8 Benefits Of Group Therapy

A few weeks ago, we featured a blog post that helped us to understand what group therapy is really like, and today we break down the topic even further to explore 8 specific benefits of group therapy.  

Group therapy is powerful

When people start looking for a psychotherapy experience, most don’t think first about finding a therapy group. But group may be the most powerful form of therapy today, as society continues to adjust to the social isolation that technology and social media has fostered. As a trained group therapist with more than two decades of experience, I can tell you that countless clients have reported to me the unique experience of leaving a session feeling uplifted by the connections they’ve made.  Below are just a few ways you will benefit from group therapy.

8 Benefits of Group Therapy

1. Enhanced Communication Skills
2. Being a member of a therapy group is an interpersonal experience. It teaches you how to better express your emotions and how to listen.
3. Increased Emotional Understanding of Yourself
4. You will get valuable, honest feedback from others in the group about your impact on them. You will learn about your outer and inner life by interacting in this safe environment.
5. Improved Mood
6. You will develop relationships with other group members that will be emotionally sustaining.
7. Decreased Anxiety
8. Group is a safe space where you can push against the edge of your anxiety and expand what you are able to experience in an intimate encounter on a weekly basis.
9. Increased Ability to See How You are Perceived by Others
10. The famous Interpersonal psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan said that mental health was the ability to see yourself the way that you are seen by others. There is no better way to experience this than in a group designed to support emotional communication.
11. An Opportunity to Experience Yourself in Different Relationships with Different Kinds of People in a Safe Environment
12. You will learn and expand in each relationship you engage in. Group gives you multiple opportunities to grow and challenge yourself.
13. Enhanced Capacity for Intimacy
14. You will be asked to communicate emotionally with other group members which will expand what you are capable of over time. This will result in deeper, more mature connections characterized by the expression of a range of feelings and will carry over to your relationships in your life.
15. Increased Capacity to Be in the Moment
16. The first part of our group contract is to express your feelings in the moment towards each other. This orients you and the group to the present moment which is where you need to be to change.

Give group therapy a chance

So give group a chance. People often say they’ve never been in a group before. To that I say, we grow up in groups, not as isolated individuals. We are raised in families, educated in classrooms, and we work with our peers. Find a cure in the environment in which you live.

Thank you, Owen, for sharing your perspective and experience with us today.

Group therapy can be tremendously helpful for many people, either on its own, or as a supplement to individual therapy.  

If you have further questions about finding a group that is right for you, we’re happy to help. Please contact our team at [email protected].

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