Paper Title
Reflections on the Highs and Lows of Experiential Teaching Group Psychotherapy with Graduate Students in Egypt

Abstract
Using experiential teaching methods to teach a class on group psychotherapy is a gamble. It can produce extraordinary highs; or devastating lows. When it works it can be a positive life changing experience for many developing counselors. When it doesn’t work it can be a pedagogical impediment. This paper examines the challenges and successes of employing this method instead of traditional lecture, or didactic formats, when teaching group psychotherapy at the graduate school level in Egypt. This paper specifically looks at the application of Irvin Yalom’s Group Psychotherapy techniques. Yalom is a master group psychotherapist and wroteThe Theory and Practice ofGroup Psychotherapy; this book is considered to be the “gold standard” in how to conduct and teach group psychotherapy. The paper focuses on (1) WhetherYalom’s techniques are culturally bound and their application to graduate students in Egypt, (2) the importance of pre-screening to measure graduate students’ level of personal and professional insight before choosing a pedagogical approach, (3) the impact of collegial support of experiential teaching, (4) the challenges of grading and objective performance assessment in an experiential setting, and (5) the pros and cons of solo versus co-teaching group psychotherapy.