2023 Author: Jake Johnson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 23:11
Why can groups be so therapeutic in mental and emotional he alth treatments? It is known that in the treatment of certain problems such as addictions or eating disorders, support networks play a fundamental role, but this is also the case even when there is no specific pathology. Groups can help build bonds that work to prevent he alth problems. In this article we are going to delve a little deeper into this.
Groupness can have therapeutic effects in itself. Especially if it is a group that is particularly regulated and coordinated. Participating in a group allows many of the personal experiences, which sometimes make us feel isolated, to be in line with those of others, making it possible to build a collective bond, a support network that links the person socially.
Participation in a group makes possible instances of communication and interaction that are sometimes complex to build on a day-to-day basis, even more so now with confinement for so long during the pandemic. Generating a group is a way of linking with vital aspects and of receiving from others similarities and differences with our own lives that help the development of identity and to be able to cope with difficult circumstances that arise.
The group gives us perspective. It helps us recognize ourselves in others and separate ourselves. Observing what unites us and what differentiates us is a very important work of the subjective journey
Groupism can function as a containment matrix providing the ground for emotions or issues of the unconscious to emerge. We are constituted through ties at the family level, and this scenario takes shape in the group, provided that the necessary conditions are met. The revival of old conflicts and the appearance of factors in the exchange with others allows us to work on many sometimes hidden aspects of ourselves.
Both in therapeutic groups and in support networks or in creative groups, among others, something of the exchange and encounter occurs that allows us to see ourselves in interaction and attend to the effects, emotions and behaviors that are put into play. Observing whowho we like and who irritate or reject us, if the case arises, offers us the opportunity to read what of ourselves is revealed there.
The group can be a symbol of contention, or it can generate defensive and phobic positions
Projections and identifications in grouping occur very clearly if we are open to observing them. But beyond all the psychological aspects that intervene, the therapeutic aspect of the group has to do with the assembly of this network or matrix that allows a point of support. A place of reference, welcome and acceptance. That is why it is very important that the group is regulated orcoordinated, so that there are codes and norms of mutual respect that are sustained and that allow the feeling of contention.
Participating in a group, especially today, allows us to build from the collective, unite and link, repair and better understand individual experiences.
