Abstract
[Therapeutic Factors in Group Psychotherapy and Growth Groups: An Exploratory Study on Member and Therapist Perceptions]
By means of open-ended questions we investigated what members and therapists of outpatient therapy groups, student-growth groups and a therapy group for therapist-trainees perceive as helpful aspects in their group experience. The answers were content-analyzed by the half-level method with post-and pre-categorisation. On the basis of the resulting category system of helpful aspects, the following topics are discussed: Nature and relative frequency of helpful aspects in the self-perception of group members; differentiations between fruitful and rather unfruitful group sessions (“high-group” versus “low-group”); self-perception of helpful aspects versus perception by participating observators (other group members and therapist); explicit reference to the therapist concerning helpful aspects; helpful aspects in relation to the motivation of the group members, the therapeutic orientation of the therapist (client-centered versus Gestalt), the phase of the group process. Finally, helpful processes in group psychotherapy arc compared with those in individual psychotherapy.