First of all I should say that I am really into alternative treatments, and I have tried all kinds of massage, acupuncture, cranial-sacral therapy, homeopathy, and herbal remedies. The cranial-sacral therapy didn't do much for me, but I (and I've also used homeopathy on my dog) have had good results from all of them at different times. Sometimes these things have helped me where medical has failed, other times I have tried them first before medical intervention.

If you are talking tinctures, you're not talking homeopathy, you are talking an herbal extract/herbal remedy. Homeopathic remedies are in pill form, usually tiny pills, and the pills reflect the tiny amount of active ingredient that is thought to kick start your immune system and eliminate the symptoms you are having. An herbal remedy works just like medicine in terms of its effect on the body, it's just that the extract is made from plants (although as I understand some prescribed medication has plant sources too).

So what you're talking about is an herbal remedy involved in the T practitioner story, not a homeopathic one. The way you tell the story, though, and I could have gotten it wrong, you seem to object to the fact that you were asked to try it. You said no. I don't see that she "pushed" it farther, so my attitude would be what's the problem with someone asking you if you wanted to try something? That's just something that happens in T, group or not. T asks, would you like to try . . . beating a pillow with your fists, doing some deep breathing . . . . trying a body scan . . . pretending your abuser is in this empty chair . . . . etc. As long as the question isn't would you like to try doing my laundry or would you like to try having sex with me, I don't really get the problem with being asked to try something.

It seems you're a little panicked from your thread title, like you're afraid you're going to be beaten down into trying the herbal thing and you don't want to "cave." That seems a bit of an extreme reaction to me, as people who are comfortable saying no don't worry about this. I don't really understand why you would assume that this is going to be a problem in the future, even if you are asked again if you want to try it, I don't see where it's being forced or coerced or where you're being made out to be the baby who can't handle it or are otherwise being groupthinked into it. I don't know why you just can't say no if you are asked again, and maybe it would be an opportunity for you to confront something (difficulty saying no) in a very direct way. Maybe this is something you need to experience rather than something to run away from. As I think you realize by your reaction "naughty little girl", you are bringing something into this situation from the past that just isn't there now. Say no and move on; I don't see why the situation calls for more than that, unless you're looking for a reason to leave the group-- which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but I think you'd get more out of it if you left in a mindful and reflective way rather than out of a historical reactive way.

Groups are hard. There is always going to be something like this that makes you uncomfortable, different, out of step, "non compliant", or whatever. That's just the nature of group therapy and it's pretty much the nature of being part of a group in the real world, at work, socially, in the community. Being comfortable with being uncomfortable was a very valuable thing for me to learn, and I did a group T for about 9 months, then a bunch of years in a self help group.

The "higher power" thing would bug me but again, I think there is a solution that works for the nonreligious. I am not religious at all, but someone taught me years ago that many people think of the "higher power" as the "best self" (completely internal) or as something secular that inspires awe in you (for me, "nature" with the imagery of beautiful oceans, mountains, lakes, forests, etc). So when I hear higher power, that encourages me to call on the part of myself that is (as my T puts it) "how you came, not how you got" and it encourages me to use the positive powers of the universe and nature for inspiration. It doesn't have to be a religious thing.

I guess my feeling is that there is something that drew you to seeking therapy with a group, and that is probably a great instinct. Maybe this group isn't the right one for you, and I'm not trying to tell you that you should do it. But I also think that choosing something that stretches outside your comfort zone in a way that's still basically okay can be a really good thing. It can kickstart change and it can open up possibilities to confront issues you need to resolve in ways that individual T cannot.