Has anyone gone through/is going through group therapy?

[ladyvenerable]

I'm approximately 3 months in of an 18 month period - and am finding almost every fucker in my group insufferable. Perhaps that's why I'm there. It is a service specifically for personality disorders after all... After the day's over, I just want to rant about it and have no-one to do that with. Would be v curious to hear about and possibly share some experiences and insight. What're your stories?

\\captain obvious disclaimer that confidentiality applies - shouldn't be too difficult on a site like this!

[Pusheen]

I went to one group therapy, that lasted a day long...
It was sorta the alternative kind, they made you act based on regression situations of your past that gave you pain, and people acted with you, sometimes the person that managed the therapy would play some instruments as well. To be honest it was too weird for me and I wasn't able to interact correctly or go with the flow, so it didn't work for me at all. I was told I should try other kind of group therapy to improve my socializing too but I never did.

In the end, I was able to manage alone and learned how to interact with others better just based on experience and trying new things... I believe people that are in the world of therapies tend to amplify our problems in order to make us attend these type of meetings (that make them money ofc) though I know it can work for some, for me, feels like a shock and I rather go by my own pace.

[ladyvenerable]

I went to one group therapy, that lasted a day long...
It was sorta the alternative kind, they made you act based on regression situations of your past that gave you pain, and people acted with you, sometimes the person that managed the therapy would play some instruments as well. To be honest it was too weird for me and I wasn't able to interact correctly or go with the flow, so it didn't work for me at all. I was told I should try other kind of group therapy to improve my socializing too but I never did.

In the end, I was able to manage alone and learned how to interact with others better just based on experience and trying new things... I believe people that are in the world of therapies tend to amplify our problems in order to make us attend these type of meetings (that make them money ofc) though I know it can work for some, for me, feels like a shock and I rather go by my own pace.

Ahh - I have heard of such hellholes, am glad to report that difficult as mine may be, it's certainly not the new-age drum-beating type you had the displeasure of attending. We do have psychodrama sessions though, sans-music. I've been finding them one of the more useful and worthwhile parts of the itinerary but the pain of unearthing and reliving repressed feelings is no fun.

Glad to hear you found a strategy that worked for you - I'm fortunate enough to be in the UK and although the NHS is struggling massively, and the trust/service I'm under has taken cuts - the entire therapeutic process is free, so the motivation comes solely from the individuals that want to change - no money-grabbing incentive (that I'm aware of). I think I would be very wary of private practice because of those reasons, that the practitioner might exacerbate any issues/implant false memories etc to have a continued clientele.

Thanks for your thoughts on this

[Synth Salazzle]

They made me do group therapy when I was in the hospital.

I didn't enjoy it one bit really. Everyone seemed to be trying to one up eachother, and it even broke out into a fight. I never really got a chance to talk but I didn't really care.

[ladyvenerable]

I can see how it would be useless if it was imposed during a hospital stay - I think it's probably safe to say that in order for any kind of mental health intervention to be successful, one has to be driven to engage with it. Unlocking your own agency, blah blah jargon blah. Can completely relate to the one-upping, there's so much slyness and cliqueyness that I feel honestly shouldn't be present in an environment like that, but ultimately unavoidable in such a melting pot/microcosm of troubled minds. I feel like the facilitators/therapists/whatever you want to call them in both your group and mine ought to make more concerted efforts to allow everyone to have at least something of a voice/place in the group, because if not, it just furthers the disillusionment in such services.

[kittyray]

I've been in a DBT group for about a year. I've seen a lot of people come and go and the people in it can make a world of difference. For the majority of the time I really like most of the people in my group, but every so often there'd be one or two people who I found intolerable. Sometimes this was because they made it very obvious they wouldn't want to be there and took away from the rest of the people in the group to make that known. Other people were just very unhelpful and critical to other memembers (like, one thing that stands out is a person, who amongst other things asked a group member "why would you bother applying to the peace corps when they'll see you've been here and reject" or being condescending towards somebody who had to consider visa eligibility when chosing jobs).

We had a really good group of people for a while and we even started a brief tradition of sending cards when somebody left the program. Then a lot of shit changed really fast. Our leader stepped down to focus on another area and was replace by somebody who I found really awful. Within two weeks everybody else in my group had either switched to another group or left entirely. Switching wasn't an option for me because I had a schedule conflict with a Summer class. I didn't really jive with the new people trickling into the group (many of whom left after only a couple sessions), but the leader was the worst of all. Like, I could get into a whole other rand about her. I honestly believe the ~8 weeks did me more harm than good. I negotiated an extended break from the program and was able to restart this September in a new group. I love my new group leader. The people are a mixed bag, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. But I'll see how it goes. The worst of the people top out at being grating (most recently somebody finding it hard to believe I have certain problems as a gemini) or just my personal preference of wishing there were more women. I'm looking to exit the program entirely in the next 3-6 months, so I'll probably stick it out, but I'll probably look into finding a different group to attend. I like DBT a lot, but I'd be open to something more general, or even a support group. I attended a peer-led group my last couple semesters of undergrad and it made a huge difference for me, but I struggled to find something similar outside of that.

I was also in a couple other groups in this program but this was the most consistent/long term that also had a lot of talking/discussion. The rest I either shuffled around a lot (three different social-related groups!) or were more focused on cognitive problems, so I don't have as much to offer on that.

[Meowlily]

I have in the past been in one. And I bonded with some of the people there and got my problems and issues across. Others in the group were forced to go, they usually just complained etc. The whole thing I really didnt like, I always felt like everyone was one uping each other or trying make their problems seem worser than mine or anyones.

[Sezy]

Yeaaaah I go to group therapy every Wednesday morning
Its not helped me at all.... All I do is sit there and say nothing at all because my anxiety is that bad
Im really socially awkward but my support worker thinks sitting in a room full of people i dont know is good for me somehow? I dont think so =/

[franbow]

I have personally been to group therapy. It didn't help one bit. It was super cringey, actually. Putting a bunch of angsty teens in the same room and expecting them to actually share their true feelings is like trying to kill a ghost. It just doesn't happen. There was a kid in my anger management group that actually took a hammer and used it to smash things when he was mad. The other teens started calling him wreck it ralph. It was a huge mess.