The assessment and resolution of impasse in group psychotherapy

The resolution of impasses is facilitated by treating them as a systems-in-tension, instead of dealing with them as the result of irreversible factors in the therapist, the individual group member, or the group as a whole. Both contractual and process impasses result from the interaction of factors that alter the therapist's understanding of and reactions to patients and factors that affect the patients' understanding and reactions to their therapist. The same factors operate in patient-group interactions. Group therapists are encouraged to examine impasse situations from a dynamic standpoint, instead of labeling patients as uncooperative or untreatable, and are encouraged to shift their therapeutic approaches as clinically indicated within a coherent frame of reference.