Focused Brief Group Therapy

Focused Brief Group Therapy is an integrative interpersonal approach to brief group therapy that uses formal assessment to guide and inform treatment.

Interpersonal relationships are an essential component of our physical and mental health, but developing meaningful relationships in today's world is an ever-present struggle. This book introduces mental health providers to focused brief group therapy (FBGT), and shows how it can help reduce a patient's distress from loneliness and disconnection. Blending the art and science of therapy, this semi-structured model enables therapists to improve their client's existing interpersonal relationships, or develop new ones.

Part I offers an overview of the underlying constructs, integrated theory, and overall structure of FBGT. Part II provides strategies and techniques for implementation, and discusses the future of FBGT and its applications.

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction Overview and Rationale

Part I: The Model

• Chapter 1: Theoretical Underpinnings
• Chapter 2: Focused Brief Group Therapy Structure, Parameters, and Mechanisms of Change
• Chapter 3: Interpersonal Scale Descriptions
• Chapter 4: Leadership Attitudes, Foci, and Skills

Part II: The Model In Practice

• Chapter 5: Preparing for Focused Brief Group Therapy: Referrals and Assessment Integration
• Chapter 6: Therapy, Pregroup Preparation, and Screening: The Importance of the TPS Session
• Chapter 7: Leading the First Two Sessions
• Chapter 8: Leading the Middle and Later Sessions
• Chapter 9: Making Sense of Client Change: Triangulation of Data
• Chapter 10: Debriefing as an Essential Bookend
• Chapter 11: Research and Future Directions

References

Index

About the Author

Martyn Whittingham, PhD, CGP, FAPA, FAGPA, is a licensed psychologist in Ohio and a consultant with a private practice. He has received national awards for group practice (with Dr. Erin Frick) in 2010, from the Association for Specialists in Group Work and for teaching group dynamics from APA (2021).

He is the former president of Division 49 of APA (2020) and is a former chair of the American Group Psychotherapy Association’s Science to Service Task Force. He has authored numerous book chapters and journal articles and regularly presents on focused brief group therapy throughout the United States, China, the United Kingdom and Singapore. Dr. Whittingham is a fellow of both APA and AGPA.

He lives in Cincinnati where he derives the greatest joy from moments spent with his wife and daughter and their cat, Envelope. 

Whittingham’s text is a rich, accessible, and creative synthesis of the evidence base that guides the expert practice of focused brief group therapy (FBGT). FBGT is tailored to real-world, time-sensitive, clinical environments. The FBGT model comes to life through Whittingham’s illuminating the central importance of interpersonal communication and connectedness, and the powerful ways group therapy fosters that connectedness. This book will be of great value to both beginners and experienced group therapists, students, and teachers.
—Molyn Leszcz, MD, FRCPC, CGP, AGPA-DF, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Past-President, American Group Psychotherapy Association

This book is an incredible resource for group therapists of all levels of experience—from graduate students to advanced group therapists. Whittingham seamlessly integrates evidence-based theories and assessment into a new model of focused brief group psychotherapy that offers short-term group treatment to people with diverse needs, including interpersonal struggles and loneliness. His model can be applied to groups in private practice, counseling centers, and hospital settings. He focuses on research-based assessment, thoughtful screening strategies, and important interventions for before and after group therapy begins. Readers will be able to quickly apply his model as he has provided many interesting and useful clinical examples throughout his book. I will definitely recommend this book to my students learning group therapy and to colleagues who are looking to strengthen their group practice.
—Cheri L. Marmarosh, PhD, licensed psychologist in private practice and associate professor, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States

Whittingham takes an empirically sound model of interpersonal interactions and applies it skillfully to create an innovative brief focused group therapy. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to do brief group therapy that goes beyond simply educating patients and that harnesses the power of groups to create lasting change. Whittingham blends the best research evidence and clinical wisdom in his focused brief group therapy model.
—Giorgio A. Tasca, PhD, Professor, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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