The group therapist and members of the group can often help make an individual better aware of how his or her behavior has contributed to personal problems. For example, Jim tends to be shy, makes poor eye contact with people, has bad posture, and speaks indistinctly because he has a habit of covering his mouth {193} with his fingers. The impression he makes on people is weak. By helping him pay attention to these nonverbal habits, group members can encourage Jim to change so he will be more successful, for example, at job interviews and generally feel more confident. APPLICATIONS OF GROUP THERAPY As we have seen, group therapy is most helpful to people with these characteristics: * They are lonely, socially isolated, or passive. * Their sense of worth depends greatly on what others think of them. * They would like to improve their interpersonal skills. * They may be drawn to group therapy for the practical reason that it tends to be less expensive than individual therapy. Group therapy has the distinct advantage of providing clients with multiple points of view; they receive feedback from the therapist as well as from other members of the group. Group therapy is potentially useful for a very wide range of problems. This is evident from the fact that most approaches to psychotherapy offer therapy in a group setting. Group therapy is generally _not_ the treatment of choice for these individuals: * persons lacking communication skills * those who lack the motivation to attend group sessions regularly or who refuse to keep information about other group members confidential outside of the group * people who are severely disturbed * individuals who are intellectually impaired * those suffering from chronic depression * psychopathic or sociopathic adolescents (who do not have a sense of social conscience) Group therapy, as we have noted, also appeals _less_ to inner-directed individuals and is therefore less likely to be helpful to them. {194} 14 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY _For couples and families with problems of communication, strain, and conflict, and for individuals whose difficulties are best resolved with the participation of other family members._ The family is the basic source of health or sickness. Vincent D. Foley, _Current Psychotherapies_ During the last forty years there has been a gradual shift away from an emphasis on individual therapy to a belief that many emotional difficulties people experience have their roots--and often, also their solutions--in their marriages or families. As this shift in emphasis grew, many therapists saw that marriage and family relationships make up units, or systems, each with a personality of its own. Members of a family gain their identities from their roles in the family system. This systems view made it possible for therapists to understand families and marriages more clearly as interdependent, interlocking, functioning wholes. {195}