Questions about Group

Question: I prefer individual therapy and have heard that group is an inferior form of treatment.

Answer: Certainly, there are many times that individual therapy is the treatment of choice and your preference for individual therapy will be honored. However, there is a vast amount of research which shows in some cases group therapy can be more effective that individual therapy, especially when a person's alienation, isolation and lack of support exacerbates their symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Question: How do groups work?

Answer: Psychotherapy, whether it be individual or group, is only helpful if it addresses and changes the ineffective, ingrained patterns of our relationships and the way we relate to others. A properly conducted therapy group allows for the creation of a person's social microcosm, where the patterns of an individuals relationship outside of group are recreated inside of group. Group members are thus allowed the opportunity to witness and discover how their behavior impacts others and how, in turn, they are impacted by others. Within the "here & now" interaction within the group, members are given the opportunity to learn new skills in relating to others, which also allows those skills to be generalized to the "real world" outside of group.

Question: How does listening to other people's problems help me?

Answer: Group therapy is far more than the simple extension of individual treatment, with the group leader going from one person to the other in rapid succession. Just listening to another person's problem is rarely helpful to anyone, the listener or the person with the problem. Effective group therapy is more about the relationships that group members develop with each other in group and how these relationships trigger past relational patterns, both helpful and ineffective. Not only are group members able to identify their difficulties, they are able to identify their strengths and build on them. Far more important is the group becomes a vehicle for people to identify and deal with their own emotional blocks and limitations.

Question: How does the group accomplish this?

Answer: There is a subtle value to group that group members come to appreciate. It is that people can make instantaneously readings of themselves, catching and labeling momentary feelings that are important in their psyches, but in daily existence are typically gone before they can be captured. The majority of people go through life with only numbed, unconscious intimations of what they are really feeling; they sense the existence of crucial, activating emotions. If only they were to stop themselves at pivotal instants, to "freeze frame" their emotional life, so to speak, at the proper moment, then they could pinpoint these dynamic actuating forces within them--these feelings that motivate them and color their whole existence. Time and time again, group members are stunned to realize that they have all their lives been doing things for reasons utterly different from those they conjectured were their motives. The group itself, when used effectively, is a vehicle for people to identify and deal with their emotional blocks and limitations. The successful group member finishes not simply with a superior capacity to relate to others, but also with more inner comfort and with a far better ability to realize his or her own potential.

Question: I have been in group previously and found it very helpful. Do many of your members have previous group experience?

Answer: Absolutely. A number of people who join our groups have previously been in both group and individual therapy. Many others who have been in individual therapy are looking for something more than the dyadic exchange. Group therapy furnishes them with that "something more" that they have been looking for in a therapeutic setting.

Question: How do I go about joining one of your groups?

Answer: Schedule an initial interview appointment. I run all my groups with my wife, Lisa Mahon, PhD, who is also a clinical psychologist in private practice. We encourage our group members to use this as an opportunity to interview us as well, to see if they want to be in a group that we run. Our groups are limited in size to eight people (usually four men and four women) and meet once a week for an hour and a half. Since we have a number of groups, we use the interview to match the person to the group and the group to the person. We have found that one of the most important factors that determine successful group treatment is the match between group members. If you join one of our groups, you can count on being in a group with people who are compatible with you for age, intelligence, and level of psychological and emotional functioning. See the link on the website for our group agreement for more information on this subject.

Question: How long have you been running groups?

Answer: Lisa and I have been co-leading groups for over thirty years. We are both Certified Group Therapists and Fellows of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (see agpa.org) to check out our credentials and positions within the organization. Because our groups are all long term, open ended, ongoing psychotherapy groups, every six months or so, someone graduates from group and we fill the open spot in group. We ask that anyone joining the group make a commitment to stay for six months. This is to ensure that we select people who are motivated for treatment and serious about their commitments to improving their relationships and mental health. The average length of stay in our group is about two years. Therefore, if you should join a group, you can expect to be with many of the same people during the length of your stay in group.

Question: How much does each group session cost?

Answer: $60.00 a session.

For more information about group therapy, please visit:

Atlanta Group Psychotherapy Society
American Group Psycotherapy Association