The group psychotherapy movement at the millennium: some historical perspectives

Although almost a century old, group psychotherapy has experienced an unprecedented expansion over the last 50 years. By the 1970s, human helping groups had found application in virtually all the human services, including the media. The growth of professional organizations for group work specialists was accompanied by a burgeoning literature and by accelerated research endeavors. The recent advent of the managed health care "revolution" has shaken the very foundations of this prospering group psychotherapy movement. Undue pressure from third-party payers for greater accountability and for cost-containment has come to threaten the traditional autonomy and dedication to quality of care by group therapy practitioners. Professional organizations have begun to meet these challenges by educational endeavors addressed at insurers, legislators, and the public. Current training programs and literature for clinicians have focused on the need for a new "business orientation" and on less costly group treatment measures (i.e., short-term and combined). Given group therapy's proven effectiveness, coupled with its practitioners' flexibility, the movement is bound to regain its secure footing at the dawn of the new millennium.