Healthy communication, relationship building, and learning about feedback are some of the reasons group therapy is so important during treatment. Each group therapy session will be a little bit different from one another. Group therapy sessions can be focused on a particular type of therapy like cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy. Counselors and therapists running group therapy sessions might use different therapeutic activities to open up a certain kind of communication and introspection from everyone in the group. At least once a day there will be a normal processing group where everyone checks in with their feelings and their experiences.

Group therapy is an opportunity to build relationships with others

For building relationships, group therapy is important. In a group therapy session, everyone is at their most vulnerable, which means the likely experience of feeling uncomfortable, awkward, intimidated, and shy is shared. In the group therapy session peers are held accountable to one another because everyone is welcome to share, but not expected to share. A counselor or therapist can call on anyone at any time to share, then invite others to offer feedback on the sharing. Group therapy isn’t about giving opinions and criticisms but building trust. Each peer is learning to trust themselves, their therapists, and their fellow peers to listen, understand, and give insight. Group therapy builds relationship based on reflection and introspection, both of which are helpful for the personal process as well as the group process.

Group therapy helps you realize you are not alone

After your first few group therapy sessions you start to realize how isolated you have really been feeling in your mind. The more you listen to the experience of other people the more you realize that you are not alone in your experiences. No two people’s experiences can be exactly alike. However, you will find many similarities in the details, in the generality of struggles, and in another simple fact. Group therapy is important in helping you realize you are not alone because you are in treatment with all of the other people in the room. Whatever the particulars of each person’s journey which brought them to this point, it was enough to bring them to the point of treatment. Together you are on the journey of recovery. You are not alone.

Group therapy gives you more of the support you need to recover. At Cottonwood Tucson, we take an integrative approach to the treatment of co-occurring disorders. Our residential treatment programs have gained international recognition for their excellence in helping clients recover mind, body, and spirit. For information, call us today: (888) 727-0441