Individual work with a psychologist is very important, but lately I have become more and more inclined to think that group work is more effective. More precisely, individual and group work complement each other, and preference for only one form limits the possibilities of psychological correction. But since some clients ignore the recommendation to switch to a group, I decided to write a few lines about it. Most often, reluctance to join a group is associated with fears that “intrapersonal problems will become public,” “group members may be rude,” “there are strangers in the group,” “shyness will interfere with working fully,” “others don’t care about me,” and etc. It also happens that a client has an experience of working in a group, which he himself evaluates as “negative”. And we will say that we are most likely talking about a non-integrated experience. The group form of work can be really difficult: in a group, problems are revealed that the person himself is not ready to look at directly; psycho-emotional stress increases; the habitual way of thinking about oneself, the world and other people is disrupted. However, let us say that the group form of work in itself is not a homogeneous phenomenon. Groups are different. And at a minimum we can distinguish between “group work” and “group work”. Group work is a dynamic group format where relationships between group members matter. A dynamic group is a great opportunity to look at yourself through the eyes of other participants through their subjective attitude, the feelings that arise in response to the behavior of a particular participant. An example of a dynamic group would be the LORP group. This is a group that is always conducted by two leaders in accordance with the methodological principles of person-oriented reconstructive psychotherapy (LORP, Leningrad School of Psychotherapy - A.F. Lazursky, V.N. Myasishchev, B.D. Karvasarsky). Despite the advantages of a dynamic group, it is a procedurally complex group. In such a group there are no pre-established rules - they are developed by the participants themselves. Of particular importance here are elements of group dynamics: the goals of the group and individual participants; the phases of group development are clearly expressed, especially the stages of conflict and norming; distribution of roles and leadership issues; formation of subgroups, relationships between participants; emotional stress; likes and dislikes. Working in a group is a softer version of a group, when group dynamics are only a background and are constantly “extinguished” by the leader (there may be only one). An example of group work would be a cognitive behavioral group (CBT). If in a dynamic group the leaders tend to increase tension and expose hidden conflicts, then in the CBT group, on the contrary, the leader smooths out rough edges and helps reduce the psycho-emotional stress of the participants. What causes the intrapersonal work of a particular participant in such a group? Let's consider these mechanisms and principles.1. Concluding a contract for psychological work in a group. Before the group begins, an individual interview is conducted with each participant, where they are introduced to the philosophy of CBT and the conditions for participation in the group are discussed: health restrictions, payment, class schedule, homework system, rules for working in the group. If the participant is not ready to comply with these conditions, then the contract for psychological work in the group is not concluded.2. Consistency of individual and group goals. The main goal of the cognitive-behavioral group is symptomatic improvement and increasing the level of self-understanding, mastering psychological and emotional self-help skills. It is important to carefully consider all the subsystems of the functioning of your own psyche and learn to “think behaviorally” at each of these levels (bodily-emotional, cognitive, motor, psychosocial, value-semantic levels). Thanks to pre-selection, the CBT group always includes participants withrelevant goals so that work gets done and group time is never wasted.3. Intellectual resource of the group. Participants with intelligence not below average are selected for the group, since access to the intellectual resource of the group is one of the main principles of work in a CBT group. Group discussion, sharing and legending are the main forms of group work that maximize the personal growth of a particular participant. The intellectual resource of the group is a set of mirrors in which the participant is reflected “both in profile and in full face.”4. Commitment to the central idea of ​​CBT. The main reason for life’s difficulties is the existence of dysfunctional deep-seated beliefs, which are not always obvious to the person himself. The group sets itself the task of helping a person find irrational beliefs in himself so that he has the opportunity to directly influence them. CBT is about finding errors in thinking and teaching an alternative, more realistic way of perceiving situations. CBT assumes that a person's emotions and behavior are largely determined by his thinking. By correcting thinking errors, you can change your emotional state and influence behavior.5. Using the basic principles of CBT. These principles include the following: “think behaviorally” (what am I doing?), “problem-oriented” (what needs to be done?), “the principle of positivism” (what am I observing?), “thinking in steps” (what is my minimum action). ?), “think flexibly” (how can I think or do differently?), “focus on the future” (how does what I think and do relate to my goals?).6. Using basic rules for working in a group. These rules are established by the leader and voiced in a soft directive mode at the selection stage and at the beginning of the group’s work. These rules include: “Confidentiality” (what was in the group remains in the group; information about the group members, including first and last names are not disclosed). “Activity” and “Stop” (everyone takes an active part, but has the opportunity not to talk about things that are painful for oneself). “Non-judgmental statements” (everyone speaks about their feelings in the first person and does not evaluate the personality or behavior of other participants, does not give interpretations). “Here-and-now” (only that one is discussed in the group material that is related to the specific experience of the participant in the group and is relevant to the goals and objectives of the group). “Zero-zero rule” (we arrive and leave on time, we spend as much time on the exercise as planned). “One speaker rule” (do not interrupt). “No to food, yes to water!” (do not eat, do not smoke, do not use psychoactive substances and drinks; there is always a glass of clean water without gas nearby). Additionally, the rule of keeping a diary is also introduced (all ideas are recorded, especially in the process of legend) and the rule of independent testing of techniques (doing homework) .7. Social and psychological effects. The facilitator supports the naturally occurring effects that are characteristic of a small group. First of all, the basic factor is the optimal level of group cohesion, when trust in group members increases, value-semantic and emotional unity is felt. In such conditions, positive socio-psychological factors are enhanced. These include: social facilitation (the group helps to increase intellectual activity, new ideas and insights come); indirect experience (a person unconsciously learns from the examples and mistakes of another person); universality of experiences (a group member discovers that others feel and think in a similar way, have similar problems); expressing emotions (the participant understands that expressing emotions, communicating one’s own experiences brings relief); supporting others (allows one to feel more resilient); taking responsibility (it becomes more clear that the participant himself is the source of his own experiences, thoughts and actions and has the opportunity to independently and autonomously relate to the material/