Working Through Family-Based Problem Behavior Through Activity Group Therapy

A six-member young adolescent group of boys met weekly throughout the school year with the school social worker, who utilized Activity Group Therapy to provide an opportunity for them to advance their psychosocial growth. The boys developed various subgroup configurations as they used one another in relationships that moved them toward their respective goals. Postgroup content analysis revealed that each boy had acted out, and had significantly worked through, problems which he had developed within his family and had displaced onto the group. An understanding and acceptance of the dynamics which arise out of the liberal environment of these groups is a prerequisite for checking countertransference so that the group process will not be interrupted.