SUPPORT FOR PATIENTS AND FAMILY MEMBERS

• THERAPEUTIC GROUPS
• OBJECTIVES
• TREATED TOPICS

THERAPEUTIC GROUPS

With the end goal in mind to respond to the specific needs of patients and their family members, the Institute of Neurosciences proposes some therapeutic groups, thought of as a physical and psychological space, in order to be able to “share” that which in personal experiences is often associated with the stigma, and inevitably, with isolation.

 The groups, falling weekly, are open to patients or the family members (spouse, parents, sons, siblings…) of a patient, who wish to “walk together” with people who share the same suffering.

The group, with a cognitive-behavioral setting represents a mode of intervention indicated particularly in some specific situations. It is very useful, for example, for all the conditions in which the individual manifests a feeling of discomfort or shame, tied to the sensation of being different, or again when the tendency is towards relational isolation. Putting people together who have the same problem favors contrast between the individuals and the sharing of experiences and emotions. In the group, the socialization of one’s own problems occurs which facilitates acceptance enormously.

The group is particularly suited also for when there is a certain difficulty to talk about one’s self or about one’s own difficulties, because on the inside, emotional tension is distributed and thought is more free to flow. No one is forced to come to the intervention, but each person comes according to their means and to their time.

 OBJECTIVES

• Reactivation of the resources that the person has within themselves, but have been obscured by the discomfort;
• To have the possibility to come to know and to experiment, new ways of behavior in order to improve the quality of life;
• To have the possibility to confront and mirror one’s self in the stories and the feelings of the other participants and to not feel alone, but to have the possibility to share;
• To open one’s self up, to speak, to listen, to know in order to reread and tell again one’s own story of suffering;
• To speak directly with the protagonists of the illness;
• To teach the family members to not feel impotent in the management of the illness;
• To identify new behavior strategies

TREATED TOPICS

The path has been elaborated starting from theoretical and clinical considerations regarding the importance of the relationship between mental illness, communication, and behavior. The meetings, directed by a psychotherapeutic psychologist, have as their aim an educational and informational activity about the illness, a job both as a group and about the group in order to reduce isolation, facilitate communication with others and offer new strategies of behavior.

 In the meetings with the Experts various topics are faced: new possibilities of therapy, anxiety disorder, mood disorder, obsessive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and eating disorders.