Why Group Therapy Works Better Than AA for Alcohol Problems

Group therapy can be so powerful, such a powerful therapeutic force for people because they'll have a chance to interact with others, others in similar situations, maybe in similar lifestyles and life circumstances where they can identify with other people who they come to respect and think well of who've developed the problem themselves and ideally have been making some headway on this problem. This is among the most powerful therapeutic forces uh and ingredients involved in group therapy is the ability to overcome shame and guilt by identifying with other people who you can identify with and who you see as like-minded who've developed the same problem. Major differences between AA meetings and group therapy sessions is that in AA meetings there's no cross talk allowed which means that if somebody shares something in AA meeting nobody is permitted to respond by giving advice or feedback to that person. All

they say is thank you for sharing. They can say listen I really relate to what you just said. It's very similar to something I've experienced. They can

identify with what's been just been talked about but they cannot give feedback to the person. So there's no cross talk allowed in AA. In group therapy is just the opposite. Cross talk

is encouraged not in terms of advice giving but giving feedback. It's what we call holding up the mirror to other members of the group. So that a person will share something about their personal experience. another group

member will either identify with it and say it's, you know, I can I can resonate with that because I've gone through something very similar or related to that, but they can also hold up a mirror to that person and say, you know, Jim, I've heard you say this before and you've struggled with this same issue a few months ago and here it is cropping up again and the way you're coming across as if you were surprised as if this happened again when I can remember distinctly when you talked about it last time. What do you think about that? That's holding up a mirror to somebody.

That's giving them feedback. It's not giving advice, but it literally reflecting back something you've heard from the person before. Um, it can take another form of, you know, you just talked about something in this meeting, Nancy, that's very painful and I feel for you, but you said it with a smile on your face. What do you think that's

about? That's very valuable feedback to give somebody. That's holding up a mirror to somebody. And you won't get

that. You can't get that in an AA meeting, but that's what you can get in group therapy. So, if I led that group meeting and I heard this interaction go on, I would want to follow up with the person in a one-on-one session. So,

Nancy, what do you think about the fact that you were smiling while you were telling us something so painful? And, you know, Nancy would get to the point of, well, I guess that's one of my ways of coping with it. I try to find the humor in it. I'm afraid to show my

sadness. I'm afraid to cry. If I wasn't smiling, I'd be crying. Becomes gris for

the mill. So, that's that's the interplay between group and individual therapy. If I'm both the group leader and their individual therapist, I hear and see things in group that I can follow up with them on in individual and vice versa. I can hear something in an

individual session and say to the patient, would you be willing to share that with the group at the next meeting because I think you'll probably get a more three-dimensional view of this issue if you do that beyond what I've been able to uh help you process. And that can be very powerful.