Just as with all kinds of therapy there are different variations with-in group therapy for different age groups and people from different backgrounds. It was started mainly in the 70’s and developed from the original, what was known as social therapy, to the many kinds of therapy you see today. This type of therapy is widely used with groups of people that have substance abuse problems whether they are with alcohol or drugs. Some of the many different types of group therapies include groups such as;

Group therapy for depression

Group therapy for children

Group physical therapy

Art group therapy

Group therapy games

Group play therapy

These kinds of therapies are not just restricted to the older people with substance abuse problems especially with groups such as art and play groups that are a great alternative to counselling for children. Some of what the different therapy groups include in the sessions and the problems each one tends to help mostly with include;

- Play therapy – This type of therapy is very helpful with children and the way in which it works is by the group of children being observed by the therapist playing with various toys such as doll house and pets. It is a great way for children with social problems or anxiety to work through them as from the psychologist being able to monitor the children in free play they can determine certain problems that the children may have and there fore talk through the problem with the child, preventing this problem from affecting them greatly in the future. However, this kind of therapy is not always strictly used for children only it is also used for adults that may have retardation or suffering mental disorders due to an accident.

- Family therapy – As the name suggests this is mainly for families and couples and it stems from the more well known therapy of couples, marriage counselling. There are many situations in which families need counselling for example if they are dealing with a loss in the family or if there has been a trauma that affects the whole family such as one parent leaving and then returning to give things another try, with a situation like this you may think marriage counselling would be sufficient but you need to make sure any children involved are aware of why this happened in the first place and how its not going to happen again in the future helping to give them a feeling of stability.

There are many other types of therapy and there are even groups that specialise in specific problems rather than the standard group therapy that tends to have a general approach. This is so people with problems such as anorexia can see other suffering from the same problem as them and some times helps them have an insight into their true feelings as they see others that are extremely under weight convinced they are over weight.