Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Group vs. Individual Therapy

For anyone out there considering therapy for themselves or someone else, I thought it might be helpful to have a comparison of some of the types. 

Cost
group: Free, as far as I've seen.
indiv: usually there's a copay. 

Attention
group: less attention is paid to you but when you do get attention you have the added benefit of 9-10 other heads helping you out.
indiv: all attention is on you and your own issues.

Support
group: The group I went to was very supportive. It feels like I can talk with any of them. But it takes longer to get to really trust someone in group because you spend less time talking with each person.
indiv: There is only one person supporting you, and it's a professional setting. But you know this one person deeply, and it takes very little time to build up trust. Plus, you have the added benefit of knowing that this person can't abandon you since you're paying them, and that they won't break confidentiality, since that would be a legal violation.

Therapy
group: therapy in group doesn't always pertain to you, and sometimes topics can be vague because they have to cover bases for people with a lot of different experiences. 
indiv: The therapy is always focused on you. Plus sometimes you get to direct it so it's sure to have an impact.

Purpose
group: It's about meeting others who share in your plight. You are not alone. Seeing recovery in action and learning from others are major benefits.
indiv: It's about changing yourself. Putting in effort to find out about yourself and using that knowledge. Preparing to deal with the world on your own. 

Which one do I personally like better?
I'm a bit enamored of group therapy right now. It really does depend on the group though. I was in group therapy before with patients from a psych hospital, and it was horrible sometimes because we didn't have enough time to get to know each other very well. People were in and out and a lot of them didn't improve during the time they spent in group therapy. 
The one I recently joined has core members who come all the time and are happy to be there and work during therapy. Everyone is honest, which creates a great atmosphere. 

I think that doing both individual and group therapy at the same time is the best. 
What do you think? 

3 comments:

  1. Following up that last post, I looked for support groups in my area and either can't find any that are either free or currently meeting. But I like the comparison. Hope you're doing well today, stay strong <3

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  2. Oh, and just saw your comment on google+, sometimes it does connect automatically with your real name, but you can change your name, you could just do Emily Anonymous. I played around with it and it's pretty interesting.

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  3. There are advantage and disadvantages of undergoing an individual therapy Plano. It really depends on what your problems are and how you wanted them to be discussed.

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Thanks for commenting! I appreciate it :)