Why Group Therapy?

By Alan Bernstein 

For many people, group therapy remains a remnant of the 70s, the Bob Newhart show or perhaps an assaultive T-Group experience in school. But as a practitioner of group therapy over many years, the modality contains a unique healing power; it is the one form of psychotherapy where the members of the group become the source of healing and development for each other. 

How does this happen? 

A successful group begins with the selection of its members. Therapists who are comfortable with groups frequently remark that it is not unlike putting together a successful dinner party—we desire different personality styles coming together under controlled circumstances. The guideline I give therapists who are considering making a referral to a therapy group is: do you have a felt experience that this person has an interest in you? Are they capable of feeling and expressing an interest in others? The heart of the group experience lies in the ability to form attachments and loyalties to the other members while maintaining the freedom to express difference and the emotions that may accompany it. The tension between group loyalty and the desire for individuation, if it can be expressed in the group setting, will become a powerful force for freedom in the individuals’ life!

To foster this tension, groups usually construct boundaries to maintain continuity. In my groups, participants meet only in the group setting. There is no outside socialization. Members contract to tell the emotionally important story of their lives in the group. Sometimes members bring in outside experience, but typically the experience with most significance occurs in the group itself. Members replay their emotional lives in the room. They are attracted or repelled by other members and have an opportunity to understand why. Frequently circumstances in the room engender heightened feelings: tenderness between members who have felt shut off from their capacity to express caring for others, or angry responses at members who treat them “just like my wife” or “my boss.”

As the group members use their creative power to understand and respond to one another, the experience of intimate engagement rises in the group setting. Members begin to expand their repertoire of affect and their ability to express themselves. They report great interest in the group experience—for many it becomes the emotional heart of their week.

What can we expect as a result of group treatment?  

The overriding benefit from the group experience lies in the ability to tolerate and create emotional intimacy. This may include the capacity to differ with family members or co-workers while skillfully navigating the shoals of respect and mutual connection. This capacity—to maintain emotional connection even in a state of difference—presents a huge opportunity in peoples’ lives. They are free to expand their horizons of friendship, of love and creativity. They can tolerate difference without feeling threatened by fears of rage or dangers of being taken over by strange ideas or impulses. In effect their emotional world expands even if the cast of characters remains largely stable. 

How to become a group therapist 

To paraphrase an old joke,” how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” the answer remains, “practice, practice, practice..” To be a skilled practitioner, you must train in a group. You must develop a comfort level with a range of emotional experiences so that you are available as a resource to the groups you run. This training takes place both consciously and unconsciously. Consciously, you will master techniques of group development, i.e., bridging, joining, etc. each of which can be studied. Unconsciously, training takes place by developing comfort in the group setting, developing the capacity to see other group members as resources rather than opponents, and learning to trust the group experience as essentially benign no matter how frightening it may initially appear. 

What can I do with group training? 

As a social work practitioner you will find the experience of comfort and security in a group setting a valuable resource. The group experience lends itself to enhanced creativity in many settings. In my practice I use group training to facilitate career change or development for my clients as one example. As people are losing jobs or need to change industries the group setting becomes advantageous in helping people develop the skills to represent themselves in the job market. Additionally, as a lower cost alternative to individual therapy, many people feel an opportunity to stay and work through their development. They see their group experience not as a lesser or adjunctive addition to their individual therapy, but as a powerful lens to focus their emotional and creative forces and increase their impact in life.