Group Therapy with Adults

Abstract

Group therapy has become an accepted and often preferred form of treatment for adults who stutter. In an ideal world, the adult who stutters would be offered both individual and group therapy, each being directed at different aspects of the presenting problem. Many speech therapists have few resources in either their training or the literature if they want to become skilled group therapists. Different techniques appear to adapt more or less readily to group vs individual therapy, and intensive vs non-intensive therapy. Regardless of the technique chosen to bring about an easier speech pattern, non-intensive therapy has the advantage of facilitating gradual psychological change. Group structure is an important concept because of its implications for the achievements of each group member, because it offers a way of understanding and studying the group and hence influencing it in ways that serve the purposes of the group.