The Therapeutic Effects of Group Process on the Behavioral Patterns of a Drug‐Addicted Group

Humanistic group psychotherapy.

“…One process study by Page (1982) showed that members of the unstructured marathon spent more than 50% of their time in this most therapeutic quadrant, ranking these interactions at the 79th percentile when compared with group norms described by Hill ( 1965). Subsequent process studies of unstructured marathon groups with male illicit drug users revealed the following: Group members ranked at the 99th percentile in time spent in the most therapeutic (confrontive) work style (Page & Bridges, 1983;Page, Davis, Berkow, & O'Leary, 1989), at the 80th percentile in time spent in the most therapeutic (relationship) content style (Page & Wills, 1983), and at the 90th percentile in the two of the four most therapeutic cells (personal-confrontive and relationship-confrontive; L. Campbell & Page, 1993). Page, Campbell, and Wilder (1994) showed that illicit drug abusers can interact in therapeutic ways without relying on group leaders to direct discussions.…”

Role of the Leader in Therapy Groups Conducted With Illicit Drug Abusers: How Directive Does the Leader Have to Be?

“…The process of treatment is the use of small-group activity in which recovering alcoholics help one another. In this traditional model, the alcoholic is described as having lost control of drinking, drinking compulsively, being in denial, and rationalizing (Guydish, 1982). AA believes that because addicts generally do not have emotional or mental resources to rely on, they need to be put in a situation in which they have to depend on the experience and wisdom of others.…”

“…We believe that the group context should provide increased chances for modeling, for practicing interpersonal behaviors, for sharing feelings and thoughts, and for gaining support as attempts at behavior change begin to succeed. It has been demonstrated that illicit drug users can make positive attitude changes after participation in unstructured marathon groups (Campbell & Page, 1993;Page & Bridges, 1983;Page & Kubiak, 1978;Page, Mannion, & Wattenbarger, 1980). Marathon groups can provide a way to help the participants learn about how they are seen by others, how they interact and relate with others, and how they can deal with other people in less manipulative ways.…”

“…The role of the group leader with illicit drug users has been described differently by different writers. Some writers emphasize that the group leader who counsels addicts needs to be highly directive and active in providing information or using confrontation (Muhleman, 1987;Yablonsky, 1969, whereas others stress using more traditional group counseling techniques (Campbell & Page, 1993;Lewis et al, 1988). This research project was designed to assess how group leaders acted during therapeutic and nontherapeutic group interactions that occurred in a marathon counseling group that was conducted with drug and alcohol abusers.…”