Chapter 16 -- Group and Family Therapy

I. Group Therapy
A. Therapeutic Factors
1. Instillation of hope (see others improve)
2. Universality (shared problems)
3. Imparting information
4. Altruism (increased efficacy from helping others)
5. Corrective recapitulation of the primary family group
6. Development of socializing techniques
7. Imitative behavior
8. Interpersonal learning (get feedback from others) 9. Group cohesiveness (feel accepted by others)
10. Catharsis (emotional release)
11. Existential factors (free to choose)
B. Group Leadership Skills
1. Specify group purpose and rules
2. Facilitate communication
3. Goal setting
4. Give feedback
5. Model
6. Confront
7. Protect

II. Family Therapy
A. Structural Family Therapy
1. Help family members assume hierarchical roles with the parents aligned with each other over the children
2. Reduce enmeshment, disengagement, and coalitions, have boundaries between parents and children
B. Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy
1. Increase positive modeling and clear contingencies to reinforce behavior
2. Develop clear schema and expectations
3. Improve communication skills and support
C. Solution-Focused Therapy
1. Focus on a positive future rather than the negative present with solution-talk rather than problem-talk
2. Focus on when problems are less and the occurrence of positive family events
3. Miracle question – If a miracle happened and the problem disappeared, how would your life be different?

III. Couple Therapy
A. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
1. Increase positive interactions with homework to do 2 or 3 behaviors daily that the partner wants
2. Use the steps of problem-solving to work on common problems and conflict
3. Improve communication skills with speaker-listener technique, “I” statements, validation, compliments
4. Increase thoughts of acceptance of partner
B. Emotion-focused couple therapy
1. Increase emotional expressions
2. Reframe the thoughts behind the emotions
3. Increase expressions of acceptance of partner