Analyzing Group Process and Skill Selection - Research Paper Example

Analyzing Group Process and Skill Selection This paper will offer an analysis of the group dynamics in the video clip provided. The paper will focus on the main tensions in the group and the central theme of the session. Next will be a consideration of individual participants in terms of their roles within the group. The group consists of nine women and three men. This is the norm when comparing other studies. According to Joann Gumpert and Phyllis Black, out of 350 surveys conducted, eighty percent of participants were women (Gumpert 2006.) The group is highly diversified with members from many different cultural and religious backgrounds. The group has two Professors who act intermittently as group facilitators and group therapists. The group is sitting in chairs in a small circle in a relatively large and empty room. The circle immediately sets the group up to manage issues around closeness and distance. The circle formed allows the members to make (or not make) eye contact. Additionally, who is to say that people are comfortable sitting at such close proximity to each other In a physical structure where members might feel they can't manage the intensity of the group experience physically, i.e. physically move away from the group, the members are left to find other ways to regulate their experience. Let us look at how the members of this group manage being in a group and what the group is most interested in. The group's primary focus is personal survival and the self-regulation of emotions. The group initially focuses on films which tell stories of survival. However, as time passes, it becomes clear that the group members are talking about their own survival, their own struggles in life, and whether 'breaking down' will leave them weak and overwhelmed. The group sets the pitch early on by discussing very emotional challenges in their life through the objective vehicle of 'favorite film'. This sets the pitch and the group is involved early on in a struggle of regulation. How much emotion How much is too much Professor Rullo's role is to encourage and facilitate emotion and self-disclosure. Meanwhile, Professor Smith's role is to sum up emotional experiences for the group and to contain the boundary for the emotional expressions for the group. The group finds itself moving between the people who are comfortable with emotions (Renee and Amy) and the people who are less comfortable (Roosevelt and Maria.) These two sub-groups within the group are partly generated by the Professors taking opposite positions which leaves the group in the position of taking 'sides'. This tension is difficult for them to experience and there is an obvious tension after Amy cried about her 9-11 experience and Professor Smith interrupts her story and reminds her of Maria's struggle to open up earlier, and how Professor Rullo told Maria, "That's enough". Amy hears Professor Smith say, "that's enough" and she bolts her emotion down. There is some silence in the group and Roosevelt expresses this discomfort and uncertainty by gesturing a thumb to leave the room; he does this approximately three times. At this point, the group is at a crossroads: to disclose or to be objective, to survive or breakdown. The next significant moment for the group is when Natasha B. responds to Renee's concerns about being, "Scared to open that box." Natasha B. sobs about how tough life is for her and for others in the group and she demonstrates the level of cohesion in the group. Immediately following her sobs, we see two things happen almost simultaneously. Firstly, Taryn smiles, presumably with discomfort. She has done this before when someone else was in distress. Immediately after Taryn's smile, Professor Smith captures the emotion in the room and begins to sum it up again, talking of "The struggle, the accomplishments." Later on in the session we see this theme of emotional self-regulation once more. In this vignette, we see Professor Rullo redirect the group. Camille says, "I don't want to have an emotional breakdown." Professor Rullo says, "Why not Everyone else is." At this point something big happens in the group. Everyone bursts out laughing for the first time and most of the members lean their whole torsos into the group. For the first time most of the group has committed the group. This could be because finally someone has told the group how deep each one of them can go with their emotions, and how much they need to regulate emotionally. The group knows because Professor Rullo has said, "Everyone else has" and so most people put their whole bodies' into the group. Professor Rullo's timing is no accident. Norma C Lang, a social work professor, says that, "a social worker's timely contribution is usually timely, necessary, appropriate, and useful because it arises out of ongoing monitoring and comprehending of and participation in the group experience. It may have the effect of redefining the situation and enabling group members to find alternative and superior resolutions, thereby enhancing the life of the group and facilitating its progression (Lang 2004.)" Now Maria clasps her hands tight on her lap, she has already told the group that she will not allow herself to open up. The next turning point is when Professor Rullo says, "So where do we think the emotion is right now in this group" Amy, who led the pace of the group initially replies, "Overwhelmed." Amy then takes on the role of Professor Smith by containing and subduing the emotion in the room. Amy says, "I'm getting overwhelmed with hearing everybody else's story, I have enough worries of my own." Karen takes on Professor Rullo's role by saying, "It's Okay to break down, it's Okay to feel this way." The group begins to talk directly about what they have been working on since the beginning of the session. They did not know whether to break down or not. Is breaking down weak or strong In a group of survivors, is it Okay to break down Is it ok to open the box Renee tells the group honestly, "I don't want to break down it hurts, I face it in my paper, family papers, I don't want to face it, it hurts." Renee again states the root struggle of the group. According to Dominique Steinberg, she is she is not taking advantage of the situation. The group work experience could give her clarity by allowing her to have conversations that she cannot have in her everyday life (Steinberg 2006.) In response to Professor Rullo's question, the group tells her in so many words that they have reached their limit for emotional disclosure. Toward the end of the recording the sound collapsed which left only body language to analyze. Here we see Professor Rullo use her hands to continue to encourage the expression of feelings, she uses her hands demonstrating opening something up. This movement vignette is answered by Natasha B. outstretching her hand into the centre of the group in a 'stop' motion. Although the sound has gone from the recording it is possible to still see the on-going tension in the group between how much is too much emotion. Finally, Professor Smith sums up the session and the group stands up and leaves. The first to stand up and leave is Roosevelt, who had successfully held onto his desire to leave (the gesture with the thumb) for over 30 minutes. The group dynamics were shaped by various actions and lack of actions from members of the group. Camille is difficult to place, she talked of survival and had to survive a big interruption in the group in her first 'speech', "All of our struggles are different and they're all the same." Camille demonstrates a feeling of high cohesion within the group but she remained a fairly benign force in terms of group dynamics. Professor Smith had a very distinct role in the group, which was to provide emotional boundaries and contain the emotions of the group. He had a 'summing up' role whereby he talked more objectively about the groups feelings and process enabling the participants to create some distance too. The groups 'Isolate' was Maria. She set herself up early on as caregiver and initiated the only physical contact throughout the session. Maria suppresses her own feelings and she has a powerful position within the group in as much as she sets the counter position of no disclosure. The 'Intellectualiser' was Natasha B. As the Moraliser and philosopher, she got people thinking. The 'Scapegoat' of the group was Natasha R. She introduced a great level of emotion and vulnerability early on. People reached out to her; Maria touched her and Renee talked for her. One low participator was Karen. The group was bored with her, they shuffled while she spoke and nobody followed her story. Zina was another low participator and also acted as a 'minimiser' by removing tension with a reply about housework to dialogue about gun crime. Roosevelt has a quiet voice and the group appears non responsive. When the group expresses emotion, he talks and gestures a thumb to leave the room. He does this three times. Does he want to leave now Have things become so emotional and complicated than he cannot manage Taryn is another low participator and has the least attachment to the group. She fails to tell her story; instead, she uses someone else's story. She shows little emotion for herself and says, "I wanted to cry for Amy." Taryn also finds Renee's emotion difficult and squirms in her seat, contains her body more tightly, and becomes very still physically and perhaps withdraws even further from the group emotionally. The group has two main 'high participators'. Amy is happy to go against general opinion and she is effective in changing the emotional direction of the group twice. Amy generates interest and empathy from the group and Professor Rullo turns her whole body to Amy to discuss her 'anxiety', which gives the group a very clear message. This is good because support is possibly the most important psychosocial skill (Northen P34. 2001.) Amy is the first one to have tears in the group. She effectively sets the mood of the group by describing herself as overwhelmed. Renee is another 'high participator'. She initiates the high level of self-disclosure and in many ways sets the emotional pitch for the session. Renee is as powerful in the group as she is at naming what is in the room. She says, "I'm scared of opening that box, of knowing what's in there." She shows high-level involvement in the group's dynamics by naming again, "If she can stop talking (Natasha R.) then I can maintain my 'I'." Renee expresses to the group the tension between too much disclosure, and not enough disclosure. Renee alludes to the central pre-occupation of this group. Can a survivor also break down and if we break down will we survive it Perhaps surprisingly, the group 'cheerleader' is Professor Rullo. Her role is to generate and encourage emotion while supporting people in express themselves. She recaps the group's emotional journey immediately after Professor Smith acts as a container. After Renee's tears, Professor Rullo says, "It's almost like you have shut off those feelings, put them to one side, compartmentalised them." We see Professor Rullo encourage and facilitate disclosure again. "I'm here to express, not close it up." Developmentally the group is in a position of uncertainty and exploration. This stage is no doubt enabled by the use of a male and female therapist/facilitator. The pairing of the groups, speaks to the crux of any group's anxiety, which is one of survival. This group is concerned with individual survival but perhaps the group would develop more by focusing on survival within that group rather that survival in the outside world. In other words, much could be accomplished therapeutically if participants allowed themselves to 'break down' and make good use of the group in which to generated individual models for survival. Having a male and female lead the group encourages the group to think of Mommy and Daddy and the roles that they play. Having one female and one male also allows everyone to have someone to relate to. The two professors have very different, yet effective methods. In a way, the group becomes a clear representation of the first group. We all 'survive' the family group. Perhaps the members in this group are expressing a concern about being in the group and being outside the group, and how much to let go and how much to hold on. For Yalom, the Phenomenologist, subgroups can often develop around clients who are dependent (prefer greater intimacy) and the counter-dependents (who prefer less intimacy). (Yalom 1985). Many social workers encourage the Mother and Father role-play by two Professors. Object Relations theory presents us with a way of thinking logically about the notion of pairing in groups. "For the Object Relations Theorists, pairing helps the group fantasize about coupling for sexual and reproductive purposes, which can be useful in re-creating representations of the original family" (Northen P7 2001.) If I were to make a therapeutic intervention in this group, I would encourage people within the group to talk more from the 'I' position. This would encourage people to take greater ownership of their feelings and make superior progress in their therapy. Indeed, group members may come to this anyway, as the containing relationship between the facilitators develop and the participants begin to work in the transference with the notions of good and bad 'breast', and the splitting and integration of parts. (Oatley K. P149 1984). I would encourage people to talk from the 'I' position because it is important for people to 'own' their stories of survival, which might increase the integration of parts of the self. Several people in the group talked about having made significant progress in their external lives, yet internally they still felt like they were just surviving. Professor Rullo encouraged left-hand writing to bring an emotional connection with the past. However, while this is a useful exercise I think the biggest problem the group faced was bringing together the past and present, into a more integrated and healthier position. In practical terms, I might encourage members to draw a time-line so they can see their past, present, and future in a more objective way and begin to realize that they are doing so much more than treading water, that they have actually begun to swim. In conclusion, the group was concerned primarily with personal survival. It was a group with more low-participants than high-participants. The group was concerned with issues around how much emotion is too much emotion. The participants were unsure about disclosure and holding back emotion. Essentially the group was concerned with survival, which is true for all groups of every type, in every country, and across time. Works Cited Gumpert, J. & Black, P.N. (2006). Ethical issues in group work: What are they How are the managed Social Work with Groups, 29(4), 61-74. Lang, N. C. (2004). Concurrent interventions in multiple domains: The essence of social work with groups Social Work with Groups, 27(1), 35-52. Northen, H & Kurland, R. (2001). Social work with groups. (3rd ed). New York: Columbia University Press. Oatley, K. (1984). Selves in relation: An introduction to psychotherapy and groups. Methuen. Steinberg, D.M. (2006). The art, science, heart, and ethics of social group work: Lessons from a great teacher. The Haworth Press, Inc. Yalom, I.D. (1985). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy. Basic Books. Read More