NCJ Number
94382
Journal
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1983) Pages: 85-97
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
A therapeutic group experience for parents of delinquent children has been tested and found constructive with a limited number of articulate, stable parents, facilitating improved parental functioning in interaction with children with chronic behavior problems.
Abstract
The group therapy approach was adopted with select parents of chronic delinquents based on the conception that parents of juveniles undergoing a long period of antisocial behavior enter mourning that may last for years. Parents exhibit denial, protest, rage, and its defenses, depression, shame, and guilt. The mourning period ends with parental acceptance of the child, his limitations, and their own limitations. At this stage parents can cope realistically with the child's real strengths and weaknesses. Parents included in the program had children who had engaged in problem behavior for at least 2 years or committed major criminal offenses. The parents selected were those who could no longer deny the problem, were still committed to their children, had economic stability, did not have major personal problems, and had at least average ability to abstract and verbalize. The group meet weekly for 80 minutes, and the focus was upon child-parent interactions rather than upon marital interactions of personal problems. The group dynamics facilitated by the therapists were peer support, mutual help, feeling blessed by comparison and contrast, dilution of guilt and responsbility, mutual teaching and learning, surrogate parenting of parents, creation of optimism through testimonials, encouragement to test the effectiveness of other parenting techniques, and increase in self-esteem by becoming a helper. Improvement between parent and child occurred after successful parental mourning, as parents relaxed with their children and became ego supports rather than impotent controllers of their children. Major improvements have occurred in more than 40 delinquent children. Seven references are provided.