Patients’ Experiences after Cognitive Behavior Group Therapy: From Anxiety to Feelings of Perceived Security

Abstract

The vast majority of qualitative studies that examined the patient’s own experiences of cognitive psychotherapy are about experiences from individual therapy. Studies dedicated to investigating how patients experience group treatment are more unusual, although such treatment contains components lacking in individual therapy. The purpose of the current study was to investigate which components and interventions have been considered significant by patients who achieved diagnostic improvements after performing Cognitive Behavior Group Therapy (CBGT) for individuals with clinical anxiety. Participants consisted of seven patients (2 men and 5 women) aged 21 - 61 whom took part in CBGT for patients with anxiety problems. Respondents were recruited from seven treatment groups in southwestern Sweden. Prerequisites to selection were that prior to treatment, they were diagnosed as having clinical anxiety, and that after treatment, their diagnosis of clinical anxiety had been removed. For analysis of data, the Empirical Phenomenological Psychological (EPP) method (Karlsson, 1995) was used. Results showed that respondents described their anxiety as a lack of security, and that their treatment increased their feelings of security. Three themes emerged which were important for creating security: 1) Sharing with others, 2) Knowledge, and 3) Structure. Further analysis indicated that a security process was established where the perceived security of the group, “outside the individual”, could be moved to “inside the individual.”