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| Forensic Psychology |
Forensic
Psychology (PSY -
513)
VU
Lesson
31
GROUP
THERAPY FOR
OFFENDERS
Objective:
To
know that how group therapy
works
When,
where and with whom is GT
more beneficial
To
understand that how different approaches
work in group settings
To
get an insight about the disadvantages of
GT
To
intimate with the benefits
of GT for therapist
How
Group Therapy (GT)
Works?
"A
form of psychotherapy where there are
multiple patients led by one
or more therapists"
The
presence of two or more
therapists is important in Forensic
settings because:
To
manage a group of people , who are
violent and
aggressive
Another
purpose is the supervision,
unlike GT, situations
involving individual
therapy
usually
supervisor is out of the
room.
Presence
of another therapist facilitate the therapeutic
process and can provide
Feed
Back
Group
therapy is very diverse.
There are two general ways of
categorizing group therapy, by the
time
limits
set on the duration of the group, and by
the focus of the group and the way group
members are
selected.
Psychologists with different theoretical
training will use group
therapy for many
different
types
of psychological problems and concerns
like:
Substance
Misuse Treatment
Anger
Managements
Thinking
and Problem
Solving
Sex
Offender Treatment
Music
Therapy
Art
Therapy
When,
where and with
whom?
When,
where and with whom is group
therapy effective? A crucial
thing to remember is that GT is
not
alternative
of Individual therapy, just to
economize the therapy. A forensic
psychologist must
foresee
the
real need of GT. Is GT is more
effective for that
particular individual or not?
For instance if an
offender
or an individual with Asperger's
syndrome, who hate the presence of
other people around,
so
imagine
if a therapist gathers a group of
such people what will be the
result, absolutely hoax
and
banging
situation!
Behind
the prescription of GT there must be a
solid reason. Usually in Forensic
settings, groups are
established
when incarcerated individuals are
ready for group interaction
and half of the treatment is
already
done.
Learning
in Groups
As
discussed earlier different
approaches significantly differ
from each other. While
working with
groups
basic concern does not
alter, the only difference is
that here the gravity of
therapeutic process is
not
only the treatment and behaviour of one
individual. Now let's understand
that how different
approaches
work in group
scenario.
111
Forensic
Psychology (PSY -
513)
VU
Psychodynamic
Groups
Psychodynamic
groups are based on the same
principles as individual dynamic
therapy and aim to
help
people
with past difficulties,
relationships and trauma as well as
current problems. They aim to do
this
with
the help of the whole group of up to
eight people plus one or two
facilitators.
Groups
are based on the principle
that groups themselves are
helpful, supportive and enabling to
people
and
that the whole group can be
involved in change and understanding.
Group therapists believe
that
everyone
attending a group has
strengths and can
contribute.
Offenders
and ASPD are incompatible to
their original group and
legal system; it means that
an
individual
is like a single piece of the jigsaw,
without much meaning on its
own. On joining a
therapy
group
the individual tries to reconstruct the
original jigsaw of his
family, shaping the other people to
fit.
In
Individual psychodynamic therapy
(IPT), therapist analyze transference, counter
transference and
general
behavior and assumes that
client have similar behavioral
pattern with other relations
in non
therapeutic
conditions. (relationship with
siblings, parents and family). In GT
family replicate
other
group
members (six or more people
like siblings fighting to
grasp the attention of
parents)
If
all such problems are solved
then a healthy relationships
emerges as a result and
healthy societal
manners
are adopted by the group
members.
Humanistic
Groups
HGT
takes an entirely different
point of view from
psychodynamic approach, according to
humanistic
view
in offender's group therapy; we have a
bunch of people learning to grow
together. Therapist
cultivates
the environment of respect and
acceptance. It is made cleared therapist
set a rule at the start
of
GT
that irrespective of the whole
crimes and wrong deeds,
group has to give respect
and acceptance to
each
other. Now imagine a group
of offenders who have been
indulged in different kinds of
crimes
through
out the life (may have
involved in violent activity,
rape, murder, child
molestation and so on) so
according
to the preset rule they are
not suppose to frown while
listening to others rather have to nod.
In
this
way the atmosphere of respect
and acceptance is
elicited.
When
criminals share the darkest and
ugliest parts of their
criminal lives, the therapist and
other group
members
are not just listening
with attention but also
irrespective to all their
deeds, giving them regard
as
a human being. In this atmosphere
criminal learn to regard, accept and
honor other people and
a
healthy
interaction emerges.
Cognitive
Behaviour Therapy Based Groups
A
minimum educational level is
required for this therapy
because clients and therapists
work together,
once
a therapeutic alliance has
been formed, to identify and understand
problems in terms of the
relationship
between thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
The approach usually focuses on
difficulties in
the
here and now, and relies on the
therapist and client developing a
shared view of the
individual's
problem.
This then leads to
identification of personalized, usually
time-limited therapy goals
and
strategies
which are continually
monitored and evaluated.
Social
Skills Groups
These
group therapies are conduct in class
room like situations.
Social-skills training helped
reduce
suspiciousness
and facilitate healthy interaction
among inmates and staff as
well. In which people
are
trained
social skills like how to
say "no" with out
fighting with others.
Assertiveness
training
A
polite but assertive `no' to
excessive requests from
others is taught to enable offenders to
promote
balance
in life with out fighting.
Assertive communication can
also help in handle
difficult family,
friends
and co-workers more easily, reducing
drama, violence and
stress.
112
Forensic
Psychology (PSY -
513)
VU
Anger
management skills are also taught in this
group training
Better
ways to handle
frustration/anger
Counting
to 10 before reacting
Distracting
oneself to a pleasurable
task
Learning
an internal dialog to cool oneself
down and reflect upon the
best course of action
Acceptable
ways to resolve conflict are also
part of social skill
trainings, like
Using
words instead of physical
contact
Seeking
the assistance of the
teacher or conflict resolution
tea
Psycho-education
Groups
These
groups are also based on
class room format, people
are taught about their
emotions, difficulties
and
their remedies. This type of
psychoeducation is a some times family-based treatment
modality that
typically
begins by attempting to form a
collaborative relationship between the
therapeutic team and
family
members. In general, psychoeducation
efforts are designed to teach
family members about
a
given
mental disorder, its course,
prognosis, medications, and management. At times, such
education is
provided
to individual families, whereas at
other times it is offered in a
multi-family workshop.
Disadvantages
of Group therapies in forensic
settings
Along
with many advantages, major
disadvantages of GT include:
Much
gain is not available if offender is not willing/ready
for group therapy
GT
is absolutely not recommendable for individuals with
Asperger's syndrome, as they hate
company
of others.
GT
is not beneficial with the group of
severe mental
disorders.
Group
Therapy of Therapists
Can
we run groups of therapists, staff and doctors
e.t.c? Personally I found it
very beneficial as a
group
discussion
takes place with usually a senior
and experienced therapist. Therapist
gets strength, feed back
and
suggestions from such groups. A
person who is continuously
working with offenders who
have
been
involved in devilish nature of crimes and
as a human being it is really difficult
to work with them
maintaining
an unbiased positive attitude. So in such
condition analysis of counter transference
and
discussion
can be very helpful.
Techniques of art therapy
are used to understand the internal
mental and
unconscious
processes of therapist for
better understanding. Psychodynamic
is the best approach
for
therapy
of therapist, no matter
from which perspective therapist
is.
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