Restrictive Behavior Therapy
- What form of resistive behavior (or difficult behavior displayed by a group member) would you find most problematic in one of your groups and why? How might you work in a therapeutic way with such a member’s behavior?
In group counseling, there are several forms of difficult behavior by a group member(s). According to (Shallcross, 2010), the most common restrictive behaviors in group situations include withdrawal/ non-participation, conflict, scapegoating, and monopolizing. Personally, I find conflict as the most disturbing behavior in group therapy. A group member who is unable to get along well with the rest of team makes it so difficult to accomplish the set therapy goals within the set deadline. As a therapist, I would pay attention to such a group member(s) to first understand the main cause of his conflicting behavior. Having constant conflicts with the group members result to some group members detaching themselves from the counseling activities (Shallcross, 2010). I would make it clear to the member the success of group therapy depends on cohesiveness within the group and so interaction with each other should be friendly. After proper communication with the group member, I would now pay attention to converting his/ her weaknesses to strengths and pay attention to future behavior.
- While conducting a group for adults (or students for school counseling students) struggling with addiction, one of the participants has come to the last three groups late. Explain how you might deal with this client’s tardiness.
Addiction counseling involves all age groups, students and adults. Normally, people struggling with alcohol use disorder are depressed, lazy, forgetful, and full of withdrawal signs (American Pyschological Association, 2012). In a case when an addiction client attends groups counseling sessions late for three consecutive times, this indicates that the group member is withdrawing from the therapy sessions. As a counselor, it is important to seek knowledge about the client’s non-participation/ withdrawal from the group activities for the days he has missed. Maybe the reason is shyness, ineffective therapy, conflict with group members, or lack of confidence. In order to his/her tardiness, I would involve the group member in a one on one communication as an approach of individualized plan for care and recovery to motivate him not to be late again. Deriving means of sustaining the client’s sobriety will also be an approach to take to ensure he fully attends group sessions (American Pyschological Association, 2012). Last, I would give the client unbiased emotional support throughout the addiction counseling.
References
American Pyschological Association. (2012). Understanding psychotherapy and how it works. New York City: Pathology Help Center.
Shallcross, L. (2010). Managing resistant clients. Counseling Today, 3(2), 12-17.
