The Power of Fantasy in Group Therapy

Of all the things you can talk about in Group Therapy, one of the most valuable is fantasy.

I don’t mean Game of Thrones episodes.

I mean the dream-like imagination that is happening all the time but usually under our awareness.

Even before entering group, you start imagining what it will be like.

Will there be somone annoying like your cousin Ed?

What about someone sexy but hard to deal with like your ex?

Will the group leader be more like your parents or those of your best friend in middle school?

Then, when you see the other members, you immediately have new thoughts and feelings:

Oh, she seems anxious, I wonder if I’ll need to assuage her.

He has anger issues, I hope he doesn’t yell at me.

Damn, she’s pretty! What are the chances she’ll be interested in me?

These snippets are like the titles of chapters. You could sink into them, see where it unfolds.

How will I feel pressured to assuage her? How will she respond? What will happen when that gets irritating for me?

What would he yell at me about? How would I react to that?

If she were interested in me, what would we do together? What’s the specific fantasy that comes to mind?

Like dreams, these fantasies flow from the unconscious and contain perfectly attuned bits of medicine, if only we have the courage to explore them.