If you were looking to rank the most common mental health issues you will find that eating disorders will be one of the most prominent.
Suffering from a binge eating disorder, for example, can have a devastating impact on all aspects of your life and lead to some serious health problems if a solution to the problem is not sought.
Accepting that there is a problem is the first hurdle. After that, it is often a case of finding the right treatment solution that gets your life back on track by conquering the demons that led to an eating disorder in the first place.
One of the most effective treatment options is group therapy. Here are some valid reasons why this type of therapy can often produce such positive results.
A good way of addressing social anxiety
It is quite common to find that someone with an eating disorder suffers from social anxiety. They fear that people are judging them and often worry that people are watching them when they eat.
As the saying goes, a problem aired is a problem shared. That goes some way to describing how helpful group therapy can be in tackling an eating disorder.
Group sessions allow people with the same issues to open up to each other without feeling that they are being judged. When everyone is in the same situation and going through the same emotional turmoil it becomes easier to talk more openly in that sort of non-judgmental environment.
Helping to banish feelings of isolation
Feelings of isolation are very real amongst people who suffer from an eating disorder. Group therapy has been shown to be really effective in helping to minimize those feelings of isolation.
Encouraging everyone in the group to air their problems will help remove the feeling that you are battling your disorder alone.
A great way of dealing with specific phobias
Many people with an eating order tend to develop some sort of phobia as a result of the way they feel.
A good example would be when someone with a binge eating disorder develops a phobia about eating certain types of foods in public.
Group therapy can give you the courage and strength to talk about your feelings and makes it easier to face your fears.
A fresh way of looking at things
Group therapy is also an effective way of allowing you to get a fresh perspective on your eating disorder and show you a new way of looking at things with the help and support of others in the group.
As people in group therapy are actively encouraged to participate, but at their own pace, it can often provide the right sort of supportive environment to allow a patient to identify a pathway that leads to recovery from their eating disorder.
Group therapy can help in all sorts of ways and can sometimes unlock emotional releases that may not have been so forthcoming in a one-to-one therapy setting.
If you have an eating disorder there are positive reasons to consider group therapy as a viable treatment option.
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