The effects of pretraining on group psychotherapy for incest-related issues

The effects of written, cognitive pretraining on self-reported self-disclosure and cohesion in group psychotherapy were studied. Subjects were members of time-limited psychotherapy groups that focused on incest-related issues. The experimental groups were given written cognitive pretraining designed to increase self-reported self-disclosure and cohesion. The control groups received general group information. Subjects in the pretrained groups reported higher levels of self-perceived self-disclosure than the control groups after sessions 4 (p = 0.003) and 8 (p = 0.003). Self-reported self-disclosure did not increase over time for pretrained or nonpretrained subjects. Cohesion did not differ across groups, but increased over time for experimental subjects (p = .008), and not for control subjects.