Posted by sid on May 21, 2002, at 9:32:58
In reply to Group therapy, posted by Dinah1 on May 16, 2002, at 9:16:32
I'm not sure what kind of person it takes for group therapy... The sad thing is that, no matter how commited you are to it, you don't control others' commitment. It can be frustrating.
I tried it once, for several months. There were rules we had to sign on before coming to the 1st meeting. I took them very seriously. Namely, if you leave the group, you come one last time to say goodbye and to say why you're leaving. It's simple a rule of cuvulity, it seems to me, since we all talk about personal things. Well, everybody left except 2 of us, and nobody bothered to come back to say goodbye. Most people came once, decided they would not come back and that was it. So I met God knows how many people there (very rapid turnover of participants), we never got to say anything much because we never got to know each other enough, and ultimately I quit too because I got fed up with this ridiculous process. The other person who stayed and I quit on the same day, we went to the "group" meeting (the 2 of us that day, and 2 therapists), we said we were quitting, as we had promised we would do, and that was it.
I do believe that the therapists did not enforce the rules enough. And most people don't want to go to group therapy. So they try it, hate it, and never go again.
So whatever group you're considering, ask for how long people have been there... is it running properly already? Going to a new group, like I did, is more risky I believe. Ideally also, find a group that has the same issues as you (e.g.: BPD, sex abuse, drug problems, etc.). Otherwise, you get a mismatch of all sorts of things and peopla can be too much into their own problems to even understand other's problems. For example, I was dealing with major depression during grad school while others, 10 years youger than me, were dealing with the anxiety of being out of their parents house (1st year college) for the first time in their life. The gap was so incredibly large between us that we had trouble feeding the conversation.
I think it can help, but if you try verify the two things I mentioned (how long have the people currently in the group been there, and is the group's objective close to mine).
Good luck !
- sid
poster:sid
thread:3
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20020516/msgs/53.html