Pre-therapy training for adolescents in group psychotherapy: contracts, guidelines, and pre-therapy preparation

Although adolescents in psychotherapy groups have been described as requiring more structure and preparation than adults, and as generally showing more critical deficits in verbal feedback and other interpersonal skills necessary for successful group functioning, no specific, detailed programs for preparation and pretraining of adolescents for group therapy are described in the literature. The present paper outlines a specific program developed for outpatient adolescent psychotherapy groups which has successfully speeded development of group cohesion, increased expression of positive expectancies for treatment reduced time spent in "pass-time" discussion, decreased verbalized concerns over confidentiality issues, and facilitated growth of patient skills in giving and receiving verbal feedback.