Background
In 2018, the American Psychological Association (APA) formally recognized group psychotherapy as a specialty. This makes group psychotherapy “a defined area of practice requiring specific knowledge and skills gained through organized education and training” (Rosendahl et al., 2021). This recognition allows doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral programs to provide group psychology and group psychotherapy as formal specialties recognized by APA. Post-licensure psychologists can obtain the specialty designation through the American Board of Group Psychology. However, one of the unmet challenges is of providing a clearinghouse of evidence matching effective group treatments with specific psychiatric disorders.
Leading up to this recognition, decades of group psychotherapy research have built robust empirical support for the efficacy and effectiveness of multiple group treatments for psychological disorders (Rosendahl et al., 2018). More recently, an increase in carefully designed studies has led to sufficient empirical support to conduct eleven meta-analyses of group treatment efficacy (Burlingame et al., 2016; Rosendahl et al., 2021). These meta-analyses cover group psychotherapy for 12 disorders, including depression and bipolar disorders (Janis et al., 2021), schizophrenia (Burlingame et al., 2020), anxiety disorders (Barkowski et al., 2020), social anxiety disorder (Barkowski et al., 2016), panic disorder (Schwartze et al., 2017), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Schwartze et al., 2016), post-traumatic stress disorder (Schwartze et al., 2019), eating disorders (Grenon et al., 2017), borderline personality disorder (McLaughlin et al., 2019), substance-use disorders (Lo Coco et al., 2019), and chronic pain (Alldredge et al., under review).
Evidence-based group treatment (EBGT) website
Websites serve as convenient repositories for gathering and tracking evidence-based treatment. For example, the American Psychological Association’s Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology) (2016) created a site which catalogs individual psychotherapy treatments that have been shown to be effective for the most common psychiatric disorders. This is the first report of a multi-organizational initiative to develop a similar website to catalog evidence-based group treatments. This site aims to provide useful information to clinicians and clients about the state of evidence for group treatments by common psychological disorders. Phase 1 of this project is an international collaboration between the research teams which supported the recent meta-analyses (outlined above) and three supporting organizations. International collaborators are using the aforementioned meta-analyses, updating them with the most recent research and then summarizing this research for a specific disorder. This summary includes key treatments, studies, manuals, and clinician-friendly clinical/training resources all published on a website patterned after the Society of Clinical Psychology website. The three organizations which are making this effort possible by lending financial, logistical, and oversight support are:
- APA’s Division 49 (Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy) (SGPGP)
- American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA)
- German Health Ministry with the Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy, and Psycho-oncology at Jena University Hospital
Work has been completed on the treatments for depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Disorders currently being worked on are five anxiety and borderline personality disorders. We have finalized arrangements this month with three additional international experts who will initiate website development for eating disorders, substance-use disorders, and chronic pain.
The EBGT website aims to be a reliable, up-to-date, and user-friendly resource for exploring evidence-based group treatments. The mutual support of three organizations has enabled international collaborators to begin creating the website and will support its eventual dissemination. We hope that many clinicians and organizations can use the website to further evidence-based group treatment and support their own unique missions and clients. We also hope that the creation of this resource can lead to healthy debate and dialogue about the essence of “evidence-based treatment” in group psychotherapy (see APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-based Practiceopens in new window, 2006; APA Division 12: Society for Clinical Psychology, 20.
References
APA Division 12: Society for Clinical Psychology. (2014, July 11). Frequently asked questions. Research-supported treatments. Subhead: “Do all psychologists agree on which treatments are supported by research?” https://div12.org/psychological-treatments/frequently-asked-questions/
APA Division 12: Society for Clinical Psychology. (2016). About this resource. Research-supported treatments. https://div12.org/psychological-treatments/
APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-based Practice. (2006). Evidence-based practice in psychology. American Psychologist, 61(4), 271–285. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.4.271
Barkowski, S., Schwartze, D., Strauss, B., Burlingame, G. M., Barth, J., & Rosendahl, J. (2016). Efficacy of group psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 39, 44–64.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.02.005
Barkowski, S., Schwartze, D., Strauss, B., Burlingame, G. M., & Rosendahl, J. (2020). Efficacy of group psychotherapy for anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychotherapy Research, 30(8), 965–982.https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2020.1729440
Burlingame, G. M., Seebeck, J. D., Janis, R. A., Whitcomb, K. E., Barkowski, S., Rosendahl, J., & Strauss, B. (2016). Outcome differences between individual and group formats when identical and nonidentical treatments, patients, and doses are compared: A 25-year meta-analytic perspective. Psychotherapy, 53(4), 446–461. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000090
Burlingame, G. M., Svien, H., Hoppe, L., Hunt, I., & Rosendahl, J. (2020). Group therapy for schizophrenia: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy, 57(2), 219–236.https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000293
Grenon, R., Schwartze, D., Hammond, N., Ivanova, I., Mcquaid, N., Proulx, G., & Tasca, G. A. (2017). Group psychotherapy for eating disorders: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 50(9), 997–1013.https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22744
Janis, R. A., Burlingame, G. M., Svien, H., Jensen, J., & Lundgreen, R. (2021). Group therapy for mood disorders: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy Research, 31(3), 342–358.https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2020.1817603
Lo Coco, G., Melchiori, F., Oieni, V., Infurna, M. R., Strauss, B., Schwartze, D., Rosendahl, J., & Gullo, S. (2019). Group treatment for substance use disorder in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 99, 104–116.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2019.01.016
McLaughlin, S. P. B., Barkowski, S., Burlingame, G. M., Strauss, B., & Rosendahl, J. (2019). Group psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials. Psychotherapy, 56(2), 260–273.https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000211
Rosendahl, J., Alldredge, C. T., Burlingame, G. M., & Strauss, B. (2021). Recent Developments in Group Psychotherapy Research. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 74(2), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20200031
Schwartze, D., Barkowski, S., Strauss, B., Knaevelsrud, C., & Rosendahl, J. (2019). Efficacy of group psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Psychotherapy Research, 29(4), 415–431.https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2017.1405168
Schwartze, D., Barkowski, S., Strauss, B., Burlingame, G. M., Barth, J., & Rosendahl, J. (2017). Efficacy of group psychotherapy for panic disorder: Meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 21(2), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000064
Schwartze, D., Barkowski, S., Burlingame, G. M., Strauss, B., & Rosendahl, J. (2016). Efficacy of group psychotherapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 10, 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2016.05.001