What is group therapy for?

Group therapy is one of the most widely used therapeutic modalities today, both as an isolated therapeutic element or as a complement to individual psychotherapy.

This type of group intervention has been studied for several decades and many benefits have been found when it comes to helping everyone who participates in it overcome any type of psychological disorder.

As for the main psychological disorders that are addressed in group therapy, we can highlight post-traumatic stress, cases of addiction, personality disorders, shyness and social phobia, conflictive relationships, chronic diseases, emotional dependency , grieving processes and cases of depression or anxiety.

In this article we will explain what exactly group therapy is for and what it contributes to the well-being of patients.

How does group therapy work?

Group therapy sessions are held weekly or every 15 days and last approximately one or two hours.

These sessions are directed by a qualified therapist who assumes the role of moderator and who guides each of the sessions with the aim of dealing with the crucial issues at each moment.

Throughout the therapy, the members of the group progressively acquire more protagonism when directing the topics and in the end the interactions usually consist of book interventions between all the members of the group, who progressively feed each other.

What is group psychotherapy for?

These are the main benefits that group therapy offers to any of the people who participate in it.

1. The group works as a therapeutic element

One of the main characteristics of group therapy is the fact that the group itself exerts a therapeutic effect on each of the people who make it up.

In this therapeutic modality, each member expresses their current problems or feelings and all the others listen to everything they have to say and also contribute their perspective or opinions on it, as well as solutions that may be useful.

This constant interaction and the fact of feeling heard and understood have a very positive effect on the mental health of each of the members, by contrasting points of view from assertiveness and not from confrontation. A unique space is created in which patients can really talk about what they feel and begin to manage it emotionally.

2. Improved self-esteem

The improvement of self-esteem is one of the main benefits of group therapy , something that can be seen from the first sessions of it.

And it is that, being part of a group in which you feel represented and where all the members share the same problem and therapeutic objective contributes significantly to improving mental health, self-esteem and being more positive.

3. Possibility to share without being judged

Group therapy also allows each of its attendees to share and express everything they want without censorship, freeing themselves of their discomfort by putting it into words and knowing that they will not be judged by the other members of the group .

The feeling of security and trust that comes from belonging to a therapeutic group is also of great importance when it comes to openly expressing everything that the person feels.

4. Improved self-knowledge

Talking with other people, listening to their points of view and problems that are similar to ours also helps us to know ourselves better and to be aware of things that happen to us, with which we had not noticed before.

The group works in this sense as a shared mind in which each member learns from the others and also about himself, his problems, needs, ambitions and also virtues or defects.

5. Establishment of emotional bonds

As in any community of people who live together, in the long run they end up forming significant emotional bonds with the people who make up the therapeutic group.

This encourages each member to worry about the other people in the group , about their well-being and mental health, which also contributes very positively to each person managing to overcome their problems more effectively and quickly.

6. Possibility of having other points of view

Having other points of view helps us to learn content that we could previously ignore and also to take into account other perspectives that can be useful to overcome our problem; this allows enriching the way in which the patient interprets reality .

That is why group therapy also serves to learn from other members and to expose our own conception of the world, also enriching other people.

7. Learning social skills

The learning of social skills within the therapeutic group is especially necessary for those people who may present deficits in this type of relationship skills .

Thus, in group therapy, each member learns to function efficiently and relate correctly to other people, training skills such as active listening, empathy, respect and assertiveness.

8. Possibility of having role models

Belonging to a therapeutic group also makes it possible for each member to take another person in the group as a role model, which will allow them to advance based on references and examples.

In the same group we can find different members who function as role models and they can find in other people the same positive example that they exercise.

9. Extra motivation

As has been indicated, important links are established in the therapeutic group that help the relationship between members to act as a source of mutual motivation .

This contributes to each member being even more motivated to overcome their problems or psychological disorder with the aim of not being left behind and not failing the other members of the team.