Gender Dynamics in Group Therapy

[Page 644]Social categories, stereotypes, norms, and roles, including gender, can shape a person’s identity, perspective, sense of self, and daily lived experiences and become an integral part of the person’s learned behavior. Social categories structure and frame various interactions between humans. The effects that gender has on group dynamics can contextualize some presenting behaviors in group therapy. In many instances, these consequences are insidious, and some people may not detect them. In addition, gendered expectations, the gender composition of a group, and the gender of the mental health professional facilitating the group can have implications for group therapy.

Many scholars have accepted gender as a social construct that falls on a spectrum, and gender studies research supports the idea that gender is not binary or dichotomous ...