Poll Have You Tried Group Therapy

[Marie E.]

If I don't get along with a few people who are self centered and not wanting to heal, than it intrudes it all for me!!

 

[livergirl70]

I am currently in group therapy, have only had a few sessions and am finding it hard. Am hoping it will get better

 

[Ted Moen]

My first ptsd group was in 1985, and most of the participants were veterans employed by gm who were there as part of their alcohol program. That one didn't go too well. Then I was in a group at an outreach center in 1987. Most of that group was court ordered and on thorazine. That one didn't go too well either.

Then in 1995 I joined a group intended for combat vets with severe ptsd challenges. It met 3 days a week for 2.5 hours each session, and was run by a team of VA psychologists. That group helped me a lot. After 7 years in that group, I switched to a related group for people who had gained more control of their symptoms and stayed in that group for another 2-3 years. In addition I participated in quite a few well monitored groups as an inpatient. Those were excellent groups.

Overall, those groups that were focused on abuser bashing, what government should have done, how unfair stuff is, and so on range from a waste of time to having a negative impact on me, leaving my more wound up that I started. On the other hand those groups that focused on some aspect of learning to live with ptsd had a positive impact on me, giving me some aspect of learning to live with my symptoms to focus on between groups.

Along the way, I learned that how group goes depends more on the participants than on the moderator. The participants are there to talk about something they are uncomfortable talking about in a safe environment. It's kind of an approach-avoidance situation. There is a natural tendency to engage in avoidance behavior, telling war stories, complaining about stuff you have no control over, and so on. It takes participants willing to focus on learning to live with ptsd and demanding the other participants (gently) do the same to make the group work.

Ted

 

[freakofnurture]

All the in-patient treatment I did in my life - 15 weeks now - consisted mostly of group therapy. Aside from my problem with sitting in chair circles (always, always chair circles!) and groups in general I didn't find it particularly helpful.

The main reason for this might have been that at first my diagnosis wasn't clear, and later I was the only PTSD person amongst people with mostly a bit of anxiety and reactive depression who didn't understand what was going on with me. It was very stressful for me.

I'll receive trauma therapy in a group setting some time in June and report back then.

 

[Invisible-Guy]

Never again.

 

[Rumors]

What happened IG?

 

[maddog]

I never, ever thought I would take part in group therapy. Then again, I never, ever thought I would take part in therapy at all!

I have now completed 2 3-week in-patient hospital stays and have been attending a day programme twice weekly, off and on, for several months now. All in all I have found group therapy to be an experience that takes a while to get used to and a darn sight longer to become any help or benefit, but if you stick with it, are truly dedicated and are lucky enough to have a good and stable facilitator and a relatively committed core group of attendees, it can actually be a very very rewarding supplement to individual therapy.

And yes, for me, group therapy could only ever be a supplement and not a substitute, but a good supplement nonetheless.

The thing about it is that there are many variables which impact on its safety, utility and effectiveness. The participants and their level of respect, social skills, self awareness, commitment and compassion for each other is a critical and very fluid dynamic. Perhaps even more important is the facilitator. Group dynamics, particularly with groups of often unstable people, are very very difficult to manage. A good facilitator can make it - a bad one can break it. And not all therapists can transfer their individual therapeutic skills to a group context - managing a group is a very different skill set.

I say all that to say that I, overall, and with several rocky exceptions, have had a positive group therapy experience. But I have no trouble understanding or accepting how some people don't.

Maddog

 

[Venusian]

I tried group a year ago. I thought I was ready but I wasn't. I kept getting triggered by little things other people would do or say. In one session I was paralyzed, I knew I should have left the room but I couldn't. I was in a flashback and I could just sit there and listen to "his" words coming out of the mouth of the counselor. She took me into her office for a private session after group was done so that I could calm down.

I kept going for a few more sessions because I didn't have one on one therapy at the time. In some ways it was helpful, there were exercises that made me change my perspective a little bit. It made me start to think about things more as an adult than the scared little girl I had been. At the time I was still getting back my memory and I still am, but group discussions can end up bringing things back that were unexpected.

 

[Changing4Best]

At first it went badly, because I didn't really understand how it was supposed to work, everyone speaking briefly, the leader speaking the most and then folks adding things after that if there is time. Then when I got the hang of it, it has been going much better. Our group only meets for an hour once a week. The group is based upon Dialectical Behavior Therapy and I also go to the dbtselfhelp.com website to get extra help between group meetings.

I also see a therapist 2 times per month, but that is only very recently.

 

[safenow]

I have been to several groups. My first was when I was a teenager. I learned some good things. My next was an anger management group. I hated it, but I did learn that I need to voice what I am feeling rather than act out. So I guess you could say it was a good thing. The others were all in-patient, and I learned a lot from most of them. But over all, I don't think group is for me. My issues are too intense to discuss among a group of people. Perhaps one or two things, but when I talk about how one thing might be a trigger one day but not the next because I tend to dissociate, no one know what the heck I was talking about.

 

[nimkekaa]

I was refered to group therapy a few times over the past 10 years. One I went a couple times and dropped out. This time I am finding group to be very helpful. My therapist is the facilitator and is really good at keeping the group motivated and on track.

I have cried, learned a lot and made a couple friends. All in all very positive for me.

 

[txtrace]

A therapist I was going to was horrible but part of his treatment plan for PTSD was group. It was a small group mostly made up of law enforcement and military so I felt more comfortable than I would have thought. I got more out of that group than I ever did in individual sessions with the T. I'm glad I found another T but I miss the group.