Group Counseling: Concepts and Procedures by Robert C. Berg, Garry L. Landreth (review)

Abstract

issn 0362-4021 © 2014 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society group, Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2014 91 1 Correspondence should be addressed to Sejal Patel, PsyD, 185 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215. E-mail: devibena@gmail.com. Book Review Group Counseling: Concepts and Procedures. By Robert C. Berg, Garry L. Landreth, and Kevin A. Fall. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2012, 205 pp. Reviewed by Sejal Patel1 Group Counseling was initially published in 1979 and is now in its fifth edition. It is an excellent introductory textbook for beginning group therapists who want to conduct supportive counseling groups. Experienced group leaders in supervisory positions will find this book particularly suitable for teaching purposes. The authors are very sympathetic to the plight of the novice therapist, who often hesitates to get involved in group work at all, citing inexperience and anxiety about managing the emotional reactions of so many clients simultaneously, factors that can intimidate new leaders. The senior author, Robert C. Berg, EdD, is professor emeritus at the University of North Texas and specializes in group counseling and sports psychology. His coauthors bring a different academic point of view to the subject matter. Gary L. Landreth, EdD, is the founding director of the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas, and Kevin A. Fall, PhD, is professor of counseling and program coordinator in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education , and School Psychology at Texas State University–San Marcos. The authorship for the book is shared. Maybe this masterful collaboration among these writers can be attributed to their many years of practice as co-leaders in group work. The book is divided into 12 chapters, addressing topics such as the history of the field, various theoretical schools of thought, up-to-date practice standards, leadership training with special emphasis on the leaders’ internal experience, and the different phases of the group’s life cycle. Berg, Landreth, and Fall are great at sharing personal insights and offering suggestions for interventions based on their understanding and research in the field. 92 patel The dialogue about social justice and diversity in group counseling is, in my opinion, the fifth edition’s most salient contribution. As a South Asian woman, I am often mindful of my difference in group contexts and have experienced the various ways in which my identity has shaped my personal and therapeutic encounters. I am also committed to understanding how oppression and privilege are contextually manifested. The acknowledgment of difference is especially relevant to group psychotherapy, because so many group members are diverse in one or several major categories, including race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, and age. The chapter on this topic is an important first step toward analyzing and managing this dimension of human experience in group counseling. The authors propose that counselors begin by acknowledging their own biases and prejudices. Identifying areas of necessary personal and professional growth is essential to a multiculturally competent practitioner. I agree with the authors that group leaders will need to facilitate discussions about the diversity among the group members and also be mindful and nondefensive about the impact of their own identity on the group. Confronting differences allows members to explore their own unique identities and their impact on interpersonal schemas and relationships inside and outside group. Including the “Principles for Diversity-Competent Group Workers” by the Association for Specialists in Group Work in the appendix of a basic textbook is, in my opinion, not only helpful but also a call to action. The authors have recognized the inevitability of this historical development and have decided to take a stance. The emphasis on holistic leadership reflects the changing relationship many groups have to their leaders. Traditional authoritarian models are increasingly being replaced with more egalitarian and even-handed approaches. The group leader is expected to be more transparent about his or her personal identity in the group process. Similarly, I have noted, in intersubjective and relational therapy, the dynamic therapist is expected to bring himself or herself into the room. This change toward a more democratic, open, and co-constructed experience has parallels to the dynamics of various social settings. This book is written in a decidedly pedagogic...