Essay on Group Dynamics

At one point in a person life, they will participated in a group whether it is part of a specific committee, therapy, or social group. In recent years, there has been a rise in counseling within a group forum veering from the tradition individual counseling. Therapists, physiologist, and counselors believe that form of counseling is beneficial to both counselor and client. This allows the counselor to help several clients at once rather than one at a time decreasing their strenuous workload and demanding work hours. This form of counseling integrate individual that share similar issues, struggles, and experiences into one forum. This not only allows the clients to learn from the therapist but from their fellow group members. The group experience

| Groups also have members who play certain social roles: * Encourager: Praises the ideas of others. * Harmonizer: Mediates differences between group members. * Compromiser: Moves group to another position that is favored by all group members. * Gatekeeper/expediter: Keeps communication channels open. * Standard Setter: Suggests standards or criteria for the group to achieve. * Group observer: Keeps records of group activities and uses this information to offer feedback to the group. * Follower: Goes along with the group and accepts the group 's ideas (Roles in Groups, 1999).

When it comes to a group theory session, the counselor wants to give the individuals in that setting Instillation of hope, members of therapy groups often find hope as they discover and focus on how to face their problems. Installation of hope is vital because you want to have the individuals that are part of that

Purpose of the group counseling varies from group to group. It can be therapeutic, educational, or helping people to make fundamental changes in their way of thinking, feeling and behaving (Corey, 2004, p. 7). Group counseling/therapy has the advantage of being more effective than individual therapy because, it more closely stimulates social interactions and interpersonal communication patterns than does individual counseling (Kottler, 2004, p. 260). The techniques and strategies use in group counseling are to help resolve members’ interpersonal conflict, promote greater self-awareness and insight, and help them work to eliminate their self-defeating

- A task oriented group member can be categorised as a brainstormer or an expert.

The first time I personally experienced attending a group therapy was part of my course. Through this experience i can say that group therapy can be very powerful in healing a person emotionally and since the members were from the same class, where we all have similar goals. Group therapy helped all of us to establish meaningful and intimate relationship and we also recognised commanality of members needs and problems and to develop a sense of bonding and we became very close and we could also be there for each other during emotionally trying times.It also helped me to increase self-growth, self acceptance and self –confidence among oneself and group members. Group therapy is a powerful venue for growth and change. It also helped me in expressing my emotions in a healthy way.

A unique aspect of the cognitive behavioral approach in group therapy is the focus on specific target areas of change. The members are responsible for formulating specific statements of the personal goals they want to achieve. The group leader is responsible for helping the members break down their goals into specific, concrete, and measureable goals. An agenda is set at the beginning of each session in a collaborative fashion with the members and group leader in order to prioritize

Groupthink theory often occurs without the group’s realization. Irving Janis formed 8 different symptoms that indicate groupthink. The first of these symptoms is illusions of vulnerability. This occurs when members of the group are overly optimistic and believe that nothing negative will arise from their decision. Janis describes it as taking great risks and acquiring the attitude of “everything is going to be OK, because we are a special group”. Secondly we have belief in inherent morality. This symptom is characterized as the groups thought that they could do no wrong. They believe that they have high morality, that they are right in all situations and they ignore the ethical consequences that could arise because of their decisions. As the third

Process groups are useful in teaching clients healthy ways of communicating, so they can develop effective and satisfying relationships with other individuals. These types of process groups are called psychodynamic groups. Psychodynamic groups consist of clients with a wide range of issues. They help clients learn healthy coping skills, and teach them to become self-aware of their dysfunctional behaviors. This allows clients to be happier and live within society more successfully (Fortinash & Holoday Worrett, 2008; Montgomery, 2002).

Looking for new and more effective ways to treat the issues of their clients, counselors and therapists may often begin to consider leading a group therapy session. Group therapy is a form of therapy in which a therapist either treats or provides psychoeducational skills to a small, carefully planned target group of individuals in an effort to ameliorate the issues and dysfunctions of each individual in that particular group of patients together (Scheidlinger, 2004). In this group, therapists often utilize some of the psychotherapy theories such as Gestalt, transactional analysis, psychotherapy or psychodrama which they often use to treat clients individually.

Group counseling may be adverted to as a course of counseling, which takes a group of people coming together under one or more trained therapists, who simultaneously facilitate them and promote them to help one another to overcome their challenges. The group members are usually peers who may not necessarily face the same problem, but their problems may be linked. According to Jacobs, Masson, Harvill and Schimmel (2012), all members in a counseling group wish and desire personal growth. This kind of therapy has been employed over the years and it has produced excellent results in the lives of the group members.

The active ingredients include: (a) bonding (the group is cohesive and supportive), goal direction (the group encourages personal growth, such as responsibility, self-discovery, and spirituality), and structure (the group embodies clear expectations); (b) the provision of norms and role models; (c) involvement in rewarding activities; and (d) bolstering self-efficacy and coping skills (p. 285)

group member roles a broken down into three functional categories, which helps the structure of a role be productive within the team. The first category one needs to recognize is called the behavior task role; the role will emphasize a common goal that will make a group have the same glide path to accomplish any project. The group maintenance roles are the stage where a relationship is being created with a shared determination of accomplishing a common task. The last role in the functional categories is called the self-centered roles. The roles inhibit only the needs of one individual. Functional categories, roles, are important to understanding because of how each category represents different scenarios in the team.

The group has a personality of its own based on the clients in the group. However, the group changes when new clients enter the group, sometimes for the better or at times for worse. If a new client is feeling withdrawal symptoms and does not want to be in treatment, the group

Johnson and Johnson (2013) argued that group as a number of individual who join together to share or serve various purposes including goal, independence and interpersonal interaction, structured relationship. Finley (2002) categorized the types of therapy group as activity groups and support groups. Activity group mainly incorporated into task and/or social component. Task groups focus on developing skills and tend to produce individual and the end products.