Write a brief note on therapy groups.

Therapy groups are generally composed of members with rather severe emotional or personal problems. Leaders must be highly skilled; they need to be perceptive, to understand human behavior and group dynamics, to have group counseling capacities, to use the group to bring about behavioral changes, to be aware at all times of how each member is affected by what is happening, and to develop and maintain a constructive atmosphere within the group. As with one-to-one counseling, the goal of therapy groups is generally to have members explore their problems in depth and then develop one or more strategies for resolving them. The group therapist often uses one or more of the following psychotherapy approaches as a guide for changing attitudes and behaviors: reality therapy, learning theory, rational therapy, transactional analysis, client-centered therapy, psychodrama, and feminist therapy. Group therapy is widely used in counseling. It has several advantages over one-to-one therapy. The helper therapy principle generally is operative; members interchange roles and sometimes become the helper for someone else's problems. Helping others provides psychological rewards. Groups also help members put their problems into perspective by realizing that others have problems as serious as their own. Groups help members who are having interaction problems to test out new patterns of interacting. Research has shown that it is generally easier to change an individual's attitude in a group than individually. Group pressure can have a substantial effect on changing attitudes and beliefs. Furthermore, group therapy permits the social worker to treat more than one person at a time and thus maximizes the use of professional staff. In essence, a group therapist uses the principles of one-to-one counseling and of group dynamics to help clients change dysfunctional attitudes and behavior. Often the traditional comprehensive psychotherapy approaches are combined with certain specialized treatment techniques (such as parent effectiveness training and assertiveness training) to help clients resolve personal and emotional problems. The selection of treatment techniques is based on the nature of the problems.