Group training of social competences (Hinsch, Pfingsten)

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · Rüdiger Hinsch, Ulrich Pfingsten · 1983

What it is

Source keys used below: Manual = Hinsch & Pfingsten manual extract (2012 e-book, pp. 128–137); HP-2015 = 6th-edition sample and contents; HP-2023 = 7th-edition sample and contents; GSK-web = the authors' site gsk-training.de (Konzept, Varianten, Trainer-Seminar pages); Thomalla = GSKnast prison…

Format

• Format
• 7 sessions of about 2.5–3 hours, ideally weekly with no long breaks, so that in-vivo homework can happen between sessions. The authors advise against compact formats such as a weekend, because these leave no time to apply skills between sessions.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Practitioner training: the authors run a 1.5-day GSK trainer seminar. Its aims include running and adapting the programme and reducing the trainer's own fear of video role plays. Familiarity with the book is the prerequisite.
• Source keys used below: Manual = Hinsch & Pfingsten manual extract (2012 e-book, pp. 128–137); HP-2015 = 6th-edition sample and contents; HP-2023 = 7th-edition sample and contents; GSK-web = the authors' site gsk-training.de (Konzept, Varianten, Trainer-Seminar pages); Thomalla = GSKnast prison adaptation (2008), which lists what it took unchanged from the original; Maier = description of the standard curriculum…
• The Gruppentraining sozialer Kompetenzen (GSK; Group Training of Social Competences) is a manualised cognitive-behavioural group programme developed by Rüdiger Hinsch and Ulrich Pfingsten (1st edition 1983). It grew out of assertiveness and social-skills training but deliberately moved its focus from assertiveness alone to social competences in the plural. It is used in outpatient and inpatient psychotherapy,…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• situations that are too loaded (e.g. an abusive partner); see 5.
• warm-ups that demand performance from very anxious members too early.
• falling session ratings as an early sign of overload or a rupture (see 5).
• reinforcers that sound like flattery or manipulation; emphasise genuine interest.
• defaulting to Type R everywhere. Working: participants classify quickly and give reasons.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.