If you have been in individual therapy, you have probably broken down a few walls and learned more about yourself from the work you and your therapist did together. However, if you find your interpersonal relationships suffering even after individual therapy, it could be time to give group therapy a chance. There may be some hesitation in trying group therapy, but the process can actually help your interpersonal relationships through the communication of the group during each session. The benefits that group therapy has on your interpersonal relationships are crucial to maintaining a healthy social life and can help you open up more to others. Here are the ways in which group therapy can improve your interpersonal relationships.
Group therapy brings together a number of individuals that have often gone through similar situations in their life. As you open up and learn about each other, the support network will begin to build its base and strengthen each session. Your fellow group members can support you when you need it, thus giving you a base to fall back to when you need it.
As you learn to talk with the members of the group, especially about vulnerable topics, your confidence in social interactions will begin to improve. You can take the social skills you have learned within the group and apply them to your friendships and other relationships outside of the treatment space. Your anxiety will lessen over time and you will be able to form stronger bonds over time as you are more confident in your social interactions.
A beautiful thing about therapy that you learn whilst participating in it is that you are not alone. It can be easy to get inside your own head and believe you are the only person with these problems, which can lead to feelings of shame, guilt, and isolation. However, group therapy shows you that others can empathize with you because they have gone through similar situations as you have. This can help you be more willing to open up to people because you realize that you are not so different and everyone has their negative times that they went through. This sense of understanding can translate to your daily life when meeting people because you no longer feel you are alone in your problems and can help others heal too.
When you begin group therapy, you may not talk as much as others in the group because you are still getting comfortable. This is normal and understandable. However, over time, you will start picking up on the behaviors and advice of the others in the group. As you learn what healthy coping mechanisms worked for your peers, you can begin incorporating these suggestions into your own life. This further bonds you all as you learn how to cope with stressful situations by recommendations from the group.
As you go through the various group therapy sessions, your communication with others will begin to improve. You will learn to set and uphold healthy personal boundaries and to respect others. You will also learn how to effectively communicate your thoughts and emotions. This is a great skill to develop throughout the course of group therapy because it can improve your interpersonal relationships outside of the group.
Past traumas and other negative experiences in your life can often close you off to the prospect of new relationships and opening up to new people. However, vulnerability is a virtue that takes time to learn and can actually strengthen your relationships. With group therapy, you are encouraged to dig deeper inside yourself and allow yourself to be vulnerable in front of others. This can release a lot of anxiety concerning your vulnerability and lead to more confidence in your relationships.
The more sessions you attend, the better able you will be to connect with the other members. This is because you learn to actively listen to the other members and how to be a good friend to them so you can translate that to your outside friendships. You are more in tune with other individuals, thus giving others the confidence to talk with you. Your confidence and peace within yourself give others the peace to trust and talk to you.
You learn a lot of things in group therapy because it is a class of its own kind. You learn about social interactions, vulnerability, coping mechanisms, and more. Through the various activities and bonding you do in group therapy, you are able to gain a new perspective on the world and on people. This learning experience is what encapsulates the benefits of group therapy.
Group therapy allows you to improve your interpersonal relationship skills. Every session, you are bound to learn something new that will help you better your friendships and relationships in your daily life. This is important because it teaches you to open up to others, learn how to trust others, be more in tune with others, have confidence in yourself, and more. These are benefits that you just won’t have in individual therapy because you don’t have the presence of the other members to help you. The presence of others talking about their problems and things that have affected them can give you the confidence to open up too. At Northstar Transitions, we want to offer our clients a great experience in group therapy. We believe that improving your interpersonal relationship skills can help with your recovery and teach you to bolster relationships in your day to day life. For more information about group therapy at Northstar Transition, call us today at (303) 558-6400.
