In fact, one of the most important signs of this group type is that members disclose their feelings and give feedback on other reflections more frequently and positively. Eventually, the main therapist’s role in providing “therapeutic factors” develops willingness of communication in such a group. On the contrary, I am convinced that when it comes to the normal group progress, taking the main role would be incorrect.
For instance, is stated that while analyzing the open-ended group, the therapist should establish a strong person-to-person communication process so that members could build qualitative relationships. As a result, during the group’s interpersonal communication process, some members stated that when they are disclosing their situation as they are experiencing it now, the people listen to them more attentively. Contrarily, when the qualitative communication process is establishing by practicing more under the therapist’s “active” control, some group members might begin filling themselves uncertain in their speaking abilities so that the simultaneous intervention in the process might destroy the previous therapist’s work.
Turning to difficult cases, some group members might experience narcissism syndrome during the whole communication process, so that it is crucial to demonstrate how harmful this behavior may be for the group’s advancement. This practice might help indeed when it comes to the “medium level” narcissists. However, some people are so concentrated on their ego that they even do not notice placing themselves in the centre of the attention. To my way of thinking, these group representatives should be muted during the whole communication process. As a result, the narcissist will become bored by avoiding listening to others so that at certain point they will start listening and analyzing other people’s statements.
From another perspective of the group analysis, the most common experience for each group is subgrouping: dividing the single group into different units. As a result, the subgrouping negatively impacts the whole therapy course due to the specific members’ inclusion or exclusion from some subgroup. This process might lead to conflict, which is valuable for each therapy course due to its significant influence on group advancement. On the other hand, when a group is experiencing excess separation, it will be more important for certain individuals to create another group of people within the same entity so that they could additionally reflect on their specific “uniting” issues.
Reference
Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2020). The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (6th ed.). Adfo Books.