At Port St. Lucie Hospital in southern Florida, we make sure to give each of our patients different opportunities to heal from both mental health struggles and substance use disorders. We are proud to offer three variations of group therapy so that our patients can get the most out of their addiction recovery treatment.
These types of groups are as follows:
Here, you’ll learn more about the benefits of group therapy as a practice as well as how each of these three groups can help you find peace and community in your recovery process.
One of the biggest misconceptions about mental health and addiction recovery is that you have to go through it on your own. However, this is far from the truth.
Your treatment program will include a staff of trained mental health and addiction experts to help you through the entire process and teach you skills to continue your recovery well after you are discharged. Secondly, your program will focus on cultivating a sense of community between you, the staff, the other patients, and even family members when appropriate.
Group therapy is a wonderful way to start building this community of support. According to The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, group therapy directly relates to patient success in recovering from substance abuse and mental disorders.
Before jumping into group therapy, it’s important to find the right group setting that directly addresses your needs and allows you to create this community of support.
Each group setting has its own unique approach to mental health and addiction recovery. Let’s dive in to the three types of groups so that you can fully understand how these services can help you.
This first group setting is meant to guide you in understanding the issues you’re facing, whether those be addiction or mental health conditions. In order to dig in deep and fully know the extent substance abuse has on your life, psychoeducational groups look at the physiological, behavioral, and emotional impact of mental illness and addiction.
In nursing psychoeducational groups, an expert group leader typically helps to lead the sessions by explaining the physical impacts of substance abuse as well as the emotional and behavioral consequences. Group members then work to learn how their experiences with substance abuse and mental health struggles have negatively shaped their lives on all of these levels.
Perhaps drinking alcohol or using drugs has caused medical complications. Or maybe these struggles have caused a concern with social skills and damaged relationships. And in many situations, addiction also worsens symptoms of mental disorders like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc., which only makes it harder to heal.
By learning about all the many ways mental health and addiction struggles have already impacted your life or could potentially do so in the future, you will better be able to recognize the risks at hand and hopefully make more informed, safer decisions for your health.
Research shows that some of the other main benefits of this type of group therapy include:
One of the key aspects to a full, successful recovery is finding the right balance of medications that can help you with both your mental health and substance abuse struggles without harming your recovery process. Medication management groups do exactly this in combination with the skills you and your group members will learn through behavioral therapy.
Research shows that medication management groups encourages long-term recovery. In fact, one study showed that patients within this group setting are more likely to stick with treatment for a longer period of time compared to patients who only do individual therapy for medication management.
There are a variety of symptoms that medication management addresses, including:
Medication management for substance abuse issues, such as opioid addiction, can safely wean you off of drug use as well as ease your withdrawal symptoms. This helps to make detox more manageable and less severe on your physical health.
There are also medications that can assist you in fighting the urge to drink or use by stopping the “good,” addictive feeling of being under the influence. These are meant for relapse prevention, but, as with all medication management groups, should be paired with behavioral therapy to ensure healing on all levels.
Lastly, medication management groups can be extremely beneficial in lessening mental health conditions that worsen substance use disorders. Mental disorders that can worsen addiction might be depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, schizophrenia, or suicidal ideation. With the right medication, you will better be able to manage the symptoms of mental health conditions.
An expert in clinical psychology commonly will assist with group members’ needs in this setting because they are trained to prescribe the right type and dose of medication. As always, make sure to report any changes in symptoms to your group in order to understand how the medication is either helping or harming your addiction recovery.
Recovery groups are what you might picture as “traditional” group therapy. In this group setting, members reflect on their shared experiences with mental health and substance abuse struggles.
Each member will have the time and space to share personal stories. By talking about these shared experiences out loud, group members often feel less shame about past mistakes, more motivation to continue with treatment, and they feel less alone than with individual therapy.
Recovery groups use talk therapy and group activities to encourage interpersonal learning and social skills. Additionally, recovery groups are essential in creating a life-long support group of people who will be there for you during your time in the treatment center and after.
For more information on the benefits of group therapy at Port St. Lucie Hospital, contact us by phone at (772) 335-0400 or fill out our confidential contact form. Finding a support group and community of addiction and mental health survivors starts here.
