Process group therapy is a form of treatment where a trained therapist guides a small group of individuals with similar concerns. Participants openly discuss their feelings, thoughts, and experiences, addressing issues collaboratively. This approach encourages empathy, mutual support, and shared insight among group members. It aims to help individuals grow personally, fostering better mental health and well-being.
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What Is Process Group Therapy?
Process group therapy is a form of group therapy where individuals with similar struggles come together to process how they feel and work together to overcome similar experiences or concerns. There are usually 1-2 trained professionals leading a group of 3-15 people. Participants can expect a safe environment that normalizes their concerns as they establish a support network, develop greater self-awareness, and provide honest feedback.
In process group therapy, each session might be unstructured or loosely structured to allow participants to interact with each other as they respond, react, and give feedback to one another. Although someone might have a personal goal that initially brought them to the group, the overarching goal of a process group is to provide a safe space for members to share thoughts and feelings as they make positive changes toward their personal goals.
Here are a few types of process groups:
- Grief process groups: Grief process groups provide individuals a space to openly share about their loved ones who’ve passed away with others who have experienced similar grief. Doing so in a process therapy group can help foster community during an isolating time, relieve discomfort, and provide validation.
- Substance recovery process group: Members in a substance recovery process group can expect to receive education imparting knowledge on addiction, how to maintain sobriety, develop interpersonal skills, or avoid relapse.
- Adjusting to college process groups: Groups for college-aged students can serve as support when adjusting to change, to help individuals with social skills, boundaries, and effective communication, and to normalize struggles of their “new normal.”
- Eating disorder process group: Eating Disorder process groups allow individuals who are recovering or currently struggling with an eating disorder to find relief, learn effective coping strategies, and normalize struggles.
- Women’s issues process group: Members in a women’s issues process group come either with similar backgrounds and experiences to discuss women’s issues. They can expect to gain a better understanding of themselves and how they relate to others, explore other ways of facing their concerns, and feel less alone.
What Do You Talk About in a Process Group?
In a process group, you’ll discuss your personal challenges in the context of the group’s main focus. The conversations are unstructured and often center around personal challenges, relationships, and emotional reactions to situations. Other group members can then respond to what you said with their thoughts, feelings, and insights. You may also provide feedback or encouragement to the other members regarding their own struggles.
How Is Process Group Therapy Different From Other Types of Group Therapy?
While some groups may primarily focus on education and follow a structured format, process groups differ in their approach. Instead of a teaching format, process groups prioritize providing a space for members to openly explore and discuss their emotions and behaviors without an agenda.
What Are the Rules of Process Group Therapy?
Process group therapy rules are a way for members to feel safe and to keep the group environment productive. Facilitators set the rules but may also ask the group to collaboratively come up with some as well. Due to the nature of a group setting, confidentiality can not be guaranteed but is still highly encouraged as trust is essential to a successful process therapy group.
Rules of process group therapy include:
- Confidentiality: There should be a clear understanding that this is a confidential space, and members should respect the privacy of others in the group. According to the APA Ethics Code 10.03, group facilitators should describe the limits of confidentiality and roles and responsibilities of all parties at the outset of the group to maintain an ethical practice.1
- Respect: Members respect each other’s experiences, they don’t judge one another, and they are considerate of others when providing feedback or insights to foster emotional safety.
- Openness and honesty: You get out of the group what you put into the group. So, keeping an open mind and being honest can allow for yourself and others to develop greater perspectives and self-understanding.
- Safe zone: This is an understanding that what’s said in the group stays in the group. Members should expect respectful communication in a confidential setting where they can feel comfortable being true to themselves and feel a sense of belonging.
- Miscellaneous: Members should be encouraged to discuss if there are any other rules they’d like to suggest.
What Can Process Group Therapy Help With?
Process group therapy can help a person live a more satisfying life. Group members lean on each other to discuss how to navigate difficult situations. Additionally, the collaborative process allows members to hold each other accountable as they work towards making positive changes in their lives.
Members in process group therapy have found that group is sometimes even more rewarding as they develop meaningful relationships that can transfer into the real world. Sometimes, hearing how someone else might tackle a similar obstacle provides hope, encouragement, and motivation for affirmative change. This can also help someone develop new coping strategies for resilience as they face their own adversity.
The benefits of process group therapy include:
- Establish community: A process group allows individuals to connect and create a community. They have people to hold them accountable and encourage them as they implement positive change.
- Heal from trauma: A group can help to decrease the shame a person may have to surround their trauma and also provides a non-judgmental space for the person to share and re-write their trauma narrative.
- Normalize one’s experiences: In a process group, members openly share similar concerns, which helps to normalize one another’s experiences, behaviors, and emotions. This openness can help to destigmatize struggles.
- Greater self-understanding: Deepening one’s self-awareness is likely to happen in process group therapy due to the interpersonal nature and setting and from the feedback from others.
- Develop interpersonal skills: Group interactions afford participants the opportunity to learn skills that they can apply outside of the group to themselves and other relationships. Being in a group can help you relate to others in healthier ways, practice active listening and navigating differences, and truly connect to others.
- Learn new coping strategies: Hearing other’s perspectives and how they got through similar struggles can allow for coping strategies to be shared and learned. Members might pick up new ideas from each other and learn how to relate to struggles in healthier ways.
- Expand one’s perspective: As members share about themselves with each other, they can learn how they relate to others, gain perspective, and receive encouragement. The group provides an opportunity to explore one’s authentic self without judgments.
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If Someone Is in Process Group Therapy, Do They Also Need Individual Therapy?
Individuals currently dealing with a mental illness or any suicidal ideation should be in individual therapy while attending process group therapy to assist with the symptoms that are impacting them. Participants who do not struggle with any pre-existing mental health conditions might not need an individual therapist.
Nonetheless, process group therapy often involves thinking about distressing events, which can leave a person feeling anxious, depressed, angry, or helpless afterward. If someone finds themself overwhelmed after group sessions or would like to explore a topic or feedback further, then one-on-one therapy can be helpful.
Is Process Group Therapy Effective?
Group therapy has been given the nickname triple E-treatment for being Effective, Equivalent to individual therapy for most conditions, and Efficient , having the ability for more people to be treated at once.2 According to research, if 10% of the unmet psychological need in the United States was met by group therapy, 3.5 million more people could be seen. The benefits of process group therapy are substantial and would create extremely impactful efficiencies in the healthcare system.
What Does a Process Group Look Like From Start to Finish?
The first few sessions of process group therapy are centered around building trust and creating a safe space. The group facilitator(s) establishes group rules, works on group cohesion, and promotes engagement.
As sessions progress, the facilitator(s) helps members create meaningful connections and process their emotions. Members might experience resistance as they become more comfortable delving into vulnerable topics. They will also participate in activities to assist in each individual’s positive change.
The end of process group therapy is signified through closure or transition. Depending on the group structure, this can look different. For groups with a definitive start and end date, there might be a reflection activity to provide a chance to acknowledge progress and relationships that were formed. Otherwise, process group therapy might end only when the member decides they are ready to transition out.
Here are a few common process group therapy activities:
- Icebreakers: Icebreaker games are used at the start of process group therapy to build group cohesion. They are relatively brief and tailored to the group’s needs. An example icebreaker is a fear in a hat, where members write their fears on a piece of paper anonymously, and each member pulls randomly from the hat and describes how they can empathize with that participant’s fear.
- Guided imagery meditations: Facilitators can lead a guided imagery meditation that assists members in their similar struggles. There might be music or silent moments throughout the visualization. The group can then debrief the experience afterward, sharing personal insights or helping others to better understand themselves. They might even have a debrief activity like drawing, painting, or movement to express themselves further.
- Themed discussion groups: Group members discuss topics that are relevant to their similar life experiences, such as dealing with grief or overcoming addiction. Members often feel less alone hearing how others experienced similar situations.
- Somatic movement: Somatic movement is games or activities that help to get the heart rate up, which serves as a grounding tool. For example, in the game stand up, sit down, the facilitator asks open-ended questions where the participants have to stand up if they relate or sit down if they don’t.
- Beach ball activity: There is a set of questions written on a beach ball. The participants toss around the ball, and whoever catches it has to answer whichever question their thumbs land on.
Is Process Group Therapy Right for You?
Process group therapy is right for you if you are willing to receive feedback from others or if you are longing for a connection and to know you’re not alone in your struggle. A process group is not a good fit for individuals who do not like groups, who have an active addiction, or who are in crisis, including experiencing active psychosis or active suicidal or homicidal ideation.
How to Find Process Group Therapy Near You
A great way to find a process group is by searching an online therapist directory. From there, click on the “Support Groups” tab and filter the search within a particular city. Take time researching the providers that appear in your search by visiting their website or scheduling a phone consultation.
You can also ask for a referral from a trusted friend, family member, medical provider, or another clinician. Primary care doctors or school counselors might be connected to resources in the area for referrals. Sometimes, those with experience with similar issues you’re facing might be able to offer suggestions or referrals.
Can You Do Process Group Therapy Online?
Process group therapy can be facilitated online. Virtual groups allow for members outside of the geographical location but still within the state that the facilitator is licensed in to attend the group. Telehealth services for process group therapy allow for more members to receive access to care. Although participants might not be in person, a video feature should still be utilized, allowing members to see each other while still having access to their personal facilities (i.e., bathroom, food, drink) and avoid any traffic issues.
In My Experience
In my experience, process-oriented group therapy is a valuable service to assist in a client’s healing process. Research shows many benefits of human connection, including the ability to decrease anxiety and depression and happiness correlating with healthier relationships rather than wealth or accomplishments.3 People who feel more connected also have higher self-esteem. Being socially connected can benefit one’s emotional, physical, and social well-being.
In my own experience leading groups, I have witnessed members find hope, get their motivation back, and build confidence as they integrate group discussions and tools into their lives outside of the process group. People deserve a safe space to be heard, and seeking support for their emotional needs and concerns is a great step to healing.
Additional Resources
To help our readers take the next step in their mental health journey, Choosing Therapy has partnered with leaders in mental health and wellness. Choosing Therapy is compensated for marketing by the companies included below.
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