Group Psychotherapy

Group psychotherapy rests on a simple but often surprising premise: that much of what troubles us in our lives is interpersonal in nature, and is therefore best addressed in the company of others rather than in isolation. In a therapy group, members bring their ordinary ways of relating — patterns formed over a lifetime — into the room with them, and before long these patterns tend to reveal themselves in the relationships that develop among the members themselves. My approach places particular weight on this process: not simply on what is discussed, but on what unfolds, moment to moment, between the people present.

This way of working can feel unfamiliar at first, and I understand why it might. Yet there is something quite powerful in discovering that one is not alone in a struggle, in receiving honest responses from others who have come to know you over time, and in having the opportunity — often for the first time — to work through old patterns in real time, in the safety of present, supportive company.

It may seem that meeting alongside others would necessarily accomplish less than meeting alone with a therapist. The research on this point is reassuring: for many of the difficulties that bring people to treatment — depression, anxiety, difficulty with relationships, the aftermath of loss — group therapy has been shown to work as well as individual therapy, and for certain concerns, especially those rooted in how we relate to other people, it can accomplish something that individual work cannot easily provide on its own. A group offers not one perspective but several, and not one relationship in which to practice a new way of being, but a small circle of them.

Group therapy stands perfectly well on its own, and for many people, it comprises the whole of their treatment. For others, it works best alongside individual therapy, the two forms of work reinforcing one another.

I would be glad to speak with you further about whether a therapy group might be a good fit, and what to expect should you wish to join one.