title: The selection of patients for group therapy.
abstract: Patients are selected for group therapy primarily on the basis of therapists' clinical judgements. Although a number of clinicians have attempted to specify what these judgements might be, a brief survey of these accounts shows little agreement apart from the proposal that appropriate patients should have interpersonal difficulties. Most clinicians appear to select patients on the basis of whether they are suitable for the type of therapy on offer (e.g. dynamic psychotherapy or behaviour therapy), rather than the format of the therapy (e.g. individual or group). Recent attempts to use self-report questionnaires also confound therapy type and therapy format. However, it is argued that a combination of clinical judgement, self-report questionnaire, and observation of patients in preparatory groups may overcome the problem of premature termination--a problem that has negative effects both for the patient who drops out and for the patients who remain.
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods