Group Therapy

Group therapy offers the opportunity for benefits in several areas. It gives the therapist a unique view of the patients as they interact with each other in a social setting.

It gives the patient a wide variety of benefits such as:

Open Self-Expression
Group therapy provides a safe space for open self-expression about the patient’s most challenging thoughts and feelings. Being able to express themselves openly is cleansing and beneficial to the patients, relieving their stress.

Personal Growth
The patients discuss their difficulties. Being accepted by the group helps encourage others to open up, which allows them to take responsibility for their actions, opening them to personal growth throughout the process. Group therapy sessions almost always result in interpersonal and personal development.

Commonality
Having this commonality creates a safe space and relieves the sense of isolation they have been feeling, often caused by the patients’ phobias, anxiety, addiction, or other psychological issues they may be feeling. The patients each experience the feeling of belonging and acceptance they have been missing by helping each other.

Self-Awareness
Group therapy gives the patients the rare opportunity to receive immediate feedback on what they are saying and feeling in a safe space that is impossible to get out in the real world. The therapeutic environment in the group allows for a place where both the therapist and the patients can be direct and truthful. It can lead to participants opening to trusting people outside the group.

Socialization Techniques
The group setting becomes a safe space for participants in the group, and they are encouraged to engage in social behavior even if it’s new or challenging for them. Being in a safe space enables the participants to open up and trust each other without fear of being embarrassed or rejected. It helps teach about healthy interactions with others.

The therapist guides the group and shows them how to focus on their feelings and improve their behaviors by learning from others and discussing “good vs. bad” behaviors and interactions. The therapist guides this conversation based on direct observation data from the group.

Hope
In most cases, the group is ongoing, so there is always a mix of new patients and some attending for a while. Those new to the group learn by example from those who have already been attending for a time. It provides hope that they will be on the same path to recovery.

Shared Information
Throughout the group therapy process, the participants will share similar situations, allowing the members to relate to each other positively and boost self-esteem.