Role of Group Therapies in the Management of Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

Group therapy is a treatment modality involving a small group of members and one or more therapists with specialized training in group therapy. It is designed to promote psychological growth and ameliorate psychological problems. Group therapy seeks to effect psychological change and to alleviate psychological suffering through the cognitive and affective exploration of the interactions among members, and between members and the therapist who must be a mental health professional skilled in intervening both within the group and on an individual level. The first therapy group was conducted for individuals with physical illness. The term group therapy was coined by Jacob Moreno. Group therapy was first used with children and adolescents. The sociocultural context in which group therapy is embedded has over the years critically influenced the course of its development. For example, as Anthony (1972) noted, World War I provided a context for the development of group psychology, whereas World War II created the environment for group therapy to emerge as a major treatment modality. Also, the value of self-liberation created a context in which the encounter or growth group movement in the United States could occur. Today, group therapy is a treatment modality that is widely used across different psychological problems, populations, and settings. There exists a rich array of group therapy models; interpersonal, psychodynamic, social system approaches, cognitive-behavioral, psychodrama, redecision therapy, and existential therapy. Although these models are highly variable in their goals, they share important commonalities. Perhaps the most crucial is their use of the process of the group to move members toward their goals. For some models, such as cognitive-behavioral group therapy, the focus upon group process is a more recent development. These approaches differ from one another in terms of their degree of empirical support. For example, the effectiveness of the cognitive-behavioral model is well established for a variety of symptom conditions. Other models, such as psychodrama and psychodynamic group therapy, have a more limited base of empirical support, largely because a thoroughgoing investigation of effectiveness has yet to be undertaken.