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How To Benefit From Group Therapy Sessions

Group therapy sessions can be absolutely agonizing. Seeing any therapist can be. But a therapist in a group of people, whom you may not even know? Or worse, you may see around after sharing your vulnerabilities? That sounds scary. But therapy works by working through the scary stuff with the help of people who either know what they’re doing or have been there. But group therapy opens up the avenue of connections to more people, and that random stranger may be a better therapist than anyone you could meet in an office.

The boons of group therapy may already be known to you. A great first benefit is different perspectives. Different people have the ability to come at different problems from different avenues. Maybe something one person sees is not something you see or you see something they don’t see. Regardless, just the act of being a different person can help someone else solve their problems. And maybe you find someone on the same path as you, but they’re in front or behind you, either way, you both can benefit.

Confidence is another benefit of group therapy. After building camaraderie, you can find yourself more comfortable with them and more comfortable with others. And even if you stumble and fall, this group becomes a safe place to lick your wounds and learn how to be better.

Accountability is a great benefit of a group, not just in therapy. While we often look down upon peer pressure, there are cases where it can be used to your advantage. It might be why you have a gym buddy. The expectation of other people can help you be better. You don’t want to let down people or feel guilty for not stepping up to progress yourself, so it can be a powerful tool to be better.

Confidentiality is one last huge benefit of group therapy. Just like one-on-one, group therapy requires participants to keep confidentiality outside the group. Now, we know members of group therapy are not constrained by the same things as licensed therapists. But members are usually required to sign a confidentiality agreement. Such agreements can be broken by individuals, of course, but the spirit is to treat others as you want to be treated, and you don’t necessarily want to share the deep-seated trauma of a couple of other people who trust you, do you?

Want to Try Group Therapy?

Please contact us here at Greater Essex Counseling Services at 973-832-0189 to learn more!