GROUP THERAPY INTERVENTION

Psychodynamic groups

Introduction

Trauma is basically a medical term which occurs in an individual as a result of the extensive exposure to some sort of inescapable stressful events which overwhelms his or her coping mechanisms.  It can also mean a situation-specific, stressful, or severe disruption or violation which ultimately has a serious psychiatric consequences to a person either soon or later after such an event. Despite that one, it should be noted that trauma usually occurs in the context of society experiencing crime, accident, natural disaster or some sort of terrorism attacks.

Conversely, there is the need of understanding trauma mainly through the context of the settings in which it happened. The reason for this is because it remains to be a complex interaction response amongst individuals, events, or environmental factors which induces it. Trauma affects an individual in variety of ways for instance sadness, embarrassment, depression, loss of dignity or pride, denial, disbelief and so on.

Client population

For this group intervention therapy, the adults who have undergone trauma will be the one who will be subjected to a particular treatment as dictated by each stage. Thus the group replacement will mainly really on its goals and structure as well as the characteristics of an individual under consideration. The reason for this is due to the fact that individuals who have been subjected to trauma are usually more vulnerable to overwhelming effects hence developing the tendency of dissociating themselves from the therapeutic techniques to be employed.

Regardless of the above considerations, the rationale for this group will be the provision of opportunities to all individuals with historical traumas so as to make us of the protected supportive therapeutic of this group. The effectiveness of it is that it will aid all the individuals in not only learning about but also changing their interpersonal selves so as to reconnect with their community as a whole person and to be part of human society. Consequently, the goals of this group will be dealing with things like helping the members in developing awareness of as well as the capacity of expressing feelings in the here and now, providing opportunities for each member when it comes to learning the manner in which he or she affects other individuals or him or her via the exploration of group interventions. Additionally, it will act as an avenue of enabling its members to learn about the various forms of distortions which they do bring into their interactions through the examination or understanding transference reactions to their leader and the members.

Steps for the intervention

The steps to be involved in this intervention include the formation phase, reactive phase, mature phase, and the termination phase. The formation phase will deal with the development of trust, seeking ways of joining the group, development of norms, introduction of members to the group through various ways and the discouragement of premature disclosure. In the reactive phase, members will be given the opportunity of becoming aware of the differences or the reactions that exist between themselves or their group and the norms to be tested. Moreover, the leader will be absorbing any disappointments or negative feelings of group and addressing the agreements consistently in return with much curiosity and thoughtfulness. Therefore, the goal here will be retaining a sense of cohesion, differentiation, and belongings in the group.  It is the group confidence which will ultimately manage anxiety as well as deal with any problems to be encountered.  The last stage which is the termination phase will only happen whenever a member leaves the group. Thus it will be essential for the group to be having successful termination so as to act as an example to others.

Client responses

The general outcome or client responses indicates that majority of these individuals may not be readily willing to address the emotional aftermath they experience after the trauma. They can only do so after the numbing and decreasing of the shock. Although not all individuals who are exposed to trauma do end up developing diagnosable conditions or require treatment, some of them may experience sudden decline of trauma symptoms hence does not develop long-term psychological symptoms.  In return, they will be able to draw on both internal as well as environmental resources which will assist them in coping up with trauma experiences and finally resuming their previous levels of functioning.

Contradiction

Regardless of this group intervention therapy, the contradicting part of this intervention is that at times the leader might encounter some difficulties in handling or tolerating the behaviors of some members or the conflicts amongst the members. Furthermore, the group members might also experience the lack of some structure anxiety- provoking or difficulties in expressing themselves about the trauma whenever there will be the lack of structure.

Conclusion

To sum up, basically, the objective of this intervention will be directed at obtaining a diversified knowledge which assists in not only diagnosing a broad spectrum of trauma responses in adults but also identifying the situations through which the various group interventions for adult trauma are indicated.  Moreover, it will be an opportunity of acknowledging the various ways that needs to be modified so as to meet the needs of such a population. In the long-run it will also help in selecting the appropriate group which is suitable for each stage of treatment hence defining its structure as well as interviewing prospective members.