Measuring the Effects of Group Interpretations with the Severely Mentally Ill

This paper focuses on the difficulties in working interpretatively with severely mentally ill patients in groups. Often patients ignore or defeat the interpretative interventions of the group therapist. This research explores the relationship between group interpretations and the responsiveness of groups of severely mentally ill patients to these interpretations. Seven elements or dimensions of interpretation are identified. A coding manual measures these aspects of interpretation and provides a measure of patient responsiveness. The results of the study give some support to clinical experience in working with these patients where efforts to help them can be defeated or `attacked' by the more ill part of the patient. The methodological difficulties in this research are discussed. A Bionian theoretical framework is forwarded to formulate the hypotheses for the research and to explore the implications.