Group therapy uses the group as the vehicle for transformation and therapeutic effect, but the eventual healing happens in the individual. When you engage in a process group or a therapy group, you learn about yourself in an experiential way and you have the opportunity of experiencing a shift towards well-being in the group setting.
I recently read an article by Haim Weinberg where he quoted Wilke, saying that “the ‘We’ of the belonging group can be internalized and projected outwards“. The article is written from a specific perspective yet the essense of this idea is the underlying dynamic of healing that happens in mostly any group therapy setting.
When we sit in a group with our own anxieties, fears, and concerns and we are surrounded by people, who just like us, are there to understand themselves and find comfort and new ways to feel more balanced about their reality and themselves, we feel included. As the group progresses, we feel heard, seen and responded to. As the intimacy among members grows, we feel like we belong. The sentence I quoted above mentions that point when this internalized feeling of belonging and seeing others for who they are and feeling seen for who we are, helps us start acting from a stronger inner self. The group has given us
inner strength that in turn now we can use in our everyday life. The group has given us something that we had not seen in ourselves. The group has given us an experience that previous experinces failed to provide.
I think this is a good example that describes what can happen in a succesful therapy group.
