HOSTILITY AND SILENCE IN CLIENT-CENTERED GROUP THERAPY WITH ADULT OFFENDERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12926/etky1y59Keywords:
THERAPYAbstract
The application of group methods to the task of rehabilitating the offender received its major pioneering impetus at a historic meeting of the American Psychiatric Association chaired by Dr. William Alanson White on May 31, 1932 when J. L. Moreno introduced the term "group psychotherapy" and the concept to a skeptical audience.1 In the course of the ensuing three decades, group therapy in the correctional setting has become "our most useful tool . . . in helping offenders resolve deep-seated problems" in the words of the venerable Dean of American penologists, the Hon. Austin MacCormick, who recently hailed Moreno as "the father of group psychotherapy in prisons.
However, group therapy with offenders presents problems that are unique to working with a generally hostile, antagonistic, resistant population, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe and analyse an experience in the use of the client-centered approach with adult offenders in a large metropolitan community.
References
1. BASSIN, ALEXANDER. Effect of Group Therapy upon Certain Attitudes and Perceptions of Adult Offenders on Probation. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1957.
2. BASSIN, ALEXANDER, & SMITH, ALEXANDER B. "Group Therapy with Adult Offenders on Probation and Parole," Group Psychotherapy, 1959, Vol. XII, No. 1, 52-57.
3. GADPAILLE, WARREN J. "Observations on the Sequence of Resistances in Groups of Adolescent Delinquents," The International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 1959, Vol. IX, No. 3, 275-286.
4. ROGERS, CARL. Client-Centered Therapy. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1951.
5. SMITH, ALEXANDER B., & BASSIN, ALEXANDER. "Group Therapy with Homosexuals," in The Journal of Social Therapy, 3rd Quarter, 1959, Vol. 5, No. 3, 225-232.
6. SMITH, ALEXANDER B., BASSIN, ALEXANDER, & FROEHLICH, ABRAHAM. "Change in Attitudes and Degree of Verbal Participation in Group Therapy with Adult Offenders," in Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1960, Vol. 24, No. 3, 247-249.
7. SMITH, ALEXANDER B., BERLIN, LOUIS, & BASSIN, ALEXANDER. "Group Therapy with Adult Probationers," in Federal Probation, September 1960, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, 15-21.
8. SLACK, CHARLES W. "Experimenter-Subject Psychotherapy: A New Method of Introducing Intensive Office Treatment for Unreachable Cases," Mental Hygiene, April 1960, Vol. 44, No. 2, 238-256.
9. WARD, JACK L., RUBENFELD, SEYMOUR, & SHELLOW, ROBERT. "Countertransference as a Factor in the Delinquent's Resistance to Psychotherapy," in Group Psychotherapy, 1958, Vol. XI, No. 3, 229-242.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.