Inpatient Group Psychotherapy

by Irvin D. Yalom

This essential book for front-line clinicians offers new ways of conceptualizing the techniques of group therapy for use on acute wards. Yalom makes a strong case for the efficacy of group therapy on all acute wards. He discusses how to structure the session and the kind of support that should be offered. The emphasis is on the here-and-now. He then presents two models of groups: one for the higher functioning and one for the more regressed psychotic patients.

Genres: Psychology, Health, Counselling, Psychiatry, Mental Health, Social Work

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Irvin David Yalom, M.D., is an author of fiction and nonfiction, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and accomplished psychotherapist.

Born in a Jewish family in Washington DC in 1931, he grew up in a poor ethnic area. Avoiding the perils of his neighborhood, he spent most of his childhood indoors, reading books. After graduating with a BA from George Washington University in 1952 and as a Doctor of Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine in 1956 he went on to complete his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and his residency at the Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and completed his training in 1960. After two years of Army service at Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu, Yalom began his academic career at Stanford University. He was appointed to the faculty in 1963 and then promoted over the next several years and granted tenure in 1968. Soon after this period he made some of his most lasting contributions by teaching about group psychotherapy and developing his model of existential psychotherapy.

In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In Everyday Gets a Little Closer Yalom invited a patient to co-write about the experience of therapy. The book has two distinct voices which are looking at the same experience in alternating sections. Yalom's works have been used as collegiate textbooks and standard reading for psychology students. His new and unique view of the patient/client relationship has been added to curriculum in Psychology programs at such schools as John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

The American Psychiatric Association awarded Irvin Yalom the 2000 Oskar Pfister Award (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry).

Yalom has continued to maintain a part-time private practice and has authoried a number of video documentaries on theapeutic techniques. Yalom is also featured in the 2003 documentary Flight From Death, a film that investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of death, as related to subconscious influences.

source: Colibri Bookstore

Reviews

[Leni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein verdammt gutes Buch!!!

[Gediminas Tumėnas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, clear, practical, useful, methodical, helpful... a great book. I highly recommend to anyone who is leading psychotherapy group in inpatient unit.

I read this book while I was volunteering (as a student of clinical psychology) in local psychiatric hospital for quite a few months. One of my activities was leading inpatient psychotherapy group in co-therapist's role. The experience of trying to understand what processes are happening in a group while at the same time trying to figure out what to do about them AND reading this book was insanely (yep, I wrote that on purpose) good learning experience.
I was constantly asking myself before the group: "What can I do today to make this group more efficient and helpful?" and after the group: "What happened today and what could I have done better in this group?" and every time I got answers in this book. It felt like I was visiting Dr. Yalom for supervisions. I am thankful for this book.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my supervisees had questions about how to conduct group therapy, so we looked for books to guide her on how to be more successful in group.Yalom's books were about the only ones available. I can see why--this book provided an excellent outline for how to conduct group therapy in an inpatient hospital, with clear, concise goals. My best take-away is that, when you conduct group therapy in an inpatient hospital, you do not have time to establish a group culture, so you have to consider the life of the group a single session. That, and how little has changed in inpatient hospitals from the 1970s when this classic was written.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine große Unterstützung für die Arbeit in tiefenpsychologisch fundierten Gruppen.

[Sean Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like his book on group psychotherapy, this was very useful as I work at an inpatient psychiatric hospital, and this book, in conjunction with group psychotherapy, has helped me be a better group therapist.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focuses your group facilitation skills and mindset on the fact that the inpatient therapy group really only exists for a single session and to be a good facilitator, you need to be an efficient one. I really learned how to facilitate detox groups, which are usually high level due to their voluntary nature but also how to faciltiate psychiatric groups with severe mental illness presentation that prevents highler level work through utilizing problem solving and group relatedness. I will always rememeber that in inpatient groups, one must be totally supportive towards the client of their effort, focus on positivity and mutual support, lowering anxiety about being placed in an inpatient setting, spot problems and encourage continued outpatient treatment, and tune into interpersonal problems clients face as what to work in the group rather than only doing emotional check ins.

[Nongnuch Tst]

Cool

[Çağatay Akkaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bilhassa grup terapisi ile kuramsal ve kurgusal öykülerde çok başarılı Yalom.

[Elif Şimşek]

read read read...