Positive Group Psychotherapy

Abstract

The positive psychotherapy (PPT) framework developed by Peseschkian provides a useful model for group therapy. Concepts such as basic and secondary capacities, which enable understanding and describing of intra- and interpersonal conflict dynamics within the same conceptual framework, apply to group dynamics. The balance model and the five stages of treatment used in PPT have parallels in group therapy and practice. The decades of therapy process conceptualization by the representatives of different psychotherapy approaches have failed to develop a uniform theory. Group therapists of various modalities integrate the understanding of dynamics from the psychodynamic, interpersonal, group, and systemic perspective with their personal experience and clinical expertise to a different extent in their work. The chapter discusses the framework and multidimensionality of dynamics in group therapy. The therapy process of conceptualization according to the PPT model presented herein is expanded by its suggested clinical application in groups that require particular transcultural reflection when working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder.