Group psychotherapy

The First World War, then the Great Depression - all this on the one hand, taught people to take care of money, and on the other, increased their need for psychological help. Group psychotherapy was invented in the 20 - 30 years of the twentieth century by Jacob Moreno, but if it were not for him, someone else would have invented it. The society in "economical psychotherapy" was too much in need.

A bit of history

On the day of laughter, on April 1, 1921, a theater was held in Vienna under the direction of Moreno. It was a theatrical improvisation, when the participants of the production interacted and involved the spectators in the actions. The production failed, but psychodrama appeared as a method of group psychotherapy.

Moreno moved to the US and soon began to thrive, establishing his own clinic and patented the method.

We emphasize - before psychodrama, group psychotherapy did not exist at all.

There were rumors that there were real skirmishes between Moreno and Freud, because the first was published in the second journal, and they recognized the methods of psychotherapy as radically different.

What is better: individual or group psychotherapy?

Let's talk about the difference between individual and group psychotherapy.

Individual psychotherapy:

1. The patient feels safe. Agree, most people find it much easier to reveal themselves to a psychotherapist than to do a dozen outsiders. Hence, it is likely that the patient will be sincere and stress for him is minimized.
2. Time - all the time and attention of the therapist is directed to a specific client.
3. The methods of "frustration" and "support" used in psychotherapy can not be clearly expressed by a psychotherapist alone. They say that psychiatrists are treated with authority, because if it is unconvincing for you, you will easily dismiss it.
4. Patients sometimes lie or do not talk. There are people who are purely physiologically unable to speak the whole truth, others try to embellish reality, and still others simply do not realize some aspects of their behavior. As a result, we have to believe them all.

Group psychotherapy:

1. Exercises of group psychotherapy help to model a small life. A person learns to see conflicts from the outside and solve them without much harm to themselves and society.
2. Support and frustration - when 10 people believe in you, it's better than if you are being cheered on. In addition, it's very difficult for you to dismiss the fact that the group convinces you.
3. Psychodrama is the first kind of group psychotherapy. The bottom line is that those who want to talk about their problem place their chairs inside the circle and form an "inner" circle. Participants outside listen to what they would like to talk about today and choose the topic that is most relevant to them today. Distributed roles in this production, the scene is played until a solution is found, and then everyone shares their impressions with both participants and viewers. The latter talk about their similar situations in life.

This is feedback, experiment and exchange of experience at the same time. It is very important for the patient to understand that he is not the first who faced such a problem, and, therefore, there is a way out.