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Is Group Therapy For You?

Group or individual therapy, which is best? A loaded question, but one that deserves our full attention. Whichever form your psychotherapy takes this factor, group or individual treatment has inherent advantages and limitations. In certain situations, there are specific recommendations regarding which form of treatment is used. In other cases it may be a mutually decided upon choice between your therapist and you.

Why Group Therapy?

Although group therapy often remains an option, the advantages of group therapy far outweigh those opposing it. Let’s look at some of the conditions where the choice of group therapy may be strongly indicated:

• Educational/learning activities
• Medication and life skills information
• If the client has relationship issues
• Where the support of other clients with similar issue can be beneficial.
• Certain personality disorders, psychoses, or related conditions.
• An overlooked use for group therapy is in the treatment of addictions and some forms of PTSD 

When considering which option is best it may surprise you to learn that there are many nuances present during the processes of group psychotherapy. By all appearances everything is pretty straight forward. There’s the therapist, clients, a meeting area, and an agenda. In the background when recommending group therapy every effort is made to insure that two criteria are met:

1. Suitability of the client with the group
2. Clearly identified goals and benefits

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