THE GROUP & FELLOWSHIP AS THERAPY

Irvin Yalom’s eleven therapeutic factors that influence change and healing in group therapy:

The instillation of hope creates a feeling of optimism.

Universality helps group members realize that they are not alone in their impulses, problems, and other issues.

Imparting information helps to educate and empower people with knowledge pertaining to their specific psychological situation.

Altruism allows clients to gain a sense of value and significance by helping other group members.

Corrective recapitulation provides for the resolution of family and childhood events within the safety of the group family.

Socializing techniques promote social development, tolerance, empathy, and other interpersonal skills.

Through imitative behavior group members learn to adopt the coping strategies and perspectives of other group members.

Interpersonal learning teaches group members how to develop supportive interpersonal relationships.

Group cohesiveness gives members a sense of acceptance, belonging, value, and security.

Catharsis releases suppressed emotions and promotes healing by disclosing information to group members.

Existential factors incorporate learning how to just exist as part of something larger than oneself. This factor brings a client into the awareness that life will continue on, with pain, death, sadness, regret, and joy. By living existentially, group members learn how to accept these conditions without escaping from them. Instead, they learn how to live with them and through them.