A Systematic
Approach
to Group
Facilitation
Part I:
Understanding
Adaptive
Behaviors
The Source of
Critical Incidents
Critical Incidents in
group therapy
• The key to working with groups is being able to
anticipate and use “critical incidents” whenever
they arise.
• Critical incidents are those defining moments
in which a group confronts a serious
interpersonal issue, and must deal with it.
• In order to benefit from critical incidents, rather
than being upset by their emergence, it is
important to understand their origin.
Critical incidents occur, in part,
when a group member is
engaged in “adaptive behavior”
to the extent that it causes a
disruption in the group
Definition: Adaptive Behavior is
anything a person does repeatedly in relationships that stands
in the way of becoming close or intimate with others
Two Types of Adaptive Behavior:
Reactive and Compliant
• Reactive comes from early loss or trauma
and leads to compensatory behavior, or
“interpersonal camouflage.”(safe vs.
dangerous)
• Compliant comes from imitating parents or
societal injunctions and leads to the
suppression of the shadow self. (good vs.
bad)
Reactive Adaptive
Behavior
Trauma or loss (“Y”)
gives rise to
Belief: I caused “Y” by doing “X”
This gives rise to
Formula: If I don’t do “X” then “Y” won’t
happen again
or
If I do the opposite of “X” then “Y” won’t
happen again
This gives rise to
Adaptive behavior that protects the person
from real or imagined rejection or hurt
The Origins of Compliant
Adaptive Behavior:
the Development of the Shadow Self
• At an early age, a child is rewarded for being a
certain way, and punished for being otherwise.
• When the child begins to comply with the
ideals of the parents, and behave accordingly,
there begins to be a division within the self that
results in a repression of a “shadow self.”
• The shadow is comprised of everything
considered unacceptable by one’s parents and
society.
Before long, the child loses
touch with this repressed self.
The public self continues to
perform in order to “be good”
and gain acceptance.
The shadow remains unknown,
and expresses itself in dreams
in through projections onto
others, who are different.
The Shadow, continued
• The counselor’s reactions to clients is one way
that the counselor gets in touch with his or her
own shadow self
• The group members’ reactions to each other
also provides clues about the shadow self.
• Withdrawing the projection of the shadow, and
owning one’s repressed nature is a feat of
monumental proportions.
• The end result is reintegration and wholeness.
Getting in touch with the
Shadow
• Look at your dreams.
• Look at your negative reactions to other
people.
• Look at the words you use to describe
your ideals for yourself. What are the
opposites of these words? The opposite
terms will describe the shadow self.
The Group leader’s role:
to become aware of, and to confront
adaptive behavior in such a way that
the person is not mistreated or made to
feel ashamed, and the group grows
closer as a result...
a tall order!
A Systematic Approach to
Facilitating Group Process
Around Adaptive Behavior, or the OIDFS System
• Observation
• Inquiry
• Disclosure
• Facilitation of group interaction
• Structure Statement
Observation
Attention to process, not content
• Focus on what is going on as one person
speaks.
• Focus on verbal and nonverbal behavior of
members, including the one speaking.
• Become aware over time of repetitive
behaviors that may be adaptive, but not
useful for the person or the group.
• Make an observation without interpretation in
this form: “Jack, I’ve noticed that you...
Inquiry
• Once you made an observation without
interpreting the person’s behavior, ask
an open-ended question, such as...
• Can you tell us what is going on?
• Can you tell us what you are feeling?
Facilitation
of Group interaction
• Give the person adequate time to respond.
Then, regardless of what the person says, you
need to get the group interacting around the
intervention:
• If the person says “nothing...” ask the group if anyone
else has noticed the behavior, and what reaction they
have to it. (Do not allow interpretation!)
• If the person gets in touch with a feeling or reaction that
needs to be expressed, have the person communicate
this to the group, or to a specific member.
• Then encourage response to the person’s disclosure.
Structure Statement
(optional)
• Once the group has sufficiently
processed the event, it is often important
for you to put the event in a positive and
meaningful light, by using a structure
statement, which does the following:
• Summarizes what has taken place.
• Acknowledges the courage that it took for the
member to get in touch with and communicate a
sensitive issue.
• Acknowledges the value of what has taken place,
and encourages other members to be so bold.
Summary, continued
• A respectful, non-interpretive observation
creates the conditions for a person to
become aware of his or her behavior.
• Open-ended inquiry permits a person to
respond without constraint.
• Facilitating group interaction can reap
more benefits for the person, and well as
the other group members.
• A structure statement underscores the
positive value of such stressful
exchanges.
Summary
• Adaptive behavior can limit a group’s
progress.
• Even if adaptive behavior once was useful as
protection against real threats (reactive), or
as a way to gain approval (prescriptive),
adaptive behavior is usually no longer
necessary and useful.
• Adaptive behavior is largely unconscious, and
needs to be brought to a person’s awareness,
so that corrective emotional experiences can
ensue.
Corrective Emotional
Experiences
A Group Member’s peak experience
• When a group member awakens to the
fact that they can express themselves
more honestly and that...
• certain avoided interpersonal
behaviors can actually be okay, and
• certain repetitive interpersonal
behaviors are no longer necessary
Remember!
One person’s adaptive
behavior is another person’s
breakthrough. We all are
different, and we have
different requirements for
balancing our lives.