The development of group memory therapy

Abstract

Therapists are invariably short of time, and one way of dealing with this situation is to treat people in groups rather than singly. A more important reason for working with groups rather than individuals is the possibility that memory-impaired people may benefit from interaction with others having similar disabilities. Many memory impaired people believe they are losing their sanity, and this fear may be alleviated by observing others with similar difficulties. Participants in a group may also give advice to each other and may be more likely to use aids or strategies if their peers are seen to be using them. The influence of a peer group on an individual’s behaviour is likely to be stronger than the exhortations of a therapist, however well intentioned the latter may be. It has also been observed that memory groups have face validity: participants (and their relatives) believe that treatment given in groups is effective, and this in itself may have indirect therapeutic value. Furthermore, it is nearly always possible to ensure that each member of a group succeeds at something during a meeting because group therapy provides such a wide range of tasks of varying difficulty. For people used to failure it is no bad thing to provide an element of success in front of their peers.