Eek! Fear! Group therapy in 3 hours!

Eek! I have group therapy in 3 hours. I'm new at it and it still makes me nervous. I'm sitting here thinking "oh no what am I gonna to say tonight?" Luckily one of the other members has a pressing problem, and so maybe we'll focus on her.

I hope it becomes less scary so maybe I can benefit from it.

Sidony

awww sid, dont worry about what you're gonna say now, just let it come to you once you're in there! try to relax, and take things as they come.

<3
mel

Thanks, I survived. :-)

Group therapy is scary as hell though (to me). The people in the room were SO emotional. At least 2 people were crying. I almost never cry and definitely won't in a room full of people. It makes me feel a bit alienated. The intensity of other people's emotions scare me.

I wish I could talk in there the way I can online. :-\

Sidony

Although it can be scary it tends to get easier and more comfortable fairly quickly or at least it did for me. You will be fine and good for you for joining in!

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I wish I could talk in there the way I can online. :-\

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Me too!

I'm so glad you survived. It does sound intense!






..

(((((((((sidony)))))))))

Oh yeah, I can definetely relate. I've been in two groups now (I'm currently in my second one) and it takes a lots of getting used to. How long have you been going? It took me over 2 months (once a week group) to even remotely get used to talking much without feeling horribly alienated. People's strong emotions also bothered me, and there was this one person who cried basically every single session - same thing this time around too. Different processes of dealing with things for different people, if you don't want to cry then you don't have to. If you ever want to though, it's not the end of the world because I'm sure the people running the group wouldn't mind (they might even welcome it) and I doubt everyone else in your group would be at all upset. Take it a bit at a time. If you have to think about something you want to say before group instead of just saying whatever is on your mind, that is always a good starting point. There is NEVER a wrong answer or thing to say.

Take care of yourself.

((((((((( sidony )))))))))

((sidony)), I'm not a group person. I did do group therapy for a yr in the treatment centre I had been in, but I found I couldnt be myself like I can in a one to one situation..I was to busy putting up walls to protect myself, that took up most of my emotional time..

Thanks everyone for the support!!!

To answer canders7 that was only the 4th session I've been to and the first group I've ever been in. I've never been very emotionally expressive, so I don't even know what to do when people cry. I felt sorry for the lady who was crying -- I mostly felt bad that I was there (she had revealed something about herself that was embarrassing and probably didn't like having to do it in front of a total stranger [me]). But I didn't have a clue what to say. I said a few things about myself (described a painful recent event), but I didn't know what to do with anyone's reactions and I felt like most of the emotion was gone (from me) when I was trying to describe things.

mouse_ I agree that it's hard to be myself in a group. I'm much different one on one, so I do wonder how this will be helpful. I'm afraid it will just end up feeling kind of artificial. It's only because I trust my therapist so much that I'm trying it at all. But I admit, it's kind of fascinating even when it's scary. I don't know how people cope with feeling so emotional. (One of my topics in therapy is how I DON'T get very emotional and find it difficult to become close to people.)

Anyway I'll keep going for a while yet and see whether it's helpful or not.

Thanks for all the support! I appreciate it!!!

Sidony

You are brave, Sidony. I was in group therapy for panic disorder once, but only one other person ended up coming. And I couldn't stand the lady, she really got on my nerves.

It's amazing how some people can be comfortable with sharing in front of a group. I am currently in school to be a therapy (go figure), and sometimes my counseling techniques teacher has a volunteer come to the front of the class to do a mock therapy session with him. Well, both times that he did it last semester, the volunteers spoke about real issues that were going on in their lives... they thought that the issues would be safe to speak about, and that they wouldn't get upset... Well, both times, the volunteer ended up crying in front of the class. It was all very amazing to watch, and of course the class was very supportive. But I was thinking, "Wow, I could never do that!"