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Friday, August 3, 2012

Group Therapy in The Northbrook, Glenview, Winnetka and Northfield Area




Dr. Conlin is now forming group therapy groups starting this fall in  the Northbrook, Glenview, Winnetka and Northfield area's of northern Illinois.  Participation is open to all and the only exclusionary criteria is current and severe mental illness that is not in remission.
 
Group therapy provides psychotherapy treatment in a format where there is typically one therapist and six to twelve participants with related problems. A psychologist may recommend group therapy over individual psychotherapy for a variety of reasons. It may be that the group format is better suited for the person or the concern they are dealing with, or that the specific type of treatment has a group therapy component (such as dialectical behavior therapy).

People in group therapy improve not only from the interventions of the therapist, but also from observing others in the group and receiving feedback from group members. The group format, while not providing the one-on-one attention of individual formats, has several advantages.

The advantages of group therapy include:
  • Increased feedback
    Group therapy can provide the patient with feedback from other people. Getting different perspectives is often helpful in promoting growth and change.
  • Modeling
    By seeing how others handle similar problems, the patient can rapidly add new coping methods to his or her behaviors. This is beneficial in that it can give the patient a variety of perspectives on what seem to work and when.
  • Less expensive
    By treating several patients simultaneously, the therapist can reduce the usual fee.
  • Improve social skills
    Since so much of our daily interaction is with other people, many people learn to improve their social skills in group therapy (even though such an issue may not be the focus of the group). The group leader, a therapist, often helps people to learn to communicate more clearly and effectively with one another in the group context. This is inevitably leads to people learning new social skills which they can generalize and use in all of their relationships with others.
Participants can try out new behaviors, role play, and engage with others in not only receiving valuable feedback and insight from other group members, but also in giving it. 

Contact Dr. Conlin today to learn more about our groups starting in September.  Costs are $25 per session and insurance often covers the fee.  Groups are forming for men, women, co-ed grief groups and co-ed adolescent groups.

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