Term Paper on "Benefits of Resistance in Group Counseling"

Term Paper 7 pages (3215 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

resistance in Group Counseling

Group Therapy, harmful or beneficial:

The first question that has to be asked is whether the person needs any treatment. If the person is alone and the person has specific screens for suicide, homicide or serious disability, and there are new incidences of starting of abnormal behavior which was not happening earlier, lack of medicine, carrying of weapons for dangerous behavior and nutritional status which is poor to render a health risk, then the person needs treatment. (Management of persons with psychoses, 2004) The conditions are psychological and group therapy is a technique used in psychological treatment. Benefits or harms vary from patient to patient and there is no way of being certain that any treatment will help a patient, especially psychological treatment.

Basis of Groups & Group Dynamics:

As human beings are by nature social beings, group therapy is a powerful method in certain treatment like substance abuse. These require treatments with trained leaders and the groups are formed specifically to treat substance abuse. (Substance abuse treatment: Group therapy, 2004) These groups however do not include organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Group Resistance:

The resistance comes from individuals within the groups and the resistance may be to particular groups or group therapy in general. The reasons for resistance may be due to the person being an individual who refuses to participate, a person who cannot honor group agreements inclusive of preserving privacy and confidentiality of group members as is the requirement under federal regulations, individuals who make the therapist uncomfortable, individuals who regularly drop out or continue to violate group norms, persons who is not able to control impulses and in general people who feel severe forms of internal discomfort in groups. (Substance abuse treatment: Group therapy, 2004)

Overcoming or using resistance as strength:

It is clear that no individual would like to accept individual weaknesses, and that is the main reason resistance to group therapy would be viewed by them as strength.

Basis of Groups & Group Dynamics

Problem-focused vs. Solution-Focused:

The usage of group therapy is to find out solutions and cannot be determined from the problem. For example, studies have shown that non-ulcer dyspepsia patients have higher scores of anxiety, depression, neurosis, chronic tension, hypochondriac behavior and tendency to be more pessimistic than general people. Yet in spite of many studies, the benefits of interventions in this disease through psychiatric means remain uncertain. (Soo; Moayyedi; Deeks; Delaney; Lewis; Forman, 2005)

Strength-based vs. Weakness-Based:

We have already discussed the general methods of group therapy where the doctors get groups formed for progress in treatment of the disease. There is also a method of psychotherapy which developed in 1960s where a small group of individuals involve in intensive reactions between themselves to improve self-awareness and as well to better interpersonal relations. In these sessions, the group members are encouraged to be honest completely and the reactions are honest and open. They react to each other with their immediate feelings and go through the complete range of emotions. The method is associated with the radical social upheaval prevalent in the 1960s and encounter groups have been criticized in terms of their damaging effects that they have caused, and this is due to the reason that many groups are not led by professionals trained in psychotherapy. (Encounter group)

Positive & negative Group Dynamics:

This comes from the roles played by individuals in the group. At the same time, individual roles may change as the group progresses. Most roles have an opportunity to be positive or negative when the roles are taken to extremes. The groups have encouragers who praise agrees with and accepts the contributions from others. The harmonizer of the group mediates differences. The gate-keeper and expediter are the ones who attempt to keep communication channels open by encouraging or facilitating participation of all the others in the group. The standard setter maintains the standards for the group to attempt and achieve. They are most often positive and productive. On the other side, the blocker would tend to possess negative reactions and is greatly resistant, always disagreeing and opposing beyond one's reason. The blocker would try to maintain or resurrect or re-evolve an issue even after the group has finished with it. The playboy or playgirl makes a display of his or her lack of the level of involvement and this may take the form of cynicism, nonchalance, horseplay, and other negative elements of behavior. They would thus be the negative parts of the group. (Group Task Roles)

Group Resistance:

Resistance to change is very important as any form of directed response to reactions can lead to stopping an instituted change in the group. The source of this resistance to change can be an individual employee who is a part of the group. The main question of resistance of such a change is that it stops the development of the group, and thus the group cannot function better as the change is not realized within the group. (Resistance to organizational change)

Characteristics of Resistance

Involuntary Clients and Resistant Clients:

For all individuals in the group, there is a great importance of ethnicity and culture. One of the major areas of application of group therapy has been for substance abuse treatment, and it has been seen there that when many ethnic origins are mixed in a group, there are chance that more biases will appear and require mediation by the group leader. Apart from that, special and direct intervention may be required if the clients do not speak English well as that may be a cause for lack of communication. The clients will not be able to follow a discussion that is going on at a high speed. This compels the group leader to ensure that all group members are fluent in the language that is being spoken in that particular area. That language may not be English, but the conversations will be going on in that language. (Substance abuse treatment: Group therapy, 2004)

Another question is that the group leader may be from the same ethnic group as also all the members of the group. This is rarely possible and gives rise to resistant clients. It is however very important for the group leader to understand how the ethnicity affects substance abuse and participation in the group. The preparation starts when the group leader meets every member separately for the group to be formed, then reaches consensus on what is to be accomplished through therapy, educate all the clients about group therapy, remove fears and anxieties about joining the group, and explain the entire arrangement for the group. In all these interviews to be extremely careful about individuals who have major differences with the rest of the group and that may be through age, ethnicity, gender, disorder and other factors. Efforts have to be made to assure the clients that a difference is not a deficit and can also become a source for vitality for the group. (Substance abuse treatment: Group therapy, 2004) The attempt is clearly to stop the emergence of resistant clients, but in any group, they will finally emerge after the group starts operations.

Another case is of involuntary clients and this has been from one of the major changes that have been suggested now - family therapy. Here all family members enter into the function as members of a group in order to assist in the treatment of substance abuse. The new method of treatment helps as it makes families become aware of their own requirements and still provide a genuine healing for the family member involved in substance abuse. It is easier to shift power to the parental figures within the family so that the interpersonal, intrapersonal and environmental variations that are affecting the client using alcohol or drugs can be controlled. It also helps the usage of the item moving down from one generation to the next. This may be called a prevention of substance abuse. (Substance abuse treatment and family therapy, 2004)

Perception of resistance as a problem:

In many instances resistance stops the main objective from being reached. It was seen that a brief educational intervention can greatly enhance resident's knowledge, attitude, and counseling skills for the purpose of smoking cessation. (Steinemann; Roytman; Chang; Holzman; et, al. 2005) It did not do much for smoking cessation. The same situation exists for parenting problems. It was seen in a review that parenting programs improve the emotional and behavioral adjustment of children less than 3 years of age, but that there is less evidence from controlled trials to evaluate as to whether the short-term benefit is maintained over a period of time. (Barlow; Parsons; Stewart-Brown, 2005)

The definitions of disturbances are also tenuous and terms for mental disorders may have somewhat different definitions for lay individuals and professionals. Most people might become depressed or anxious for a brief period due to life stress. But this does not mean that they have a 'mental disorder'. (Substance… READ MORE

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