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Group Psychotherapy for Psychological Trauma. Edited by Robert H. Klein and Victor L. Schermer. New York: Guilford Press, 2000, 364 pp., $45.00.
Group psychotherapy has long been considered one of the most important treatment modalities for posttraumatic stress. Because the devastating impact of trauma on interpersonal trust, closeness, and pleasure is not included in the diagnostic criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), there have been relatively few articles or books that articulate why groups are so critical for the treatment of trauma. Dr. Robert Klein and Victor Schermer have put together the first comprehensive text on group therapy of psychological trauma. Their introduction immediately reveals a vast clinical experience and a thorough knowledge of both the fields of group psychotherapy and of trauma. This book represents the diverse viewpoints of authors with experience in dynamic group psychotherapy with a variety of traumatized populations. As a result this book is a wonderful synthesis of psychodynamic approaches to the group therapy of trauma victims.
Why is group psychotherapy so important for trauma victims? Because most human trauma occurs in the context of damaged interpersonal relations, trauma is likely to result in a disruption of one's sense of being a member of the human race. Trauma, by definition, overwhelms people's psychological and biological coping mechanisms. When people's own coping resources are inadequate, they become dependent on others to compensate for their helplessness. A situation becomes traumatic when such outside compensation fails to save traumatized persons from becoming overwhelmed, and when they are left to fend for themselves. Every trauma victim describes a profound sense of loneliness and abandonment-first at the time of the trauma, and, subsequently, when the memories of helplessness, terror, and abandonment come back to haunt them.
After having been traumatized, survivors need to regain a feeling of safety. This is partially done by restoring the capacity to effectively evoke help from others, and recover the capacity to trust people to help change the way one feels. Trauma survivors need to regain a sense of communality: how people together can affect their destiny. This is a particular problem for survivors who blame people on whom they relied for love and...