Group Therapy Activities

Most therapy modules aim towards making the patients talk about their problems to find out the root cause. However, not always may a patient respond to such a conventional therapy. Bringing in a little bit of fun to the treatment can help the patient cope up faster and better. Group therapy activities are the perfect combination of fun, frolic and medical treatment. They provide a platform to understand and be to understood. For instance, 'Alcoholics Anonymous' (AA), is a group for both men and women, which helps the members break free from the shackles of alcohol abuse. It uses means of group therapy activities to promote, 'stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety'. It gives members a chance to open up and share their experiences. Coming together, sharing experiences and solving the problem collectively keep the group of patients motivated and determined. Let's take a look at some of the group therapy activities that help in dealing with several psychological issues.

Activities for Group Therapy

Ice Breakers
Ice breakers are also known as warm up activities or energizers. They focus on creating a positive atmosphere by breaking down any sort of initial barriers, motivating the participants and making people think outside the box. Animal Sounds is a great ice breaking group therapy activity. Blind fold everyone and give each person an animal name. Make them recognize each other by the sound of their respective animal sounds. This will help them in sound association and will involve a lot of energy usage. '2 Lies and 1 truth' is another fun way of having group therapy exercises. To play this each player has to list two lies and one truth about oneself. As the participants read it aloud one by one, the remaining have to guess which ones are the lies and which one's the truth.

Mine Field
Disturbed minds struggle with relationships on both, personal front and professional front. 'Mine Field' is the easiest to-do group therapy activity. Divide the members in pairs of two and blind fold one of them. Scatter many object around the place and make one person lead the other by him instructions to collect the items without tripping over any. At the end of the game assess the level of trust developed. Allow the people to swap partners and find out which pair worked out the best and why. Make them go through the analysis, this is the only way they will learn to trust and build a relationship with each other. The other activities for group therapy of trust and relationship building are, Wind in the Willow, Trust Lean and Running Free.

Fear in a Hat
These group therapy activities help one in understanding one's strengths and liabilities. To play 'Fear in a Hat' make all the participants anonymously write their fears on a piece of paper and collect hem in a hat. Then one by one, each person will get up to read out the fear and explains how the person may feel. This helps in empathizing and comprehending the fear in a new aspect. Talking about the fear also helps the person deal with it. Another interesting group therapy game is 'Solo Hour in Nature'. Go for a nature trail and observe the nature in silence. When you get back write about it and then make interpretations.

Free Fall
Make all the participants stand in a circle, while one of them stands in the center of the circle. The person standing in the center must have a rigid posture with his hands and feet together. As the facilitator blows the whistle, the person must fall freely sideways, backwards or forwards. In whichever direction he may fall, the others have to push him up to the upright position. Each participant must get the opportunity to stand in the center of the circle to learn to trust others players.

Group Therapy Activities for Recreation
Recreation group therapy activities are meant for stress management. Activities like dancing, painting, composing and listening to music are all ways of expressing innate emotions. Indulging in such activities lets the mind wander for more knowledge, giving it an undiscovered space to fill it with inspiration all over again.

Group therapy activities are essentially meant for helping one cope with behavioral issues. Many psychologists use them to improve speeches and correct destructive tendencies too. The above mentioned activities can also be used as adolescent group therapy activities. A well-planned and formulated group therapy can bring about a profound transformation for a better quality of life.