Playing Devil’s Advocate.
I'm in an introspective mood this morning, so I'm going to muse about group therapy. The first two weeks of attending the women's empowerment group were not helpful at all. Back in high school, I was the group counselor--everyone came to me and dumped their problems. All I heard all day was "Bitch. Moan. Bitch. Moan. Bitch," and on the rare occasions when I tried to discuss one of my problems with my so called friends, I was accused of being a complainer and walked away from. (Note: I didn't say I rarely had problems, only that I rarely tried to discuss them.) I think that, because of that, over the years, I began to feel like anyone offering advice or help with one of my problems was attacking me.
The first two weeks of group were not helpful because it felt like I was sitting in a room being attacked for an hour and a half each week. At the end of the third session, I had a major break through, but since then it's gone back to not being helpful, albeit, in a different way. There is a lot of man bashing going on. I don't mind the occasional man bashing session--it's good to get your frustrations out. But I don't like any group of people being attacked all the time (with the exception of people who abuse other people or animals). Maybe it's because almost all of my friends have always been men, or maybe it's just because I'm intolerant of intolerance, but it's beginning to feel like my only purpose in group is to represent the interests of the people who aren't there. I'm the only one out of six (not counting the two therapists who rarely say anything) who ever deviates from the group line of, "Cut him off! He's an ass," to say, "Now hold on a minute! Try to calm down and look at this from all sides. Maybe there's something going on that you don't know about." I don't feel like I ever get to talk about my problems in there anymore. It's not being helpful for my psyche, though it is probably still helpful for my socialization and I have individual therapy to help my psyche.
I don't know. One of the therapists is out of town this week, so group's canceled and maybe the trend will be broken by next week. Maybe I should talk about this with the group. Or maybe I should just sit back and let it be--use it to help me learn how to deal with social situations and rely on individual therapy to help me with my problems with people, social situations, etc. I don't know.
The first two weeks of group were not helpful because it felt like I was sitting in a room being attacked for an hour and a half each week. At the end of the third session, I had a major break through, but since then it's gone back to not being helpful, albeit, in a different way. There is a lot of man bashing going on. I don't mind the occasional man bashing session--it's good to get your frustrations out. But I don't like any group of people being attacked all the time (with the exception of people who abuse other people or animals). Maybe it's because almost all of my friends have always been men, or maybe it's just because I'm intolerant of intolerance, but it's beginning to feel like my only purpose in group is to represent the interests of the people who aren't there. I'm the only one out of six (not counting the two therapists who rarely say anything) who ever deviates from the group line of, "Cut him off! He's an ass," to say, "Now hold on a minute! Try to calm down and look at this from all sides. Maybe there's something going on that you don't know about." I don't feel like I ever get to talk about my problems in there anymore. It's not being helpful for my psyche, though it is probably still helpful for my socialization and I have individual therapy to help my psyche.
I don't know. One of the therapists is out of town this week, so group's canceled and maybe the trend will be broken by next week. Maybe I should talk about this with the group. Or maybe I should just sit back and let it be--use it to help me learn how to deal with social situations and rely on individual therapy to help me with my problems with people, social situations, etc. I don't know.