The Value of a Mental Health Support Group

Whether you are a consumer of mental health services or a family member of someone with a mental illness, support groups may be helpful. Coping with mental illness can be a challenge, leaving you feeling discouraged and overwhelmed.

The operative word in the term, “support group,” is support. Having the strength of others who have a similar issue can relieve that feeling of isolation, which often accompanies being confronted with issues that seem beyond our depth and capacity. Shouldering the burden of new and alien behaviors in a loved one, or attempting to understand what has happened in our own thinking, can be dealt with through the experience of those who have had the same path to follow.

Stigma, particularly self-stigma, is a constant companion when mental illness surfaces. Being with others normalizes our experience and leaves us with the feeling our illness is not quite so onerous that we cannot deal with it. The sense of shame attached to a mental disorder, that scary image that is conjured up when we think of “mental,” is reduced when we think it is reduced to a tolerable level. The idea is, “If they can do it, so can I.”

When I was newly diagnosed, I attended a consumer support group at the day treatment center I was enrolled in. Hearing others’ stories of their disrupted lives made me think my situation wasn’t too bad. Their support helped promote a new vision of what my life would become, and I could cope with what had seemed an impossible quandary. As well, I made new friends

Going to that group became a weekly vigil, which helped offer structure to my life at a time when I didn’t have a lot happening. Seeing a therapist, checking in with my psychiatrist, and attending support group meetings was all I had to fill my weeks. Feeling stale, under-challenged, and bored, I was happy just having that group meeting to anchor me to a place where my isolation was being displaced by activity with others.

Support groups are not for everyone. Some people are disturbed by seeing those who share their diagnosis. Hearing members talk about their symptoms can fill one with dread that their condition may worsen. Getting too much information can fan the flames of fear and alarm at what seems a barrage of emotions set loose by the difficulties of others. Sometimes it is too much information. If this is you, keep in mind the group experience may be something to come back to when you are further along the path to recovery. Individual therapy with a mental health professional may be a better alternative.

Support group attendance may also be a gateway to further action in the community as an advocate for mental illness; fighting the fight to reduce stigma and to normalize and educate others. Support groups give support to everyone: the mentally ill, a loved one, and the community-at-large.

Organizations That Offer Mental Illness Support Groups and/or Support

1. NAMI
2. Bipolar Support Alliance
3. Mental Health America (The Mental Health Association)
4. Recovery Inc.
5. Your local community Department of Mental Health
6. Twelve step programs
7. Local hospitals
8. Private therapists who work with the mentally ill
9. Your local church and clergy
10. Phone help lines that offer referral information