Group therapy offers a potent alternative to individual therapy. It prepares people for the reciprocal nature of social living; for give and take; for receiving and giving help; for centring on the self and decentring from the self. There is a belief that only in one-to-one therapy is there the necessary safety and confidentiality to make the therapy viable. There are fears of being painfully exposed in a group, of emotional wounds being unexpectedly opened up, of deeply held secrets being revealed to strangers, of being shamed. There are also fears of competition: how to stand one’s ground, how to find one’s voice. Rivalry can take the form not only of who is the most powerful but of who has the most serious problems and hence is most deserving of help. There might also be intense rivalry for the therapist’s attention and love.
Groups are not always the comfort zones that many long for, but this is part of the process of learning about oneself. Emotional development is often not easy but frustration, disappointment, envy and anger, if recognised and expressed in a supportive group, often lead to growth, even transformation.
The therapist is in the background, a gentle guide, supporting the process rather than directing it. In this way, the members of the group take on significant roles for each other, and the group as a whole becomes a therapeutic medium. S.H. Foulkes, the founder of group analysis, described the approach as therapy of the group, by the group, including the therapist. People who have been in individual therapy and then join a group tend to find it less hierarchical, more able to generate alternative perspectives, more personally challenging and sometimes more liberating – more playful, even. The experience of belonging to a group over time can itself be healing. To be oneself and to have a sense of belonging: these are valuable achievements in a pressurised, at times alienated, existence”
