Activity-Based Group Psychotherapy

Activity-based group psychotherapy is used to describe approaches that intentionally employ physical, social, and emotional group tasks as the primary focus of the psychotherapeutic process. Activities include but are not limited to play, games, movement, dance, art, music, physical challenges, and drama. Goals of activity-based group psychotherapy may be combinations of communication, cooperation, problem solving, and trust; in addition, group members often view the activities as fun.

Activity-based group psychotherapy focuses on actions as the therapeutic process. Therapists assess the group and the individuals within the group, select and match activities using either structured curriculum or spontaneous cocreation, and facilitate the discussion of the activity as a reflection on the group’s process. Activities allow the therapist and fellow group members to observe behavior in the here-and-now ...