Damaging and negative consequences of group treatments

As general in psychotherapy, there are only a few systematic studies concer ning negative consequences of group treatments. This article provides an ap proach to this issue by discussing risk factors specific for the group sett ing that can be derived from practical contributions and scientific studies on the indication and prognosis of group psychotherapy. Furthermore, resul ts related to the group process and to drop outs in therapeutic groups are discussed. Characteristics of the group leader and the question of a compat ibility between the treatment concept and groupmembers' characteristics are further issues that can be used to approximately reflect the negative sequ elae of group psychotherapy.