How Effective is Group Therapy in Treating Trauma Victims - Research Paper Example

How Effective Is Group Therapy In Treating Trauma Victims? Abstract Trauma occurs as a result of traumatic events in individual’s life. Severe traumatic experiences bring about post traumatic disorders such as stress and depression. Trauma weakens the victim’s capability of integrating emotions and ideas. There are several ways of treating traumatic related disorders. Group therapy has proved to be very effective and relevant in reducing the psychological impact of traumatic experiences to a victim. Group therapy grants trauma survivors a chance to interact and share ideas within themselves. Interaction within groups reduces significantly the effect of trauma among group members. Group therapy is therefore psychotherapy in which few trauma victims are treated together in a well defined group. The essay below focuses on the effectiveness of group therapy in treating trauma victims. How Effective Is Group Therapy In Treating Trauma Victims? Group intervention is exceptionally effective in treating trauma survivors. It offers an opportunity for survivors to intermingle in tackling their traumatic feelings (Sheperis, Young, and Daniels, 2010). In most case, a good number of trauma experiences are brought about by interpersonal violence such as torture, domestic violence, physical assault and rape. Interpersonal violence illustrates how people inflict harm on others. Other trauma that does not involve interpersonal violence such as accident also evokes horror, hopelessness, and fear among victims (Sheperis, Young, and Daniels, 2010). Survivors are always in dire need for help and consolation from other people. Group therapy is extremely suitable for people who are blamed for their predicaments such as HIV/AIDS victims. Bonding among trauma victims is as a result very effective in developing and regaining trust. Despite of its noticeable advantage of cost effectiveness, group therapy is also appropriate for victims who cannot fulfill common societal assumptions. The essay presents a literature review on the effectiveness of group therapy in treating trauma victims. It also talks about qualitative, quantitative, and group researches conducted by different scholars on the significant of group therapy in treating trauma victims. A quantitative research conducted by Foy (2002) in New York among HIV/AIDS victim verified the effectiveness of group therapy among trauma victims. The researcher sampled twenty four HIV/AIDS victims. The researcher selected group members from Hispanic subculture. Initially, they complained of victimization in their families and society members. They also portrayed signs of loss of trust and hope in their life. Group members met once in a week to discuss their experiences. In the group, the researcher encouraged members to share their experiences during interactions sections. After three months, the researcher interviewed group members to access the impact of group interaction. Twenty group members confirmed the effectiveness of therapeutic group in their recovery process. They affirmed to have developed trust and confidence within themselves. Similar research was conducted in 2005 by Yalom in London. He intended to assess Foy findings on the effectiveness of group therapy among HIV/AIDS victims. In his research, Yalom collected his sample from the victims who attended different health centers for HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment. His group constituted twelve members from different health centers. After two months, the researcher issued group members with a questionnaire to write down their experiences in the group. The findings signified significant improvement in the victims trust and confidence. From the two quantitative researches, there is evidence to prove that, group therapy is exceptionally effective in treating HIV/AIDS related trauma. Group therapy creates an opportunity for developing positive relationship between trauma victims and their families and society. It serves as a primary trauma treatment method. Group therapy also improved self-esteem, reduces anxiety and depression among trauma victims. Morgan and Cummings also conducted a quantitative research in 2005 on the significant of group therapy among trauma victims. They intended to identify the significance of psychodynamic focus group in treating trauma. They collected their samples from victims who are physically incapacitated by natural disasters in New Jersey. They formed groups of five victims each. They advised group members to share their experiences and their coping tactics. At their initial stage, the victims blamed the government and other institutions for their misery. In their groups, they shared their unconscious feelings and weakness evoked by their trauma. After frequent interaction, their attitude towards government changed. Instead, they registered their groups and started requesting for government helps. As a result of group therapy, the victim used their predicament to get assistance from the government and other Non Governmental Organizations. In their research, researchers realized that, during the process of retelling their experiences, groups members initially experienced affective reactions which moved from anxiety to fear and later to the sense of calm and relief. Kilpatrick, Acierno, Schnurr and Resnicks carried out a similar study in 2007 to test the findings of Morgan and Cummings. They sampled the population which was sampled by Morgan and Cumming. They also utilized almost same context and technique like the one used by Morgan and Cummings in their study. In their findings, they confirmed Morgan and Cumming assertion that psychodynamic focus group is very helpful in treating trauma related pain. The psychodynamic focus group also helped to uncover the unconscious experiences as well as understanding the meaning related to the victims reactions. Klem and Schermer who conducted similar quantitative study in Australia in 2006 also acknowledged the relevance of group therapy among trauma victims. According to Klem and Schermers, group therapy helps in clarifying the internal models of the relationship between victims and other society members. In their study, they noted tremendous adjustment in the way victims interacted with their family members after undergoing group therapy. In their qualitative study, in Boston in 2002, Neria and Solomon noted improvement in distress level among group members at the end of group therapy. In their research group, they sampled victims from various traumatic incidences such as combat veterans, survivors of abuse and sexual assault survivors. In this study, they applied several behavioral techniques such as affect management, assertive training, cognitive processing therapy, and stress inoculation. The group met one in a week for twelve weeks. During their meetings, the researchers assessed group members’ trauma symptoms. In their findings, they recognized the significance of cognitive group therapy in reducing trauma related symptoms. Group therapy also provided group members with the required skills to cope with chronic trauma symptoms. Stauffer and Deblinger were influenced by Neria and Solomon work to undertake a research on the relevance of groups’ therapy in treating trauma victims. In their study, they collected a sample of victims who were in therapeutic groups and those who were not in therapeutic groups but underwent clinical treatment in New York in 2006. After two months, they realized outward differences between the two types of treatment. Victims who underwent group therapy had developed more comprehensive coping mechanism more than their counterpart who underwent clinical treatment. In 2009, Stalker and Fry carried out a qualitative study in Australia to access the efficiency of group therapy in treating trauma victims. They as well wanted to access the long term effect of group therapy. They employed feminist approach to deal with recovery demands of child sexual abuse female survivors. In their group, they facilitated mutual respect and group cohesion in experience sharing process. After twenty weeks, Stalker and Fry reported significant reduction in depression, self blame, social maladjustment, and posttraumatic stress among group members. Their writings influenced Wraith to conduct a study on the short term effect of group therapy among adult women who have traumatic sexual abuse experience in their childhood age. Wraith carried out his study in 2010 in Australia. His group took a period of ten week. The study was based on feminist approach. He sampled a group of five women for ten weeks. After ten weeks, Wraith noted considerable transformation in the psychological status of his sample as compared to community controlled sample. On the other hand, more than fifty percent of the women who underwent short term group therapy requested for further group treatment in the evaluation process. Group therapy is also incredibly influential on traumatized children and youths. In 2007, Reeker, Elliott and Ensing researched on the impact of group therapy on traumatized children. They visited several children’s homes in Germany which accommodated children who lost their parents at their early age. Children met twice in a week to discuss their experiences and the best ways of coping with their trauma. After twenty weeks, the researchers observed significant different in coping mechanism between children who were in a groups and those who were not in group. Group therapy offers an environment where children complement their reaction and offer support to each other. Weiss, Marmar, and Gusman incorporated both qualitative and quantitative method in examining the significant of group therapy in treating trauma children. In their study, they used several techniques which included play therapy, art therapy, and exploration of feelings and prevention of future sexual abuse. These techniques were developed from various theoretical methods and traditions. They developed groups of ten children for a period of 8-24 weeks where children met twice in a week. Two groups composed children of the same age, two groups constituted children from different sex and other two groups brought together children from the same sex. After twenty week, children in all groups’ portrayed signs of improved feelings on their past experiences. The research also showed more change on girls than on boy. According to Mitchell (2003), evaluation in group therapy is also imperative in treating trauma victims. It offers an inclusive and preventative intervention. Evaluation program started in United States of America military. Since then, the programs have turn out to be very popular in solving psychological crises. Evaluation program entails certain features of group therapy such as normalization of reaction, validation, and disclosure. Evaluation is designed to prevent unnecessary psychological crises as a result of trauma. In most cases, this program involves well trained professional who have the capability of regulating and monitoring the entire program. Some of the common steps involved in evaluation entails introduction of the victim to the intervention process, development of confidence, creation of adequate time to explain and analyze the trauma, creation of time to describe emotional feelings, discussion and the administration of the trauma symptoms, and identification of resources for support. According to the available literature, there is considerable effort to develop a concrete base for providing support through group therapy. Most of the studies done on group therapy have shown positive effect to the group therapy process. Currently, all available group therapies have almost equal positive outcome to the victim. However, more study need to be done to compare the differences between diverse group therapy models. Additionally, more study need to be done on males since most current study is over represented by females. References Foy, D. (2002).Trauma focus group therapy for combat-related PTSD. In Session: Psychotherapy in Practice, 3, 59-73. Kilpatrick, D., Acierno, R., Saunders, B., & Resnick, H. (2007). Risk factors for adolescent substance abuse and dependence: Data from national sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 19-30. Klein, R., & Schermer, V. (2006). Introduction and overview: Creating healing matrix, Group Psychotherapy for Psychological Trauma. New York: Guilford Press. Mitchell, J. (2003). When disaster strikes. Journal of Emergency Medical Services, 8, 36-39. Morgan, T., & Cummings, A. (2005). Change experienced during group therapy by female survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67(1), 28-36. Neria, Y., & Solomon, Z. (2002). Prevention of posttraumatic reactions: Debriefing and frontline treatment. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Comprehensive Text, 309-326. Reeker, J., Ensing, D., & Elliott, R. (2007). A meta-analytic investigation of group treatment outcomes for sexually abused children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 21, 669-680. Sheperis, C., Young, J., & Daniels, M. (2010). Counseling research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Stalker, C., & Fry, R. (2009). A comparison of short-term group and individual therapy for sexually abused women. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 44(2), 168-174. Stauffer, L., & Deblinger, E. (2006). Cognitive behavioral groups for no offending mothers and their young sexually abused children: A preliminary treatment outcome study. Child Maltreatment, 1, 65-76. Weiss, D., Marmar, C., & Gusman, F.D. (2006). Group therapy. Effective Treatments for PTSD: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. New York: Guilford Press. Wraith, R. (2000). Children and debriefing: Theory, interventions and outcomes. Psychological Debriefing: Theory, Practice and Evidence, 195-212. Yalom, I. (2005). The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. NewYork: Basic Books. Read More