Parenting errors and their correction in group psychotherapy

One way of conceptualizing group therapy is to view it as a treatment which provides a corrective emotional experience for the various maturational problems of the group members. A basic approach to understanding maturational difficulties is to relate them to specific "errors in parenting" incurred during development. The parenting responses of nurturance and limit-setting are highlighted as being crucial to emotional maturation. A foursquare model is proposed which categorizes maturational problems in terms of the parenting errors of excessive or deficient nurturance and limit-setting. Suggestions are given about how the group therapist can identify the specific maturational difficulties of patients and facilitate their correction by promoting and utilizing various emotional exchanges occurring in the therapy group.