e. before speaking, they look closely at the other members of the group in order to "read" on their faces what they expect. Some boring participants fit within the concept of alexithymia: they have difficulty expressing emotions, are specific and practical. The internal dynamics of a boring participant varies from case to case. Some of them take a dependent position, fearing to be rejected, restraining all aggressive impulses that are fraught with a response. Confused between aggression and healthy self-affirmation, they reject the opportunity to grow and express themselves.

Silent member of the therapy group. The silence of a group member can be attributed to many reasons. Some of them feel anxious at the thought of self-disclosure; others are afraid of the manifestation of aggression, so they do not dare to assert themselves associated with participation in the conversation; some expect to be activated by some kind guardian; others maintain an arrogant silence, keeping the group at bay. Another reason for the silence of a group member may be the fear that affects will get out of control. There is a type of participants who, by their silence, try to attract attention to themselves. Group dynamics play a role here. Group anxiety about potential aggression or the availability of emotional resources in the group can force the vulnerable participant into silence in order to reduce tension or competition for attention. Thus, it is very useful to distinguish between situational silence and permanent silence. But silence is never silent, silence is behavior, and, like any other behavior in a group, carries a certain semantic load.

Schizoid member of a therapy group … In a psychotherapeutic group, participants of the schizoid type immediately draw attention to themselves by their blocking, isolation and detachment. They often turn to group therapy because of a vague feeling that they are missing something: they cannot feel, they cannot love, they cannot relax, they cannot cry. Such people are spectators in relation to themselves; they do not live in their own body, do not experience their own experiences. Such a group member always attracts attention. At first, the participants look with interest at the silent and non-intrusive person, who is usually very careful about attending group sessions. After that, the participants are puzzled and ask the question: "What is he doing here?" After that, mistrust appears, especially when other members have more or less crossed the line of distrust and anxiety, such a non-participating member of the group begins to annoy. There comes a point where the members are no longer willing to delicately tolerate the detached member of the group. More and more often they turn to him with the question: "How do you feel about this?" Depending on their own personal characteristics, the participants can be conditionally divided into two camps, some of them actively try to help the schizoid participant become a feeling and participating member of the group, others accuse such a participant of insensitivity and cruelty, usually react violently and even offer him to leave once and forever group. But, in the end, everyone gets tired, disappointment comes into its own. From time to time, bursts of activity may again occur in relation to such a participant. Meanwhile, if a schizoid participant manages to get to the final phases of group work, he can greatly surprise with sudden, startlingly accurate statements about the psychological functioning of one or another participant.

A whining and reluctant member of a therapy group. A whiner who rejects help demonstrates specific behavior in the group, which is expressed in an explicit or implicit demand from the group for help, after which he rejects any help offered to him. Such a participant speaks in the group only about problems, and describes them as insurmountable. “How bad everything is, how bad everything is” - the main message of such a participant. Often such a member of the group seeks to receive recommendations only from the leaders of the group, ignoring other members of the group who are trying in some way to help him solve the problem. If one of the group members makes complaints, talks about their problems, the whiner who rejects help seeks to downplay the complaints and problems of this person, comparing them to his grandiose ones. Finding such a member in a group leads to the fact that the rest of its members are confused, feeling irritated and frustrated. The presence of such a participant calls into question the belief in the group process, as the group members feel helpless and unable to convey their own needs to the attention of the group. Group cohesion is undermined as some members seek to exclude the help-rejecting whiner from the group and form coalitions.

The usurping member of the therapy group … The real attack for many groups is the speaker who constantly talks. If he stops talking, he will immediately begin to experience anxiety. When one of the other participants takes the palm from him in a conversation, he immediately finds many ways to intervene, ignoring all the rules of decency, at the slightest pause rushes to speak, responds to each group statement, without ceasing to comment on what other members of the group say … It is especially difficult for group members to endure intrusive, with endless details, descriptions of the usurper's conversations with other people, or retelling of the content of movies or read articles that are distantly related to the issue that the group is considering. Some of the usurpers grab the attention of the group with the help of a huge number of questions and observations, which makes it impossible for the rest of the group to speak, reflect and interact with each other. Others seek to completely grab the group's attention, attracting it with unusual, perplexing or piquant details. The usurpers inclined to dramatization master the group process by the “crisis” method, they come to the group meeting, having in reserve another serious collision in life that requires attention, moreover, urgently and for a long time. The other members of the group shyly become silent about the fact that their problems against the backdrop of the drama of the usurper seem to be sheer trifles. In the early stages of group work, the group members even welcome and encourage the usurper, however, after several group meetings, this attitude is replaced by frustration, irritation and anger. Some participants, although they do not like the chatty usurper, do not say anything to him, do not try to stop his verbal flows, as they fear thereby incurring the obligation to fill the group time. Members of the group, who are not very confident in themselves, do not enter into open confrontation with the usurper for a while, instead they silently wait or make veiled angry attacks. The indefatigable talkativeness of the usurper is an attempt to cope with anxiety, feeling the increasing group tension, he begins to worry even more, accordingly, the need for chatter grows. As a result, this permanent unresolved tension undermines group cohesion, which manifests itself in symptoms of group discord such as indirect blaming with displacement of the target of aggression, skipping group meetings, leaving the group and forming coalitions. If the group goes into open confrontation with the usurper, it usually does it in a tough and brutal manner, usually there is a daredevil in the group, supported by the majority of the group members, who comes up with an accusatory speech against the usurper. After that, the wounded usurper can not stand the resentment and leave the group forever, or begins to come to meetings and remain completely silent ("Let's see what you will do without me").

Narcissistic therapy group member … Narcissistic members, convinced of their uniqueness, believe that they not only deserve all of the group's attention, but that this attention should be focused on them without any effort on their part. They expect the members of the group to be concerned about them, to make every effort to get through to them, and all this despite the fact that they themselves do not show any concern for anyone and do not strive to reach out to anyone. They expect surprises, compliments, applause, gifts, care, despite the fact that they themselves and approximately do not give anything to others. They believe that they can express anger, discontent, ridicule, but such manifestations are prohibited to them. The lack of attention and empathy for other members of the group is striking. After several meetings, the participants notice that although the group member is active in his personal work, he never asks questions, never supports others, and does not help anyone. Such a participant with great enthusiasm will begin to talk about himself, the events of his life, but he practically does not know how to listen, and when others speak, he gets bored and looks forward to when again attention will be paid to him. It is frustrating for the narcissist to block the narcissist's attempts to receive unmeasured doses of attention and praise, but this is precisely what is beneficial for the narcissist and is the main benefit of group work. For the group, the presence of a narcissistic member can also be useful, since it serves as a kind of catalyst: the need to be firm in defending your right to time, strength and the group's participation in an exciting issue. Those group members who have difficulty advocating for their interests can use certain aspects of the narcissistic member's manifestations as excellent models.