How does the GET® Method work?

The GET® Method (Therapeutic Experiential Groups) is a specific treatment for patients suffering from borderline personality disorder based on the use of the group as a therapeutic tool. 

The subject lives an equal experience within a homogeneous group of about 8 people (in which all patients have the same type of disorder) guided by a facilitator (psychologist or socio-health worker) through 3 phases and 4 different types of groups.

  • Phase 0

    Phase 0 lasts between 2 and 3 months and consists of an initial approach by the patient. In this phase there are two treatment groups:

    • Crisis group that helps the person to identify the emotions that led to the personal crisis
    • Planning group that helps you plan your life to avoid said crises and reduce avoidant attitudes that limit your social life.

  • Phase 1

    The second phase (Phase 1) lasts from 10 to 12 months and aims to give the person the ability to recognize and manage emotions. Two new groups are therefore added to this phase:

    • Emotional activation group, which helps the person to develop the ability to recognize and discriminate emotions felt in themselves and seen in others
    • Body activation group, which, through the teaching of techniques such as mindfulness instructs the individual to perceive emotion at the body level so as to learn to recognize the physical component of emotions.

  • Phase 2

    The third phase (Phase 2), unlike the first two, is no longer a cognitive but a dynamic approach: the individual is now able to recognize emotions, manage them and plan his life. Therefore the first two groups (crisis and planning) decay in favour of two new therapeutic groups:

    • Group of active methods based on the use of psycho-dramatic techniques to represent (stage) one’s own psychic discomfort, thanks also to a knowledge of one’s own emotional world gained through the first groups.
    • Group dynamics, i.e. the analysis of automatic relational dynamics, starting from those within the therapy group, with the aim of achieving greater awareness, while improving one’s quality of life and self-efficacy.

    In addition to these two groups, there are two more evolved versions of the emotional activation and body activation groups.

At the end of the treatment there are clinically significant differences in the subject’s behaviour: the patient with borderline personality disorder no longer has the suffering that characterises him, no longer has suicidal deviations, no longer has crises. He is therefore ready to be returned and reintegrated into society.

The effectiveness of the method is proven by scientific data collected over the last 10 years, based on quality of life tests administered periodically to the patient such as WHOQOL, FFMQ and DERS.

0%
Perception of improved quality of life
0%
Ability to observe psychological states
0%
Reduction of emotional dysregulation

Data presented at the 5th ESSPD International Congress on Borderline Personality Disorder and Allied Disorders, Sitges/Barcelona, 27-29 September 2018.11