ABSTRACT

This newly updated and streamlined edition of Group Psychotherapy with Addicted Populations provides proven strategies for combating alcohol and drug addiction through group psychotherapy.

The interventions discussed in the book build on a foundation of addiction as an attachment disorder rooted in the understanding of addiction as a family disease. An appreciation of group and organizational dynamics is used to address the complex experience of developmental trauma that underlies addiction. Having identified the essential theoretical underpinnings of supporting recovery from addiction in Part One, the second half of the book gives a thorough nuts and bolts description of constructing a psychotherapy group and engaging productively in the successive phases of its development from initiation of treatment to termination. The book concludes with specific recommendations for group psychotherapists to increase their competence with groups, deepen their appreciation of group and organizational dynamics and develop a community of support for their own well-being.

These methods are important for psychotherapists working with addicted populations who are inexperienced with group psychotherapy as well as seasoned group psychotherapists wishing to enhance their work.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

part I|128 pages

Theoretical models

chapter Chapter 1|20 pages

Addiction as an attachment disorder

chapter Chapter 2|20 pages

Addiction is a family disease

An attachment theory perspective

chapter Chapter 3|21 pages

The family is the original group

Group relations and addiction

chapter Chapter 4|20 pages

Addiction is the attempt to maintain the original family

Trauma and its reenactment in group psychotherapy

chapter Chapter 5|23 pages

Mutual support is the key to constructing a recovering family

Twelve steps and twelve traditions

chapter Chapter 6|22 pages

Addiction to theory is the group psychotherapist's most serious resistance

Exposing the blind men and the elephant

part II|113 pages

Nuts and bolts

chapter Chapter 7|20 pages

Conception and birth

Preparing a group member

chapter Chapter 8|21 pages

Holding the infant

The opening phase of group psychotherapy

chapter Chapter 9|17 pages

Separation and individuation

Rupture and repair

chapter Chapter 10|20 pages

Play and adventure

Enabling peer support

chapter Chapter 11|17 pages

Termination

Letting go and letting God

chapter Chapter 12|16 pages

Preparation of the group psychotherapist