Group Therapy with Children (PDF)

Peer groups have a great significance in children's development. Since children express their problems through play and action, Alfons Aichinger and Walter Holl have developed the basic ideas and intervention possibilities of psychodrama for group therapy work with children in a process spanning over 35 years. Using vivid examples, they describe the appropriate composition of a group of children, the structure of a group therapy session, the group process, disorder-oriented and group process-oriented interventions and the demands placed on the leaders of these groups.

• Preparing for the Group

• The External Framework
• The Structure of a Psychodrama Session and Therapeutic Techniques
• The Complete Group Process
• Special Interventions with Individual Children
• Group Process Oriented Interventions
• Demands on the Therapists
• Operating in Networks

Target Groups

Specialised professionals who work with children in a pedagogical or psychotherapeutic context, such as child and adolescent psychotherapists (psychologists and physicians), mental health and social workers, teachers and educators.



The Authors
Alfons Aichinger, Head of the Caritas Association's Psychological Counselling Centre for Parents, Children and Youth in Ulm, Germany for 37 years; Supervisor and Head of Advanced Training at the Moreno Institute in Stuttgart and the Szenen Institut in Cologne, Germany.
Walter Holl, Child and adolescent psychotherapist in Ulm, Germany and Head of Advanced Training at the Moreno Institut in Stuttgart, Germany.