One depressed person is bad enough. Surely 10 of them, all in one room, would be worse? Luckily, as group therapy finds acceptance across counselling centres in India, the opposite is turning out to be true. Those working through grief, anxiety and depressive disorders are realising that sharing the emotion lightens the load. Watching someone else’s healing journey play out is boosting one’s own healing too. “Yes, it’s maddening that 10 people with so much chaos are coming together,” says Delhi psychotherapist Jayati Kalra. “But think of it as a ripple effect. You don’t know the extent of the impact one person can have on another.”
Indians haven’t always been fans of the practice – counsellors say that patients still worry about making mental-health issues public, even anonymously, in a safe space. But people are starting to open up. Kalra has been conducting group therapy sessions for four years, recommending them to those who’ve plateaued on individual sessions. One group of seven, focused on intergenerational and transgenerational trauma, has been having weekly Zoom sessions for a year. Kalra helps them verbalise their experiences of domestic conflict, being uprooted and of subconsciously seeking partners who are like one’s parents.
Delhi psychologist Ishhita Gupta, who has been practising for more than a decade, started a grief group with Neev Mental Health a year ago. The closed group of six people meets weekly, in person, for 90 minutes. Arnav Nagpal, a Haryana-based psychotherapist, set up one group in June. Its four members meet online every week for 90 minutes to work on anxiety and stress.
Much of it is just talking and listening. “Anxiety, depression and grief can be isolating,” says Gupta. “Being able to talk openly with people going through similar experiences creates a nurturing community.” It also lets the breakthroughs come from peers, rather than a doctor. When others share their experiences, they verbalise them in a way that resonates with how someone else may be feeling. This is incredibly powerful,” Nagpal says.
{{/usCountry}}Much of it is just talking and listening. “Anxiety, depression and grief can be isolating,” says Gupta. “Being able to talk openly with people going through similar experiences creates a nurturing community.” It also lets the breakthroughs come from peers, rather than a doctor. When others share their experiences, they verbalise them in a way that resonates with how someone else may be feeling. This is incredibly powerful,” Nagpal says.
{{/usCountry}}Group therapy is common in Germany, where sessions are covered under health insurance plans. In the UK, it is integrated into the state-sponsored healthcare system. It’s also all over TV. 13 Reasons Why (2017) addresses depression, anxiety, suicide, bullying and its repercussions. After Life (2019) is about a widower dealing with grief. Dear Zindagi (2016) sees Alia Bhatt going for therapy. In Decoupled (2021) R Madhavan and Surveen Chawla sign up for couple’s therapy. Even crime shows throw in an in-prison group therapy scene, getting hardened inmates to break down as they confess why they turned to crime. Off screen, in India, only half the people who ask about group therapy actually join. “People can take months to gradually warm up to the idea,” says Gupta.
When they do, there’s an adjustment period. With one-on-one sessions, people go at their own pace. With group therapy, the pace and objectives are set. It has its advantages. “If there are eight people in a group and you are annoyed with one member, it can help you explore what the irritation is about, which can help you understand your patterns of attachment,” Kalra says. “You learn to negotiate your differences.”
You also learn to express yourself better – a kind of healing in itself. At Kalra’s sessions on intergenerational trauma, the seven group members discuss how caste, class and gender are part of the issue. “Most people with a difficult past have experiences that haven’t been verbalised,” she says. The group is women-only, which wasn’t planned. “So, we are also working on how women have been so conditioned to be cut off from anger and aggression, and how hard it is for them to express these emotions without thinking about the consequences.”
S has been attending online group therapy sessions for six months for anxiety. She says it took her at least three months to get comfortable with the group on camera. “I was conscious of what I was saying,” she recalls. “Listening to other people talk about their experiences that I could relate to, helped. That’s not something you get when you are in therapy alone. More importantly, I know I have group of people I can contact in crises, which isn’t an option with individual therapy.”
Given that it’s cheaper (Group sessions cost ₹500-Rs1,000, while individual counselling often starts at ₹1,500 a session) it also is easier for more people to adopt. “India has the potential to have one of the best systems for group therapy, given that our society and culture has its roots in the concept of a community and collective,” says Nagpal. After all, one less depressed person can always lift up 10 others.