Irvin Yalom Outpatient Group Psychotherapy Video

this video is Disneyland compared to what actually happens in these groups. I was in one for about six months. It was unbelievable. it turned into a mob rules scenario while the "therapist" sat back and let it happen.

Someone explain how a circle of people scapegoating and ridiculing "Alice" would help give her more freedom and ease. It struck me as reinforcing a social hierarchy and therapist Yalom only moved to encourage it. Cruelty is labeled as "honesty." Is this process supposed to teach interactive skills these people will take out in the world? I can only imagine the results of talking like this to the world at large.

This is comedy Genius

The video description says it is a reenactment of group therapy sessions. They might as well be using real information shared previously in sessions, but it appears these are all actors. The point is not how well they pull it off, but the processes involved in group therapy.

Mentally ill people do not belong together.

Your comment shows pretty strongly that you are missing the point of group therapy. This is not a business meeting or a college classroom. Critical reasoning is wonderful, however it can cause more harm than good in a process group sometimes. A process group needs all the input -- regardless of how accurate it is. If it is part of any group members perception, then it might as well be true, and needs to be addressed as such.

Well, use a little reasoning yourself. Just because he took the spotlight off one person doesn't mean he does it with everybody all the time. You overgeneralized there. Maybe there is something about Alice's character that triggers him to respond only to her in that way. Maybe he feels he can get away with it when he does it to her, but not with others. Maybe he feels content just doing it once. Who knows. It was just a suggestion someone made. You have to explore it to find out the truth.

Re-enactments always come across rather artificial.