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Be It Ever So Humble...: The Controversial Issue of Psychotherapy Groups in the Home Office Setting

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Abstract

Group leaders who have home offices may be disclosing more about their personal lives than they consciously intend. While the home office may be convenient and financially advantageous for the leader, this disclosure can be problematic for both the group therapist and group members. It may provide more information about the leader than some members want to know or are able to metabolize. And although poor boundary maintenance can occur in a professional office setting as well, the leakage in the home office is inevitable. The potential pitfalls seem to be at least threefold: over-stimulation, gaslighting, and the emperor's new clothes effect. These hazards exist independently of the leader's training, competence, or ethics. This paper examines the impact of the home office setting on group treatment. Leaders who practice from the home need to be ever-vigilant of untoward treatment reactions that are related to the setting itself. The article provides vignettes that illustrate the benefits and liabilities of the home office.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York Institute of Technology, New York. Private practice, Forest Hills, New York

    Robert S. Pepper (Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science)

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  1. Robert S. Pepper
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Pepper, R.S. Be It Ever So Humble...: The Controversial Issue of Psychotherapy Groups in the Home Office Setting. Group 27, 41–52 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022932719908

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022932719908

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