Research is at the heart of Systems-Centered Training to see if and how the theory and methods work in practice.

• Susan Gantt and Paul Cox were awarded The Group Psychotherapy Foundation of the American Group Psychotherapy Association 2011 Alonso Award for Excellence in Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy for their work co-editing the special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy "Neurobiology and Building Interpersonal Systems: Groups, Couples and Beyond," noting that "Your focus on the integration of interpersonal neurobiology with theories of group psychotherapy provide us with an opportunity to understand more fully the unique context that group work offers for rewiring the human brain. Viewing this process through the lenses of attachment theory, systems-centered group method, and couples group work, this special issue of IJGP eloquently links the lore of group psychotherapy with the science of neurobiology."

Several research papers on the benefits of functional subgrouping have been published in recent years and more are being reviewed for publication. 

• O’Neill, R.M., Constantino, M.J., & Mogle, J. (2012). Does Agazarian’s systems-centered functional subgrouping improve mood, learning and goal achievement?: A study in large groups. Group Analysis, 45, 375-390. doi: 10.1177/0533316412448287.
• O'Neill, R., Smyth, J.M., & MacKenzie, M.J. (2011). Systems-centered functional subgrouping links the member to the group dynamics and goals: How-to and a pilot study. GROUP: The Journal of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, 35(2), 105-121.

• Ladden, L.J., Gantt, S.P., Rude, S., & Agazarian, Y.M. (2007). Systems-centered therapy: A protocol for treating generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy 37(2), 61-70.

• O'Neill, R.M., Gantt, S.P., Mogle, J., Johnson, J., Silver, R., & Burlingame, G.M. The systems-centered functional subgrouping questionnaire-2. Manuscript under review.

• O’Neill, R.M., Murphy, V., Mogle, J., MacKenzie, M.J., MacGregor, K.L., Pearson, M., & Parekh, M. (in press). Are systems-centered teams more collaborative, productive and creative? Journal of Team Performance Management.

• O’Neill, R.M., & Constantino, M.J. (2008).  Systems-centered training groups’ process and outcome:  A comparison with AGPA institute groups. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 58(1), 77-102. doi: 10.1521/ijgp.2008.58.1.77

• Another paper on functional subgrouping in large groups, and a third on the benefits of SCT in work groups are being reviewed for publication, while a fourth presenting our new functional subgrouping scale is close to completion.