Group psychotherapy on state hospital admission wards

Group psychotherapy with chronically mentally ill patients on psychiatric admission units can be a complex and challenging endeavor. Besides a varied and unmotivated population, numerous other factors that are specific to the admission units of state-supported mental hospitals impinge on the therapeutic process. These factors need to be taken into consideration in conducting group psychotherapy. The current article delineates some of the problems that can affect group therapy in state-supported psychiatric facilities, and some of the techniques that the authors found efficacious in conducting group psychotherapy are discussed.