Things Unsaid in Group Counseling: An Empirical Taxonomy

Abstract

Two studies were performed to examine things unsaid in group counseling. In Study 1, 28 group members described 317 things they had left unsaid during group counseling sessions. Cluster analysis identified 10 categories of things unsaid. In Study 2, the derived clusters were used by trained raters to categorize a new set of things unsaid by 28 group members. In addition, the relationships between the type of things unsaid, the stage of group development, and participant sex were examined. As hypothesized there were more advice and outside things unsaid during the orientation‐inclusion stage and more positive feeling and empathic things unsaid during affection‐cohesion stage of group development. There were also a number of significant interactions between participant sex and stage or group development for several categories of things unsaid. Implications for counseling are discussed.