subject: What Kind of Group Therapy to Choose? [print this page] Most of us have heard about Lindsay Lohan opting for psychotherapy sessions to deal with her chemical dependency problem. The fact that the judge made it mandatory for her to attend these sessions proves that these sessions are indeed effective. One of the best ways to deal with several problems like loneliness, bi-polar disorder, anger management, anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, depression, social anxiety, and social phobias is to opt for group therapy.
There are two schools of thought with regard to the way in which the members of group therapy ought to be selected. One set of therapists believe that people with the same set of problems ought to be brought together so that they can sort the problem that unites them. Another set of therapists are of the opinion that people with different types of personal issues may be brought together for better solutions. In fact, they suggest that individuals from different background may be encouraged to seek solutions together.
Proponents of the set of therapists who suggest that group therapy should have people with similar problems such as anger or depression, feel that getting people with diverse personal issues will make it difficult for them to communicate with each other. However, experts who suggest that there ought to be people with diverse issues in group therapy sessions suggest that the very fact that there are people with different problems are present enables the participants to actually practice the things that they learn from the therapists.
As for the fact that group therapies with participants from various backgrounds have to work harder, these therapists say that the higher difficultly levels of adjustment ensures that people are better equipped to take on the challenges of real life where everyone has to deal with people of different backgrounds in rather tricky situations.
Another advantage of participating in a group therapy program where there are people from diverse walks of life is that the participants can learn from the experiences from others. While the therapists contributes the most because he is a professional, the fact remains that others in the group can also enable the group members of to learn by sharing experiences.
While deciding which therapist to go to, you must consider what kind of group therapy sessions he arranges because simply attending a few one-on-one sessions may not be enough to solve your problems because you will have to see how you behave among many people.
