ABSTRACT
Dr. Joseph Shay is the co-author of Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy and the co-editor of Odysseys in Psychotherapy and Complex Dilemmas in Group Therapy. All groups have norms but different groups develop very different norms. Norms, simply put, are the shared implicit and explicit rules of a group, and comprise a major ingredient of the culture of the group. Part of the Therapist's task in group therapy is to initiate constructive norms and to recognize and modify disruptive or nontask-related norms, some of which are promoted by group Members. Yalom and Leszcz write, 'Norms of a group are constructed both from expectations of the Members for their group and from the explicit and implicit directions of the leader and more influential Members'. Group Therapists are fundamentally responsible for shaping and reshaping group norms, although the group actively participates in this process, typically to support a norm but at times to sabotage it.
