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Re: quick.. someone say something psychological » sleepygirl2

Posted by Reggie BoStar on December 11, 2011, at 16:04:00

In reply to quick.. someone say something psychological, posted by sleepygirl2 on December 10, 2011, at 20:36:58

I've done many groups. The problem around here (Southern NH) is that many of the groups are disappearing for various reasons.

Like any other kind of therapy, it takes some getting used to. I don't like social situations either, but I found that by "shopping around" I could choose groups with small numbers of patients and in comfortable settings. If anything seemed wrong, I just got up and left, or didn't go into the room in the first place.

Even so, it took me some time to get used to "fessing up" around other people. The best way seemed to be letting other people talk first, however the meeting is formatted (round-robin speaking, or volunteer speaking by raising hands or something). Once I heard what was going on with other people in the group, I realized that many of them were as troubled as I was, and a few were much worse off. As a result I didn't feel so intimidated by talking about my own problems.

Here are a few types I've attended, with comments:

AA - Forget "dual diagnosis" of substance abuse and psychological problems. Also, I'm agnostic. It stunk. However, it's also free.

Dual Diagnosis - these were probably the best for substance abusers with psychological problems, because they proactively address both issues. The ones I went to happened to be moderated by healthcare workers who specialized in addiction counseling. This is probably a must, because you need someone there who is cognizant of various treatments, and who is not prejudiced by personal success or failure with those treatments. These tended to be free.

DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy): these groups are usually held by trained therapists. Typically they can be found in your area by using the internet to search for therapists who specialize in DBT, or even in the yellow pages of your old fashioned phone book that was made from the last remaining Amazon rain forest trees.

I digress. DBT groups were structured, with round-robin speaking and practice assignments taken from a workbook. It was actually pretty good, not work at all.

To date I've completed two DBT groups. I tried a few others, but didn't complete the therapy cycle for reasons already stated above.

Both DBT groups I completed ran for a "term" of about 16 weeks, one meeting per week, cost determined by each person's financial situation. I wound up paying them cash, around 40 bucks per session. It was worth it.

Having trained therapists as moderators helps you get used to the group discussions easily. It's not socially uncomfortable at all.

Except for maybe one thing... I don't know why but DBT groups tend to consist of mostly women. In fact, in every group I either tried or successfully completed, I was the only guy. The rest were always women, half a dozen or so, and always much younger than I was (of course most people are, anyway).

For whatever reason, many of the women were experiencing relationship problems that they wanted to try to address with DBT. I didn't care for groups dominated by such relationship issues. The groups I completed were those with women who were experiencing a mix of problems, not just relationship issues.

Those who are uncomfortable with a gender mix like that, or who don't want to hear about relationship issues all the time, might have a hard time finding a comfortable DBT group.

Here's a Wiki article on DBT for some background information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy

DBSA (Bipolar): these groups can be found by looking for that acronym with the word "bipolar". For the most part they're good: free, volunteer speaking by show of hand, great way to share experiences with other Bipolar sufferers if that's your problem.

Also: the gender mix is about even.

The drawbacks are: 1. The meetings tend to be large. 2. The moderators are usually volunteers who also suffer from bipolar depression. Depending on what state they're in, the meetings can be a little disorganized.

But they're free and walk-in, so if a particular meeting isn't going well for those reasons, leave and try next week's meeting.

I learned a lot about bipolar depression, the two types, and the spectrum of experiences of people with either type.

Therapist Moderated: these are small groups that focus on specific behavioral health issues. I found out about these mostly through my own therapist (who conducted such groups himself and recommended others) and psychiatrist. The meetings are usually not free, paid by whatever the patient can arrange with insurance and pocket cash. Once again, 30-40 bucks seemed to be the rule for someone in my impoverished situation.

The value of these groups is that they're so focused on what's ailing you, and they acquaint you with the experience of other patients with very similar diagnoses. The ones I've been to are small, maybe 3 to 5 people, and very comfortable.

That's about it. Unfortunately, as I said in the openers, such meetings are gradually disappearing around here - both the paid and free versions.

I'm getting worried about the future of group therapy sessions around here. If this keeps up, the only option will be AA. For me, that's not much of an option.

Hope this information helped. For me it's definitely been an acquired taste. I had to shop around a lot. In the end, though, it was worth it.

Best wishes for a good holiday season,
Reggie BoStar


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