User:Jacobisq/Encounter Groups

Encounter groups are small (6-20 person) groups, relatively unstructured, which come together to promote human growth through informal interaction.

Origins
Encounter groups emerged from the T-groups or 'sensitivity training groups' of post-World War Two America. Where the latter were initially mainly concerned with organisational problems, encounter group drew on the ideas of the Human Potential Movement, and extended the group idea to broad population of 'normals' seeking personal growth. Their name was derived by Carl Rogers from the existential tradition of an authentic encounter between people.

Focus and legacy
The focus of the encounter group is on here-and-now interactions among the group members, and on their group experience; and works by following the energy of the emerging issues in the group, and dramatising them in verbal or non-verbal ways. An atmosphere of openness and honesty is encouraged throughout. Authenticity and self-actualization are prominent goals.

The heyday of the encounter groups was the Sixties and Seventies: thereafter nonverbal interaction was increasingly discouraged, and the legacy of the encounter group became a more modest emphasis upon process in the group. Another, more fortuitous legacy was a new rigour in research methods of study of group work and its outcomes.

Disadvantages
Reservations about the encounter group were early voiced by some of its practitioners like Carl Rogers, who was concerned about its potential for intrusive, bullying behaviour: he concluded that a solid ego was needed to profit from it in the first place. Eric Berne similarly pointed to the danger of the group only providing a series of insights as insults, without any containment for negative reactions.

Analysis of group encounter results revealed significant effects for both good and bad: where one/third of participants found some lasting benefit, 8% found lasting negative results.