Group therapy is an obvious choice for someone struggling with loneliness, but in more ways than you might think. Sure, you can expect to be welcomed into a group of caring, thoughtful peers, perhaps some of whom struggle with loneliness and isolation themselves. But group therapy isn't just about having more people in your life, just as loneliness isn't just about not having enough people in your life. The challenge in overcoming loneliness (including social isolation or social anxiety) is learning how to build your life with other people. In a sense, that's the therapy part of the term group therapy.
Engaging loneliness means exploring a complex set of questions:
Who's in your life and how can you find connections with more people?
How can you get closer to the people who are in your life?
What kind of choices are you making about how often you're alone?
How good a friend are you?
How likable are you? (I did say this would be hard work, didn't I?)
What sort of community do you have in your life?
In group therapy, we don't just talk about these questions, we engage them head-on--we live them. Because in the process of building your relationship with the group, we won't just hear about how you're living your social and relational life, we'll see it and participate in it. And, most importantly, we'll help you do something about it.
