K. Roy MacKenzie

This is the first-ever application to group therapy of the popular, replicable, time-limited, evidence-based approach initially developed to treat individual depression. Denise Wilfley adapted it in the course of researching the management of eating disorders her collabourators include a national authority on group work plus an originator of Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Their step-by-step identification of the goals, tasks, and techniques attendant on running normalizing, cost-effective groups makes a real contribution to the clinical repertoire.

As managed care systems become the most important health care providers in the United States, they are revolutionzing the way that clinicians supply psychotherapy. Financial considerations and the size of client pools have led to the increasing substitution of group sessions of individual psychotherapy. In this new environment, clinicians must be thoroughly conversant in group therapy techniques to be effective providers. Written by an authority on group therapy, this work provides new and experienced clinicians with generic models for the development of efficient and effective interactive groups able to deliver a wide variety of treatment options. It offers a comprehensive examination of the potential of group psychotherapy and an appreciation of time management in its utilization. Based on empirical research and illustrated with numerous examples, this text discusses a variety of treatment models that employ various combinations of supportive, cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal and psychodynamic techniques.

Introduction to Time-Limited Group Psychotherapy is a basic text designed for the clinician who already has experience in individual psychotherapy. However, the breadth of perspective and discussion of therapeutic strategies should be of value to the more experienced psychotherapist as well. The book is divided into four sections. • Section One deals with basic concepts regarding the small group. This section should aid the therapist in accurately recognizing group phenomena. • Section Two presents the applications of the theories concerning time-limited group psychotherapy in a clinical setting. It emphasizes the importance of careful diagnostic and interpersonal assessment, group composition considerations, and pretherapy preparation in ensuring that a sense of "groupness" will emerge promptly. • Section Three shows how to use the emerging relationships among group members as the vehicle to manage individual issues. In both Sections Two and Three, the current literature concerning brief individual therapy is applied to the group context. • Section Four offers guidelines for integrating group psychotherapy into service and training programs. Special consideration is given to inpatient groups and long-term support groups.