Inpatient Group Psychotherapy

by Irvin D. Yalom

This essential book for front-line clinicians offers new ways of conceptualizing the techniques of group therapy for use on acute wards. Yalom makes a strong case for the efficacy of group therapy on all acute wards. He discusses how to structure the session and the kind of support that should be offered. The emphasis is on the here-and-now. He then presents two models of groups: one for the higher functioning and one for the more regressed psychotic patients.

Genres: Psychology, Health, Counselling, Nonfiction, Psychiatry, Mental Health, Social Work

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Irvin David Yalom, M.D., is an author of fiction and nonfiction, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and accomplished psychotherapist.

Born in a Jewish family in Washington DC in 1931, he grew up in a poor ethnic area. Avoiding the perils of his neighborhood, he spent most of his childhood indoors, reading books. After graduating with a BA from George Washington University in 1952 and as a Doctor of Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine in 1956 he went on to complete his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and his residency at the Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and completed his training in 1960. After two years of Army service at Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu, Yalom began his academic career at Stanford University. He was appointed to the faculty in 1963 and then promoted over the next several years and granted tenure in 1968. Soon after this period he made some of his most lasting contributions by teaching about group psychotherapy and developing his model of existential psychotherapy.

In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In Everyday Gets a Little Closer Yalom invited a patient to co-write about the experience of therapy. The book has two distinct voices which are looking at the same experience in alternating sections. Yalom's works have been used as collegiate textbooks and standard reading for psychology students. His new and unique view of the patient/client relationship has been added to curriculum in Psychology programs at such schools as John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

The American Psychiatric Association awarded Irvin Yalom the 2000 Oskar Pfister Award (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry).

Yalom has continued to maintain a part-time private practice and has authoried a number of video documentaries on theapeutic techniques. Yalom is also featured in the 2003 documentary Flight From Death, a film that investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of death, as related to subconscious influences.

source: Colibri Bookstore

Reviews

[Leni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein verdammt gutes Buch!!!

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In manchen Beispielen und dem Sprachgebrauch merkt man, dass dieses Buch eben schon ein paar Jahrzehnte alt ist. Dabei dennoch weiterhin eine sehr wertvolle Ressource und für mich bisher eines der wichtigsten Bücher für die Entwicklung meiner eigenen (gruppen-) therapeutischen Fähigkeiten!

[Gediminas Tumėnas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, clear, practical, useful, methodical, helpful... a great book. I highly recommend to anyone who is leading psychotherapy group in inpatient unit.

I read this book while I was volunteering (as a student of clinical psychology) in local psychiatric hospital for quite a few months. One of my activities was leading inpatient psychotherapy group in co-therapist's role. The experience of trying to understand what processes are happening in a group while at the same time trying to figure out what to do about them AND reading this book was insanely (yep, I wrote that on purpose) good learning experience.
I was constantly asking myself before the group: "What can I do today to make this group more efficient and helpful?" and after the group: "What happened today and what could I have done better in this group?" and every time I got answers in this book. It felt like I was visiting Dr. Yalom for supervisions. I am thankful for this book.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my supervisees had questions about how to conduct group therapy, so we looked for books to guide her on how to be more successful in group.Yalom's books were about the only ones available. I can see why--this book provided an excellent outline for how to conduct group therapy in an inpatient hospital, with clear, concise goals. My best take-away is that, when you conduct group therapy in an inpatient hospital, you do not have time to establish a group culture, so you have to consider the life of the group a single session. That, and how little has changed in inpatient hospitals from the 1970s when this classic was written.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine große Unterstützung für die Arbeit in tiefenpsychologisch fundierten Gruppen.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Facilitating inpatient group therapy is difficult. Groups are often under-supported in modern inpatient units, training and guidance for therapists is minimal, and patient stays have gotten shorter, limiting rapport building and therapeutic opportunity. After reading this book, I have learned enormously helpful tips for making groups more meaningful, accessible, and enjoyable for myself and my patients.

I have become attached to the "here and now" methods discussed within Yalom's experiential therapy. Since reading this book, I have begun to incorporate the "here and now," eliciting emotions within the group and calling forth patient reflection instead of focusing on hypothetical post-discharge scenarios. Offering mildly emotional activities to allow for frustration, sadness, and joy to be felt, contained, and processed within a group session has increased meaning for my patients. My use of mirroring and healthy self disclosure opens people up to discussion. Encouraging peer interactions has become a major goal in my groups, not just repeated psychoeducation and worksheets completed solo.

Though this book has added a lot to my practice, Yalom's experiential therapy does not come without areas of concern, from my perspective. Many of the interventions he describes, such as his agenda setting group facilitation, requires that the patients be of a higher cognitive functioning, as he states, but also possess a notable amount of insight. From my experience, many of my patients do not demonstrate this insight in their three to five day stays in my unit. As many are in crisis, dissociated, or have not built rapport with me nor the other patients, asking them to set agendas or seek "here and now" goals is a rather tall order. Similarly, diving into this kind of psychodynamic work could be invasive and unsettling to many, and is not necessarily the most trauma-informed modality. As he stated in the beginning of the book, a unit and its culture must be built around supporting the group programs, and without this support, groups will not be as successful as they could be.

Limitations aside, I have incorporated Yalom's techniques in my groups and found increased fulfillment in myself and increased engagement in my patients. Really interesting work.

[Sean Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like his book on group psychotherapy, this was very useful as I work at an inpatient psychiatric hospital, and this book, in conjunction with group psychotherapy, has helped me be a better group therapist.

[Shadi Gharibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very valuable, useful, and absolutely practical book — not only for group therapy but for individual therapy as well. My psychology professor assigned this book last semester and I’m once again in love with Mr. Yalom’s books.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focuses your group facilitation skills and mindset on the fact that the inpatient therapy group really only exists for a single session and to be a good facilitator, you need to be an efficient one. I really learned how to facilitate detox groups, which are usually high level due to their voluntary nature but also how to faciltiate psychiatric groups with severe mental illness presentation that prevents highler level work through utilizing problem solving and group relatedness. I will always rememeber that in inpatient groups, one must be totally supportive towards the client of their effort, focus on positivity and mutual support, lowering anxiety about being placed in an inpatient setting, spot problems and encourage continued outpatient treatment, and tune into interpersonal problems clients face as what to work in the group rather than only doing emotional check ins.

[Nongnuch Tst]

Cool

[Çağatay Akkaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bilhassa grup terapisi ile kuramsal ve kurgusal öykülerde çok başarılı Yalom.

[Elif Şimşek]

read read read...