Introduction to Special Issue: Feedback in Group Psychotherapy

The current issue highlights the necessity of feedback in group psychotherapy-both monitoring group member feedback during treatment and providing feedback to group members before and during group therapy. Regardless of the orientation or type of group, collecting members' perceptions and experiences influences how the group leader identifies members who are struggling in the group or are at risk of dropping out. Providing group members with feedback during the pregroup preparation and throughout the therapy process is also helpful to group members as they work to obtain their goals in the group. The author describes what types of measures are useful, how collecting this information impacts the treatment process such as repairing ruptures, and how feedback relates to treatment outcome. Group leaders will be able to apply these articles and feedback processes to their groups, and group researchers will be able to identify future studies that are needed to move the field forward.