Inpatient group treatment on short-term acute care units

The diverse levels of individual functioning and constantly changing membership in short-term acute care groups challenge the development of true group process. The authors review the recently developing literature on short-term acute care groups, emphasizing the unique characteristics of the groups, their goals, and the therapeutic techniques that can be used to lead them. They then present an approach to short-term acute care therapy that is based on five processes identified in the literature as therapeutic for inpatient ward milieus: containment, support, structure, involvement, and validation. The applicability of the processes to the ward group serves to unify group therapy with other ongoing inpatient treatment.