Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T11:38:48.322Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluation of Group Psychotherapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

E. R. Sethna  and
J. A. Harrington
E. R. Sethna
Affiliation:
All Saints' Hospital, Birmingham, 18
J. A. Harrington
Affiliation:
Uffculme Clinic, Birmingham, 13
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Despite the popularity of group psychotherapy in its many different forms over several decades, we seem to be little nearer to an understanding of how it works and how effective it is. This lack in our understanding stems largely from deficiencies in research in this field. Bennis (1960) found that research on group psychotherapy was more often based on descriptions, anecdotes and clinical observations than on systematic collection and analysis of data. Slavson (1962) found that many of the papers which he dealt with as the editor of International Journal of Group Psychotherapy ‘lacked in scientific discipline, and often drew conclusions from inadequate evidence’. Luchins (1947) felt that there was ‘a decided deficiency in the use of objective methods of establishing outcome of group psychotherapy programmes', and Burchard et at. (1948), in their comparative evaluation of fifteen reported programmes of group psychotherapy, concluded that failure to consider pertinent variables, the lack of operational definitions, and the absence of any frame of reference, made comparison of methods or evaluation of outcome almost impossible.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 118 , Issue 547 , June 1971 , pp. 641 - 658
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, L. (1953). Treatment of Mental Disorder. Philadelphia: Saunders.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennis, W. G. (1960). ‘A critique of group therapy research.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 10, 63–77.Google Scholar
Boenheim, C. (1959). ‘A follow-up study of group psychotherapy patients.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 9, 463–74.Google Scholar
Burchard, E., Michaels, J. J., and Kotkov, B. (1948). ‘Criteria for the evaluation of group therapy.’ Psychosom. Med., 10, 257–74.Google Scholar
Corsini, R., and Lundin, W. (1955). ‘Group psychotherapy in the mid-west.’ Group Psychother., 8, 316–20.Google Scholar
Cowden, R. C., Zax, M., Hague, J. R., and Finney, R. C. (1956). ‘Chlorpromazine: alone and as an adjunct to group psychotherapy in the treatment of psychiatric patients.’ Amer. J. Psychiat., 112, 898–902.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickhoff, H., and Lakin, M. (1963). ‘Patients' views of group psychotherapy: retrospections and interpretations.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 13, 61–73.Google Scholar
Frank, J. D. (1951). ‘Some problems of research in group psychotherapy.’ Int. J. Group Psychother., 1, 78–81.Google Scholar
Frank, J. D., et al. (1959). ‘Patients' expectancies and relearning as factors determining improvement in psychotherapy.’ Amer. J. Psychiat., 115, 961–8.Google Scholar
Goldstein, A. P. (1962). Therapist-Patient Expectancies in Psychotherapy. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Gorham, D. R., Perkony, A. D., and Moseley, E. C. (1963). ‘Effects of a phenothiazine and/or group psychotherapy with schizophrenics.’ Dis. nerv. System, 25, 77–86.Google Scholar
Graham, I. W. (1959). ‘Observations on analytic group psychotherapy.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 9, 150–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenhill, M. H., (ed.) (1955). Evaluation in Mental Health. Washington, D.C.: U.S.P.H.S. Google Scholar
Halstead, H., Fahy, P., and Harrington, J. (1963). ‘Patients' attitudes towards a psychotherapeutic regime.’ Int. J. soc. Psychiat., Vol. IX, No. 3.Google Scholar
Halstead, H., Fahy, P., and Harrington, J. (1968). ‘Group psychotherapy for the middle-aged.’ Brit. J. med. Psychol., 41, 139–48.Google Scholar
Hartley, E., and Rosenbaum, M. (1963). ‘Criteria used by group psychotherapists for judging improvement in patients.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 13, 80–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herzog, E., (1959). Some Guide lines for Evaluative Research. Washington, D.C.: U.S.P.H.S. Google Scholar
Imber, S. D. et al. (1957). ‘Improvement and amount of therapeutic contact: an alternative to the use of no-treatment control in psychotherapy.’ J. consult. Psychol., 21, 309–15.Google Scholar
Karson, S., and Wiedershine, L. J. (1961). ‘An objective evaluation of dynamically orientated group psychotherapy.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 11, 166–74.Google Scholar
Kraus, A. (1959). ‘Experimental study of the effect of group psychotherapy with chronic psychiatric patients.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 9, 293–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luchins, A. S. (1947). ‘Methods of studying the progress and outcome of group psychotherapy programs.’ J. clin. Psychol., 4, 173–83.Google Scholar
Neighbor, J., et al. (1958). ‘An approach to the selection of patients for group psychotherapy.’ Ment. Hyg., 42, 243–54.Google Scholar
Parloff, M. B., Kelman, H. C., and Frank, J. D. (1954). ‘Comfort, effectiveness, and self-awareness as criteria of improvement in psychotherapy.’ Amer. J. Psychiat., 111, 343–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pattson, E. (1965). ‘Evaluation studies of group psychotherapy.’ Internat. J. Group Psychother., 15, 382–96.Google Scholar
Peters, H. N., and Jones, F. D. (1951). ‘Evaluation of group psychotherapy by means of performance test.’ J. consult. Psychol., 15, 363–9.Google Scholar
Phillipson, H. (1958). ‘The assessment of progress after at least two years of group psychotherapy.’ Brit. J. med. Psychol., 32, 210–21.Google Scholar
Rayner, E. H., and Hahn, H., (1964). ‘Assessment for psychotherapy. A pilot study of psychological test indications of success and failure in treatment.’ Brit. J. med. Psychol., 37, 331–42.Google Scholar
Reznikoff, M., and Toomey, L. C. (1959). Evaluation of Changes Associated with Psychiatric Treatment. Springfield, Ill., Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, M., and Hartley, E. (1962). ‘A summary review of current practices of ninety-two group psychotherapists.’ Int. J. Group Psychother., 12, 194–8.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, E. A., and Parloff, M. B. (eds). (1959). Research in Psychotherapy, Vol. I. Washington, D.C.: Amer. Psychol. Asm.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schorer, C. E. (1965). ‘Defiance and healing.’ Comprehensive psychiat., 6, 184–90.Google Scholar
Semon, R. G., and Goldstein, W. (1957). ‘The effectiveness of group psychotherapy with chronic schizophrenic patients and an evaluation of different therapeutic methods.’ J. consult. Psychol., 21, 317–22.Google Scholar
Slavson, S. R. (1962). ‘A critique of the group therapy literature.’ Acta psychother., 10, 62–73.Google Scholar
Slavson, S. R. (1964). A Textbook in Analytic Group Psychotherapy, New York: International Universities Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Strupp, H. H., and Luborsky, L. (eds). (1962). Research in Psychotherapy, Vol. II. Washington, D.C.: Amer. Psychol. Assn.Google Scholar
Wolberg, L. R. (1964). ‘The evaluation of psychotherapy.’ Acta psychother., 12, 262–83.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.