Treating Anxiety In Group Therapy

Anxiety group therapy refers to the practice of treating patients suffering from anxiety disorders in small groups, typically 6 to 15 people, rather than on a one to one basis with a therapist. It has several advantages and disadvantages over seeing a therapist.

Advantages of Anxiety Group Therapy

Anxiety group therapy can create a level of comfort for the patient in being around like minded people who have suffered similar anxiety disorders to them. It can make them realize that they are not alone, that there are others in the same situation as them. This can be a life-affirming realization, especially when the anxiety disorder is related to perceptions of an outsider status, the belief that one is a "freak" or different from, and therefore inferior to, the majority of society.

Anxiety group therapy also has the advantage that the experience of fellow patients can help to offer solutions to the patient's problem that a therapist might not have come up with on his or her own. When learning coping skills, such as those learned through cognitive anxiety therapy, the patient's peers in the group can offer insights based on shared experience of a situation which causes anxiety.

A third advantage of anxiety group therapy over individual treatment is that the social setting can bring a withdrawn patient out of his or her shell, as the comfort of being in a group setting reduces anxiety and opens up the patient to talking about goals, aspirations and possible solutions to the problems that cause the anxiety disorder.

Disadvantages of Anxiety Group Therapy

Anxiety group therapy also has some pronounced disadvantages over individualized treatment. The "one size fits all" approach necessitated by the group setting can limit the ability of a therapist to tailor solutions to a patient's individual needs. The group setting can also lead to a feeling of being lost in the crowd, as there isn't always the time to deal with each patient's problems in the depth to which he or she might require.

For these reasons, group anxiety therapy programs are usually run in conjunction with individual sessions with a therapist. Each patient is pulled out of the group for a set time each day in order to have one to one counseling with a therapist or licensed counselor. There, such subjects as the patient's medications and problems that cannot be adequately handled in a group setting are discussed. The combination of group and individual therapy thus ensures that all the patient's needs are met.