The popularity of group counseling is growing rapidly nowadays even in Korea. Group counseling is viewed as a preferred mode of treatment not only because it is efficient but also because it is more effective than individual counseling with certain cl...
The popularity of group counseling is growing rapidly nowadays even in Korea. Group counseling is viewed as a preferred mode of treatment not only because it is efficient but also because it is more effective than individual counseling with certain client concerns. Group counseling offers the following characteristics : experiential learning, small group, feedback, climate of experimentation, structure, here and now, leadership, anxiety, psychological safety, cultural permission, and artificiality and reality.
However, despite its many advantages, group counseling has its limitations. Some clients may need individual help before they can function in a group. Some counselors and clients expect too much from the group experience and view group eounseling as a "cure all." A number of researchers and practitioners of group counseling recently agree that certain myths and misconceptions about group counseling occur with such regularity that their presence can be taken for granted. According to them, these myths may produce a set of expectations so unfavorable to group counseling that a successful outcome is unlikely.
Because many clients enter a counseling group with myths regarding the related processes and outcomes, the effective group leader must posses an understanding of these fears and misconceptions. In addition, the leader must possess a variety of strategies for challenging and refuting these myths. Some of the leadership strategies for challenging such myths include pregroup interview, providing factual information, group conceptual-low intensity responses, and group structural-low intensity responses.