An application of group therapy to the intake process.

Abstract

conscientious intake worker at an agency to which people T come, THE or are brought for help, it must often seem that there is a special demon who arranges matters so that 1) the people his agency is best prepared to serve rarely seem to arrive a t his office; 2) those who require facilities the agency feels unable to extend do appear with annoying frequency; and 3) a number of individuals who seem to be in greatest need of the agency's assistance and might derive benefit from it cannot be helped because they perversely insist on using the agency in ways that it considers to be inappropriate or unproductive.

Multiple Impact Psychotherapy with Families

“…Most of what we have included in our program has been tried separately by others. Harris Peck (3) has applied group therapy to the intake process. Whitaker (4) has used multiple therapists as a part of brief therapy and found that resolution of countertransference problems is facilitated.…”

“…The present project has committed itself from the outset to the interactional viewpoint in its treatment of such family situations. 3…”

“…Gerald Caplan "An Approach to the Study of Family Mental Health" (mimeo), A summary of this paper appears in Public Health Reports 71, 1027-30, 1956. (2)3 The experience of two other clinicians with the method are described in the following papers: Goolishian, H. A., "A Brief Psychotherapy Program for Disturbed Adolescents", Amer. J. Orthopsychiat.…”

Extending clinical service through group intake procedures

“…Four-week screening groups were also tried, but were shortened to two-weeks because many adolescents found termination painful after having established close relationships in the group over a four-week period. Peck (1953) found that intake groups of adolescent delinquents served to provide individual data as well as an opportunity to clarify what the adolescent thought the clinic could do. He reported that adolescents in intake groups became more realistic and better able to openly express their concerns and feelings.…”

The use of an open-ended group in the intake procedure of a mental hygiene unit.

“…For example, Bitterman (1958) reports using a program of telephone evaluations to judge applicants' tolerance for waiting, and scheduling first appointments appropriately. Taboroff, Brown, Kormer, Reiser, Talmadge, Goates, and Stein (1956); Stone, Parloff, and Frank (1954);and Peck (1953) report doing Intake diagnosis in short-term groups. Taboroff found that diagnostic ratings derived from observations of behavior in groups were similar to those accomplished by psychiatric interviews and psychological tests.…”