T-GROUPS
Training groups were an outgrowth of the National Training Laboratories, an organization formed in 1947 by social psychologists who were interested in improving education. T-groups were made up of "normally adjusted people" who were interested in improving their communication skills so they could become more competent in difficult interpersonal situations.
T-groups gradually widened their focus and became the basis for the practical orientation of many therapy groups today. Clients who feel isolated or alienated, find it hard to relate to others, lack a sense of meaning and direction, and do not have strong self-discipline often are attracted to T-groups.
HUMAN POTENTIAL GROUPS
These groups have probably done the most to give group therapy its popular image. "Growth centers" are usually rural retreats where psychological growth of participants is encouraged. Visits last from a weekend to several weeks. The first center was called Lifewynn, organized in the 1920s at a summer camp in New York's Adirondack Mountains. The best-known growth center is the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, formed in 1962 by Michael Murphy. Its program combines Gestalt therapy with Eastern meditation (see Chapter 15). Other similar growth centers have sprung up across the country. In addition to these, the est (Erhard Seminars Training) organization has attracted a good deal of public attention and controversy. The est approach is eclectic, combining Eastern thought, Gestalt therapy, transactional analysis, psychoanalysis, Jungian philosophy, positive thinking, meditation, and other approaches. Some est leaders have been described as charismatic, proselytizing personalities who claim to be able to lead participants to salvation.
SELF-HELP GROUPS
There are self-help groups to aid you with many different kinds of problems. They provide group moral support for members with shared problems. They are not intended to bring about deep-seated personality change. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded in 1934, probably is the most well-known self-help organization. Recovery, Inc., also known as the Association of Nervous and Former Mental Patients, was formed in 1936 by psychiatrist Abraham A. Low. Meetings focus on members' conscious control of symptoms; Recovery, Inc., frequently encourages members to become involved in volunteer social work.
There are many other self-help organizations—for the handicapped, widows, battered wives, diabetics, victims of AIDS, hemophiliacs, homosexuals, drug addicts, and others. (For further information see "Appendix A: Agencies and Organizations That Can Help.")
PSYCHOTHERAPY IN A GROUP SETTING
Most of the approaches to psychotherapy that we have discussed provide treatment in the form of group therapy in addition to individual therapy. Group therapy is frequently offered, for example, by psychoanalysts, client-centered therapists, Gestalt therapists, transactional analysts, rational-emotive therapists and general cognitive therapists, existential-humanistic therapists, reality therapists, Adlerian psychotherapists, emotional flooding therapists, and behavior modification therapists. In the remainder of this chapter, we will discuss how group therapy is handled by the main psychotherapies.