The synergy of group and individual psychotherapy training

Although this paper has focussed on ways in which group-therapy experience differs from the experience of individual therapy for the beginning therapist, all of the differences discussed are only matters of degree and thus are important in both individual and group therapy. Group-therapy experience tends to enhance the visibility of important aspects of all forms of psychotherapy and therefore should be looked at as a useful tool in learning all forms of psychotherapy. Experience in group psychotherapy should ideally precede or occur simultaneously with initial exposure to individual therapy rather than following afterwards as an option, as is usually the case in current psychotherapy training programs. The most important skill to acquire in learning psychotherapy is the sophisticated ability to listen. To do so involves attending to content, affect, the patient's and one's own verbal language, body language, and meta-communications, conscious as well as unconscious. Group psychotherapy experience early in one's development as a psychotherapist can be a powerful tool in developing this ability to listen. Being part of the group process allows a unique level of intimacy that is probably more equal and vulnerable than in other forms of therapy. The use of the self, and the ability to trust in the process without using theory as a barrier between ourselves and our patients, but rather as a bridge to greater understanding, can all flow from the unique experience of leading a psychodynamic group.