Weight Loss

Group therapy has become an increasingly popular form of treatment for a range of problems, including alcohol abuse. (Of course, with AA dating back to 1935, alcoholics have been recovering in groups, long before group therapy became popular or alcohol treatment was even known.) Why the popularity of group treatment methods? The first response often is: “It’s cheaper,” or “It’s more efficient; more people can be seen.” These statements may be true, but a more fundamental reason exists. Group therapy works. It works very well with alcoholics. Some of the reasons for this can be found in the characteristics of alcoholism, plus normal human nature.

For better or worse, people find themselves part of a group. And whatever being a human being means, it does involve other people. We think in terms of our family, our neighborhood, our school, our club, our town, our church. On the job, at home, on the playground, wherever, it is in group experiences where we feel left out or, conversely, find a sense of belonging. Through our contacts with others, we feel okay or not okay. As we interact, we find ourselves sharing our successes or hiding our supposed failures. Through groups we get strokes on the head or a kick in the pants. There is no avoiding the reality that other people play a big part in our lives. Just as politicians take opinion polls to see how they’re doing with the populace, so do each of us run our surveys. The kinds of questions we ask ourselves about our relationships are: “Do I belong?,” “Do I matter to others?,” “Can I trust them?,” “Am I liked?,” “Do I like them?” To be at ease and comfortable in the world, the answers have to come up more ayes than nays. The practicing alcoholic doesn’t fare so well when taking this poll. For the myriad reasons discussed before, relationships with other people are poor. Isolated and isolating, rejecting and rejected, helpless and refusing aid—with such a warped view of the world, alcoholics are oblivious to the fact that the drinking has been causing the trouble. When one is wed to the bottle, other bonds cannot be formed. Attempts to make it in the world sober will require reestablishing real human contacts. Thus groups, the setting in which life must be lived, become an ideal setting for treatment.

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