2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
I went with the girl to the same kindergarten in the same group, in school in one class, in college in the same group …
I look at Facebook - she is 25 years old, and I am 32.
From the very birth we find ourselves in various social groups: we are born in the family of the mother of the father and brothers-sisters. We get acquainted with the extended family - grandmothers, uncles, nephews, husbands of great-uncles … For some, this system consists of a large number of elements, for others it may be limited to one mother without other relatives. Growing up, we can become members of a kindergarten group, class, macrame circle, informal teenagers' hangout. Globally, we belong to the state as a macro group.
One way or another, we constantly have to enter into relationships with groups. Sometimes they bring a charge of cheerfulness, support, accept us. Sometimes groups can reject, bully, and bring traumatic experiences. The psychotherapy group can become a very interesting form of research of relationships with oneself and others. Such groups are usually formed from 6-12 participants, they meet once every one or two weeks for a fixed time from 1.5 to 4 hours and pay a certain amount of money for this. There are other options for the frequency of meetings and the number of participants. I will describe the most common ones, if you see slightly different conditions, this is also normal!
The number of group members should be such that a microanalogue of our social groups is formed in real life, between the participants both individual interactions and sympathies, and general, collective processes could appear. That is why a very small or large number of people can either remain a set of individual connections, or become a large group, where only collective dynamics will be observed, without the opportunity to devote time to each participant. The group is usually led either by two psychologists, the so-called co-therapists, or by one leader.
In order for the group to resolve the internal conflicts of the participants, to study their behavior and relationships with other people, to undergo psychological changes, some conditions are important:
- Leaders set the rules. The main ones are the rule of confidentiality, where the participants agree not to take the facts and events taking place in the group outside this space, which creates a confidential atmosphere and the opportunity to share intimate things.
- It is also undesirable to discuss life in a group with other participants between meetings or maintain relationships with them, so that all the material is available to both the leader and all members of the group equally. For the same reason, the group usually does not take a husband and wife, brother and sister, people who are in any kind of working, friendly, personal relationship outside the group.
- Physical violence is prohibited in the group to ensure the physical safety of the participants. Any manifestations of anger are taught there to express in words, naming their experiences.
- If desired, the group can agree on additional rules: do not use telephones during meetings, do not drink water or eat, use or do not use obscene language, etc.
The main tool for exploring oneself and changes is communication, but of course, it is not at all the same as it happens at a family feast or with friends. The facilitator helps the participants to get to know each other, create working relationships, pay attention to their own experiences from external life or arising in the group. Participants can take part in the discussion of the situation of one person, or on a topic common for the whole group. At the same time, the psychologist observes what features in communication with others each of the participants has, or arise in the group as a whole, shares his observations with the group, supports the search for new, more productive forms of interaction according to the request and needs of each.
In gestalt groups, such a form of work as an individual session in a circle is also common. One of the participants goes to the presenter and for a certain time they work in an individual format on the participant's request. At this time, the group pays attention to experiences, images and metaphors, bodily reactions that are born during the work, and upon its completion gives the participant an emotional feedback. It complements the client's session, can highlight those feelings that have been repressed, or support the similarity of experience and feelings, empathy.
According to the degree of consistency of the composition, there are
- open groups where new participants can come to any meeting,
- half-open, when the joining of new participants is possible, but not at any time, but according to the schedule established by the leader and the group
- closed - when the recruited composition of participants remains constant until the end of the project.
A participant can leave the group at any time, but by agreement he must attend two farewell meetings to end the relationship with the group and each of the participants and assimilate the experience gained during this time. For closed groups, such farewells usually take place at the same time for everyone in the last two meetings.
The text turned out to be quite large, and at the same time as compressed as possible. If you would like to know more about certain aspects and nuances of groups - write, I will definitely try to give answers to them in the following articles!
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