The group psychotherapy has a strong application in the field of the addiction treatment. The time- extended, marathon groups are a specific type of the group therapy. The marathon group s contribute to the bigger openness, involvement, emotional reactions, degrading of the personal defenses and also offer a space for learning a new behavior. In this article we present our experience with the marathon group s with the patients in residential treatment. The content analysis of the opinions and experiencing of the patients, participated in the marathon group s during their treatment, brings the evaluation of this kind of the group therapy for the further growth and functioning of the patients.

Key words: group therapy – marathon group – self-awareness