Group therapy

Group Psychotherapy

I have been an enthusiastic group therapist for more than ten years. I am always amazed at what can be achieved in group psychotherapy. I am constantly observing that the group as a therapeutic space can in many cases be even more helpful than individual therapy. Not least because what is understood in therapy can be "tried out" directly in the group. This effectiveness of group psychotherapy is also supported by modern research findings. Psychodynamic group therapy is particularly suitable for the treatment of more complex mental illnesses or complaints that change their form over the years or even show "resistance to therapy". Here, work is done on the cause of these illnesses and not on the symptom itself. When the cause is no longer there, the symptom also "disappears".

In a therapeutic group, a network of relationships develops between the participants. As a rule, mental illnesses are accompanied by relationship problems. Inner conflicts, which are understood through psychodynamic psychotherapy as the cause of the symptoms, can then be found in interpersonal relationships. In addition, both the symptoms and the relationship problems are (or can be) caused by unfavorable relationship experiences from earlier life. This is reinforced by the fact that these unfavorable relationship experiences often "tend" to repeat themselves in some form in our current relationships. This usually happens unconsciously and is therefore not always experienced as a conflict or relationship problem because we have not come to know it differently. Unfortunately, this leads to the suppression of many (especially negative) feelings. The price for this is then the symptoms of the present mental illness.

Group psychotherapy offers a protected space to recognize these "illness evoking" relationship patterns. It also gives support to clarify or solve one's own conflicts outside the group. Often this is successful and leads to relief, reconciliation, and, last but not least, symptom relief. These pathogenic relationship patterns will also repeat themselves in some form in the group. If it is possible to recognize and change this - in the "here and now" of the group - there is confidence and courage for changes outside the group. In this way, the group can be used for "experimenting" with interaction patterns.

The feelings that have "accumulated" and become symptoms can then first be understood and subsequently admitted. It is an extremely healing experience to share these feelings with the group. This is also usually accompanied by significant symptom relief. Everyone in the group is allowed to be her or himself. Accordingly, they receive honest feedback from others.

In addition to confidentiality and honesty, openness is also an important prerequisite for group work. A curious attitude with appropriate questions helps others to reflect. Furthermore, the more we understand others, the more we will understand ourselves. For example, we notice in the others exactly the contradictions, characteristics, or actions that we ourselves also have or do not want to have. If we "treat" these in the others, we then find it much easier to treat ourselves. There is much more I could write about group therapy.

Opportunities that group psychotherapy offers

• Receiving and giving support and feedback yourself
• To improve interpersonal relationships and communication in general
• Experiment with new interpersonal behaviors
• To talk honestly and directly about feelings
• Being clear about and understanding one's own feelings, thoughts and behaviors by looking at the patterns of relating that one prefers both in and out of the group.
• Understand other people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• To improve self-confidence, self-image, and self-esteem
• To change within the group with the expectation that these changes will later carry over into normal life.

In our practice, we mainly offer psychodynamic, semi-open groups.

After a detailed diagnosis, I will find the right group for you in which your treatment prognosis with me will be most favorable.

Depending on the composition of the group, elements of mentalization- based therapy (according to Bateman, Fonagy, Schultz-Venrath, etc.) are also offered. Mentalization-based therapy aims to enable people to better understand their own feelings, wishes, thoughts, and beliefs as well as those of other people. It includes the ability to recognize mental, spiritual, and emotional processes in other people as well as in oneself that underlie one's own actions. It is also possible to mentalize oneself, i.e. to reflexively grasp which circumstances and experiences in the past and present have led to one's current desires, thoughts and beliefs. This understanding is called mentalization in mentalization-based therapy, i.e. the ability to recognize mental processes as the cause of actions.

Through this confrontation with the ideas of the other person as well as with one's own ideas about their feelings, attitudes, convictions and wishes, one acquires the ability, so to speak, to be able to "read what is going on in the heads of others" from their behavior. Likewise, one learns to understand one's own affective and mental states and to distinguish them from behavior, while at the same time recognizing it as their cause. This requires exploration and self-reflection of one's own inner world, empathetic exploration of the world of others, and the shared relationship.

In addition, I work in the groups in a transference-focused way (according to Kernberg) using the group analytic and interactional elements (according to Yalom).