Week 7 - interpersonal process groups

Question 1

Harry Stack (1953) how personality is developed

Answer 1

• personality is a result of approval and interactions with significant people in their lives.
• The inherent desire to form secure relationships with others is regarded as a fundamental basis of human behaviour.
• During childhood, a person increases behaviours that result in acceptance by their parents and other important figures, and decreases those that appear to be negatively received

Question 2

Parataxic distortions

Answer 2

• Parataxic (interpersonal) distortions are a skewed understanding or judgement of other people made on the basis of past encounters or of the unconscious.
• they are dated assumptions about the self in relation to others.
• The behaviours precipitated by parataxic distortions are ones that have led to satisfaction and avoidance of discomfort in the past, but are unlikely to be effective in the present because they are out of sync with the current environment

Question 3

Interpersonal process therapy

Answer 3

• offers an opportunity for members to identify and correct parataxic distortions as they are occurring in the present.
• In interpersonal process groups the primary mechanisms of change are interpersonal learning and group cohesion.
• According to Yalom (1985), the primary focus of interpersonal process groups is on the interpersonal transactions and interactions occurring between group members

Question 4

Group as a social microcosm

Answer 4

• Simply put, one’s interpersonal style and maladaptive patterns that are present in every other facet of life ultimately will appear in groups too.
• Regardless of attempts to change or hide patterns, each group member’s true self will appear.
• In reality, then, there is no need to describe one’s interpersonal problems or difficulties in life, as they will eventually come to life in the group

Question 5

Transference

Answer 5

• can include thoughts, emotions, fantasies, and patterns of relating, which are projected onto the group facilitator or another group member.
• In groups, there is the possibility of multiple transferences. That is, a person’s projections may be directed towards more than one person in the group

Question 6

Countertransference

Answer 6

• Group facilitators may also have unresolved personal problems, which they may project onto the group.
• That is, group facilitators can become entangled in their own feelings of countertransference, which includes both conscious and unconscious emotional responses to group members.
• can be especially destructive to the relationship between the facilitator and group members, it can influence how the facilitator perceives and reacts to the group, and can impair their ability to be objective

Question 7

Corrective emotional experience (Frank and Ascher, 1951)

Answer 7

• Under the right circumstances and leadership, the group environment can be used to produce a ‘corrective emotional experience’
• The premise of this is to expose the group member to emotional stimulation that he or she could not handle in the past.
• However, in a supportive and effective group setting, the group member can work through this experience in a more productive manner, essentially healing the wounds of the past

Question 8

Installation of hope

Answer 8

• individuals see that other members improve and resolve their difficulties
• enhances hope and optimism that the individual’s problems may be solved within the group

Question 9

Universality

Answer 9

• group members recognise that others have similar problems and concerns
• reduces feelings of isolation

Question 10

Imparting information

Answer 10

• delivering factual information
• facilitating sharing of relevant information within group
• teaching new material
• supporting the learning of group members

Question 11

Altruism

Answer 11

• unselfishly giving of one’s self

* modelling altruism and reinforcing altruistic behaviour

Question 12

Corrective recapitulation of the primary family group

Answer 12

• learning how experiences from the family of origin contribute to current functioning and relating
• developing new and constructive ways to communicate and interact with others
• group assists a member to recognise and better understand transferences and projections to improve current relationships

Question 13

Development of socialisation techniques

Answer 13

• relating skills
• communication skills
• social skills

Question 14

Imitative behaviour (modelling)

Answer 14

• the facilitator and other group members model effective and constructive behaviours
• an effective way of learning is to observe others and practice

Question 15

Interpersonal learning

Answer 15

• awareness of personal issues is increased through constructive feedback obtained from other group
members

Question 16

Group cohesiveness

Answer 16

• the bond that unites members to the group
• group members trust each other enough to engage in self-disclosure and offer support to each other
• identifying perceived similarities

Question 17

Catharsis

Answer 17

• emotional venting
• release of pent up, suppressed and denied emotions
• produces relief

Question 18

Existential Factors

Answer 18

• basic human concerns
• common to everyone
• include loneliness, despair, death, and the unfairness of the universe

Question 19

Yalom (1995) helpful factors from the interpersonal group process

Answer 19

• Discovering and accepting previously unknown or unacceptable parts of myself.
• Being able to say what was bothering me instead of holding it in -> learning to express feelings
• Other members honestly telling me what they think of me -> the type of impression I make on others.
• Learning that I must take ultimate responsibility for the way I live my life no matter how much guidance and support I get from others.
• Expressing negative and/or positive feelings toward another group member.
• Feeling more trustful of groups and of other people