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for a strongly directive leadership style. Specifically, it was observed that if group members were allowed their own focus for very long, they tended to: (l) divert attention away from crucial therapeutic issues; and (2) interpret statements and group processes within the context of their own idiosyncratic psychopathology. Time and time again, group leaders had to interrupt dialogue in order to bring group members back to the critical issues.
The foregoing is perhaps best illustrated in terms of group members' need to take medication on a daily basis. One group member, Oscar, who is a 27 year old Hispanic male returned from a trip to El Salvador where he visited relatives. At some point during his visit he had found himself increasingly convinced that he no longer needed to take his medication. Group leaders responded to this belief with an intensified focus on issues salient to Oscar's denial of his need for medication and, simultaneously, became very directive in terms of stating that regardless of his "inner urgings"
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