Group Psycho-Therapy and the Psychiatric Social Worker

Although group treatment as a means of resolving personal difficulties has been practised for some time, it has but recently received recognition in the psychiatric field. Since Pratt treated T.B. patients by these means in 1905, the advent of the shock therapies and the pressures of the late war have done much to focus attention on a technique of psychotherapy which, it was hoped, would be time saving. Psychiatry has for some years taken a wider view of its function in relation to the community than that which would restrict it to the treatment of the mentally sick. Research into methods of group therapy and sociometrics shows that the Mental Health Service has a vital contribution to make in terms of guiding interpersonal relationships. Indeed, it can have no less a goal than that of the International Congress for Mental Health: " The task of preparing the way for individuals to become citizens of the world.'' The formation of the groups described here and the specific way in which they are linked are the product of a Mental Health Service which sets itself this goal. Group therapy may be defined as the re-orientation of the patient by means of specific relationships between the individual and the group leader, the individual and the group, and between individuals in the group. Two main divisions in group treatment techniques may be distinguished; discussion therapy and activity therapy. In this article, the writer will describe her experiences in the past year in conducting group therapy jointly with a psychiatrist for the following groups; (1) a discussion group for In-Patients, (2) a discussion group for Out-Patients and (3) a Social Therapy Club for Out-Patients. The psychiatric social workers function in these groups will be described and the writer will endeavour to assess the contribution she can make by participating in treatment groups, both to group therapy and to psychiatric social work.