Group psychotherapy for adolescent survivors of homicide victims: A pilot study

Objective: To conduct an exploratory study designed to evaluate the effecti veness of a time-limited psychotherapy group model to decrease traumatic sy mptoms among adolescent survivors of homicide victims. Method: Forty-five i nner-city adolescents between the ages of 11 and 19 years participated in c ommunity-based, time-limited therapy groups that were specifically designed for youths who had a loved one die because of violence. The therapy groups were based on a 10-week treatment model for adolescent survivors of homici de victims with the goals of providing grief education, facilitating though ts and feelings about grief, and reducing traumatic symptoms. Results: On c ompletion of group therapy, the adolescent participants reported an overall significant decrease in traumatic symptoms on an index of posttraumatic st ress, especially in the areas of reexperiencing and avoidance symptoms. The mean difference between pre- and posttest was a 10.03 decrease in the sum of the Child PTSD Reaction Index scores (sig = .001). Conclusion: The resul ts of this pilot study indicate that group therapy may be helpful in reduci ng PTSD symptoms among inner-city African-American adolescent survivors of homicide victims. Although validity is limited by the lack of a comparison group, the authors suggest that such a brief trauma/grief psychotherapy gro up may be applicable for suburban and rural adolescent survivors of homicid e victims as well.