ABSTRACT
Group psychotherapy with criminal justice involved persons with mental illness (CJ-PMI) will incorporate Dr. Irvin Yalom's interpersonal process-oriented theory. The interpersonal process-oriented approach to group therapy refers to an exploration of group members' interpersonal relationships with each other and their relationship to the facilitator. Yalom has indicated several key components which the facilitator must be aware of and attempt to implement to adequately facilitate this interpersonal process-oriented approach to group therapy. These components include the 11 therapeutic factors of group work, culture building and norm shaping, and maintenance of a "here-and-now" focus. Yalom has empirically identified eleven therapeutic factors based on the "intricate interplay of human experience" and that opens the pathway to therapeutic change. These eleven factors are: instillation of hope, universality, imparting information, altruism, the corrective recapitulation of the primary family group, development of socializing techniques, imitative behavior, interpersonal learning, group cohesiveness, catharsis, and existential factors.
