[MissCharlotte]

Has anyone participated in group? I know some have--was it you Sidony? Anyway, T has dropped a few hints and I'm wondering if he's about to pop the question--LOL

Was wondering about anyone's experience. How it works, etc. I haven't participated in a group psychotherapy setting.

[gimmeice]

I'm in group therapy. The group I am in is small and relaxed. So far I like having other people to talk to, even though I'm a very shy person.

[splitimage]

I've had lots of group therapy both in my alcohol treatment program, and when I was IP and then for 8 weeks after getting out. I still go to group therapy for addictions 2 times a week. I really like it, because you can talk about how you're feeling or your issues and get feedback from other people in the group. But if you don't feel like you have any issues you need to talk about that week, you don't have to. But both of my groups are fairly unstructured some group therapy where they're doing things like CBT or DBT or are working on a specific issue are much more structured.

---splitimage

[Perna]

I was in a long-standing, long-running, relatively stable group with two leaders, one each sex and 7-10 members. I was in it for 9-10 years, it helped me a great deal a few times but was mostly scary (but like therapy is scary :-) I didn't have any problems with the people, made a good friend and the therapists were awesome (I've dreamed about each of them).

I was also in a group in college, with an actual/"real" therapist but it was lame, during a summer session and we group members literally never spoke; sat there and no one spoke, time after time. Too, the other kids were truly "weird" like only college kids can be :-) one claimed to have mafia connections, a couple others shacked up together (generally against group rules to see each other outside group) and it was truly a miserable experience.

A couple years after college I was in another group, the leaders were psych grad students I think or new therapists, two of them, guy (whom I had been seeing for individual but he made me join this group instead) and woman and they had no clue. There was an older woman, maybe 15-20 years older than I and she was projected all over the place, I don't remember if it was at me or another woman I became friendly with, I think me. She was all but physically violent but I never spoke (so it wasn't about me doing anything to "cause" it); it appeared to be about her daughter but the leaders did nothing (to either stop her or work it through in any way) so either I or the other woman was constantly shouted at; it was scary and bizarre. Didn't get much out of that group, other than relief the few times she didn't show up that week :-)

Obviously, a lot depends on the skill and experience of the leaders, who's in the group, etc. There's a whole lot of chemistry goes into it. A little like here but in person and "scheduled".

[Christina86]

I'm in a group... it restarts every semester at school, but I've been in it for 4 groups now... so 2 years worth.

All about self-exploration, and it's run by a counsellor and pdoc (actually my pdoc, akward!)

[Kiya]

i only did ADD group for a term, i think... with my (student) t and his mentor (my proff)... so it was kind of strange. I did drop in on a depression group last month I think when i was scare of being alone with myself. Oh and all of youth group in church was like group therapy, run by our youth minister (former RN). And all our camps were virturally one long group - we had to choose between sessions of good grief, suicide, abuse, and a host of others.

i've done group therapy before, too. i guess every group is different. and i guess there are different ways of running group. some are themed (so the members have either a diagnosis in common or a particular experience in common e.g., sexual abuse). others aren't so much. some are facilitated by one person, some are facilitated by more than one. some are educational in focus (skills training) others are less structured. i'm not sure about whether i'd like to do group therapy now. see t twice a week and that basically takes one day out of my week. can't really afford more than that timewise. i do think the group therapy that i did was good value, though. i'd like to do more of it at sometime... if i ever had a kid i'd want to do group with mothers with infants. where they show you how to be appropriately responsive. figure i might have some troubles there...

[sidony]

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MissCharlotte said:
Has anyone participated in group? I know some have--was it you Sidony?

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Yup it's me. I'm in group every Monday night. My individual T runs the group, and there are 6 members + him. It's not structured around any commonality -- just 6 different people all with our own issues. It's weird. We just sit there and talk about whatever and then T will interrupt us with questions about how we feel about the interaction or the other person, etc. Sometimes I get a lot out of it. Other times I don't. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes I hate it for a while. It did help me get past some of my social anxiety -- which I was never interested in getting past anyway. I'm more interested in learning to be closer to people. I achieve that better in individual therapy, but there are some fascinating aspects to group therapy. It's a bit of a mindgame really, and I'm invariably attracted to that. And watching T interact with other people is fascinating too. Sometimes I get freaked out and quiet, only to be dragged in with questions. I don't know if I recommend it, but it's definitely interesting. Folks will give you their advice or tell you how they perceive you. Supposedly it's a mirror of how you interact in the world around you. I don't know about that though since I often don't feel like "myself" in group therapy. But I sometimes learn there, and I'm often fascinated. What the heck. Try it for a while. Then I'll have someone else to gripe to about it.

Sidony