Successful Group Intervention: What Is Group Cohesion?

Essay 1: What is group cohesion? Why is it essential to conducting successful group therapy? What measures can a group therapist apply to encourage the development of group cohesion?

Group cohesion is basically the overall attractiveness of the group for each of its members and it occurs in all types of groups. If this is not a strong feeling then the group will not and cannot be cohesive. All members must buy in to the idea that they belong and are valuable to the group. Being comfortable with other members and feeling that they care about you is most important to this process. I have read some research previously that talked about group cohesion and how members have greater self-esteem from this process because they feel important, understood,

If a member is not following this basic established rule/norm then the therapist must intervene and find out why by challenging the client who is doing so in the group. As the facilitator it is also important to remember the purpose, structure, and nature of the group. By keeping this in check you can help strengthen the group process as a whole. As the facilitator you must know the groups strengths and weaknesses to help them grow as a whole and individually. As we read in our textbook, there are many factors that affect the overall group cohesion. Two factors that I would like to specifically point out are similarities of values and cooperation. I believe these two factors are very important in running a group because without these two the common goals cannot be created or would be much harder to agree upon. I believe the group would be harder to manage if all members are not invested and actively participating on some level. Again, there are many factors that affect the group, but these seem to be the most important to me for growth. Once the group cohesion is enact it makes all the difference for the members and the

This is a very reflective time and is known as the self-reflective loop. The group ends up discussing and processing the topic at hand and then integrating it within their own life. This part seems to be the most challenging in my opinion because they must relearn their own experiences and carry the new ones out in their everyday life. Without a good group counselor and accurate knowledge of the patterns occurring it may be particularly difficult to change and create more positive behaviors for themselves. For those who have also been behaving this way for their entire life, I would expect this to be an ongoing task to make the proper changes within their everyday lives. Within the example from our class I could see that people kept wanting to discuss the there and then. I believe this is probably normal of all groups that are just starting out and that the insight of this group is very high, so they actively were trying to stay in the here and now as much as possible. Staying in the here and now can be challenging for those who are not use to being in this state/experience. Within the illumination process the group must examine the behaviors that are happening in the group