Online group psychotherapy: Challenges and possibilities during COVID-19—A practice review.

Abstract

Background: Online group therapy is a relatively new modality for leading groups There is not enough research yet to evaluate its effectiveness and no clear guidelines about how to do it well With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic it became even more crucial to provide clinicians with appropriate research review and practical guidelines The purpose of this article was to provide practice recommendations based on or despite the limited research Method: The article reviewed research on online therapy in general, including any on groups, followed by a summary of the obstacles in leading groups online and recommendations for creative solutions Findings: Research on online groups is still scarce, and its quality still has many limitations Discussion: More research is needed, especially on specific elements in online group therapy, such as the establishing of cohesion and therapeutic presence online, as well as how different the working alliance and cohesion are created online when compared to face-to-face groups Despite limited research, the author recommends being more active and increasing self-disclosure in online groups to compensate for the challenge of being present and the lack of body-to-body interaction Training for online group therapy is necessary (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Highlights and Implications-*Two of the ingredients of the therapeutic alliance, agreeing on the goals and tasks, can easily be achieved in online groups The third one, the quality of relationship, is still questionable *The absence of body-to-body interaction in online groups may be considered the main obstacle in shifting from the circle to the screen The absence of eye contact is especially relevant for group therapists *Presence is difficult to achieve through screen relations There are too many distractions Increasing the group therapist's self-disclosure and encouraging group members to use their imagination may be of help *Moving from in-person to online group therapy requires knowledge and training, just as when moving from individual therapy to group therapy (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)