Practice Guidelines for Group Psychotherapy

Understanding mechanisms of action in group psychotherapy. Seasoned group therapists recognize that the success of individual group members is intimately linked to the overall health of the group-as-a-whole. Indeed, a sizable portion of the clinical and empirical literature delineates therapeutic factors and mechanisms that have been linked with healthy well-functioning therapy groups. Mechanisms of action are interventions or therapeutic processes that are considered to be causal agents that mediate client improvement (Barron & Kenny, 1986). These mechanisms take many forms, including experiential, behavioral and cognitive interventions, as well as processes central to the treatment itself, such as the therapeutic relationship.