Abstract
A 3½ year pilot project with group treatment of emotionally ill adolescents in a mental hospital setting is reported. Twice or thrice weekly meetings combined techniques of group. psychotherapy and social groupwork, and required a relatively high expenditure of staff effort of about 25 man-hours weekly. The group incorporated patients of both sexes, an age range of 14 to 24 years, and diagnoses of both neurotic, psychotic and behaviour-disorder types.
In the first half of the group's life, the group therapy represented the only specific treatment most of its members received. Later, individual somatic and psychologic treatment was received by about half the members. About twothirds of the candidates seemed significantly benefitted; least changed were the psychotics, while those with behaviour disorders improved unexpectedly favourably. Perhaps the most beneficial result of the group's life, however, was a change in the whole staff's attitudes and the emotional climate of the hospital in regard to adolescent patients, with a decrease in the number of “troublesome” teenagers on the wards.
The literature and the experience with this group suggest that the filling of a previous deficit in affectional satisfaction comes high in the hierarchy of treatment needs of adolescents. A considerable activity is necessary on the part of therapists, who must reveal themselves in a variety of non-verbal roles differing from standard psychotherapy with adults. In this group, social interaction guided by two co-therapists of opposite sexes appears to have been the most effective treatment method.