For many reasons, however, group therapy is the principal
modality for doing social skills training. Training
patients in a group is more cost effective, enhanced by
the cohesion established among the participants, augmented
by having peers serve as models and reinforcers
for each other, providing an opportunity for self-help and
peer support, and a context for participants to learn from
each other’s real-life experiences and efforts at problem
solving. Training is often defined in a nonstigmatizing
fashion as education, with the patients being able to
tell their friends and families that they are attending
a class in human relations or community life. In this
vein, patients can list their training experiences on their
resumes as an educational accomplishment with the
academic or social agency listed as the sponsor.