Support groups: what are they and what are they effective for?

We have all heard about someone who attends a support group, or we have read or seen it in a novel, series or movie.

A person with cancer, an alcoholic or a rape victim are some of the people who go to these types of groups. But... What is a support group? What are they for exactly?

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

The support group: what are we up to?

A support group is understood to be that set of people who meet regularly to help each other deal with a problem that causes alterations in their daily life through the exchange of experiences. This problem is common for all members of the group.

Is about a strategy aimed at cooperation and support between people who live with the same problem, so that each member can improve their competence when adapting to the problem in question or its consequences and dealing with possible future complications. In addition, it allows the expression of doubts, fears and emotions derived from their experience in an environment cozy and where you will meet other subjects who have gone through the same thing and will understand each other Yes.

In support groups, interaction and cooperation are favored, as well as the assumption of responsibilities for themselves in each of the members. All members of the group have equal importance and the same right to express themselves, there is no hierarchy between them. The groups are usually mediated by a professional, who directs the session and acts as a moderator and is dedicated to ensuring that all members can express themselves freely and equally.

Support groups do not have to have a specific structure, although they tend to be of two specific types. On the one hand, they can be closed groups, in which a certain number of subjects are enrolled and once started no new people can be admitted. This forces people to commit to attending a specific number of sessions. Another type of group is the open group, in which participation is free and whoever and whenever they want can attend or stop, and new subjects can join the group.

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Typical Features and Benefits of Support Groups

Support groups have a wide variety of potential applications and roles, the most prominent of which are the following.

1. Acquire information and new perspectives

In support groups, a large amount of information is shared that is reflected by people with different ways of interpreting both the experience and life in general. Likewise, the moderator or the professional in charge of the group can propose different topics or make the discussion is inclined towards concrete aspects that can help both to express themselves and to improve the situation of each subject.

In short, support groups allow their components to acquire information that they did not have, as well as observing and contrasting the different ways of thinking and acting on a topic. It can even be used to incorporate new behaviors, coping strategies and activities into your own life that have been successful in other people.

2. It favors the coping of the problem and the acquisition of strategies

Through support groups, the people who participate in them can learn new ways of coping with their difficulties, being able to generate new coping strategies both when learning them from others and when developing them together.

3. Normalizes the situation and the experiences derived from it

Living in certain situations can be a traumatic experience. In addition, it is common that people do not know how to react or if what they experience as a result of the problem in question or what they experienced at the time is normal. You may even feel that it is something reprehensible and blame yourself for, for example, not being able to trust certain people or even going outside.

Meeting other people with similar experiences can be very reassuring, as it allows you to see that your own reactions are something normal in certain situations and that the experiences and sensations that one have have been lived and felt By others.

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4. Emotional support: enhances the feeling of being understood

The support group means being able to share aspects of one's own life that do not usually express themselves to other subjects or are not easily understood by someone who has not undergone their own experience despite the fact that someone claims to offer help. The individual will be able to feel understood more easily before people with the same problem.

5. Promotes emotional expression

Having the presence of people in situations similar to one's own causes the person to feel freer and that can let out and share emotions and thoughts, unlocking aspects that other people are hidden.

6. It allows to establish ties and break isolation

It is common for people who attend such groups to isolate themselves in their daily lives. Attendance at support groups allows people with a specific problem to be able to meet others with similar experiences and begin to generate connections, causing an opening towards the outside that by itself turns out to be therapeutic.

Situations and disorders in which they can be useful

Support groups can arise for a myriad of issues. These support groups can deal with chronic aspects and events, such as some illnesses, or specific events such as a divorce or a transplant.

Support groups for subjects with diseases

There are various support groups related to the existence of problems of medical origin, be it specific or chronic. Examples of them are support groups for cancer patients of different types, as well as for diabetics, asthmatics, HIV-positive patients.

For people with previous addictions

One of the most popular types of support groups. There are many support groups for people who have given up alcohol, cocaine, heroin, or other substances and that they are or have already been through a period of abstinence.

For victims of traumatic events

There are support groups dedicated to bringing together and trying to help people who have suffered different traumatic events. People who have been raped or sexually abused at some point in their life, kidnapped, victims of war, soldiers who have participated in military conflicts, people who have survived a disease such as cancer or who have been widowed are some of the examples.

• Related article: "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: causes and symptoms"

For people at risk of social exclusion

Social exclusion is an element to take into account and that in many cases causes deep suffering to the people who suffer from it. Among them you can find support groups for ex-convicts, drug addicts, prostitutes, former homeless people, affected by different diseases and socially rejected minorities.

For relatives

There are support groups for family members of people with some of the problems mentioned above. It should not be forgotten that the environment of the subjects also suffers to a great extent and requires psychological and social support, being very useful meet other families who are going through the same. For example in families of people with dementia, disability, mental disorders or degenerative or chronic diseases.