Peer support groups involve sharing information that helps support each other deal with various mental, physiological, or psychological issues. The groups use different methods of support, including one on one individual support or self-help groups led by trained mentors. Peer support groups include face-to-face or online interactions where people from different demographic regions meet and share knowledge, experiences, and emotional support. Technological advancements have led to increased online support groups, unlike in recent years where peer support mainly occurred in face-to-face conditions. Online support forums have become a trend encouraging diverse people from all ages and races globally. Peer support groups for depression and anxiety are beneficial for restoring normalcy to people suffering from mental problems. Individuals with the same experiences in their lives have a better understanding of the problem, and sharing facilitates easier recovery for members of the group. Members also find empowerment, connectedness, hope, and a sense of identity through peer support groups. This paper covers online peer support for depression and anxiety among a diverse group of people from different demographics and ages to show the effectiveness of peer support in therapy.
Introduction. Online Peer Support Groups for Depression and Anxiety Disorder
Dealing with mental issues can be challenging and may take time to recover without external help. However, talking to people with similar experiences helps unburden emotions and ease the psychological trauma associated with the challenging condition. Peer support groups are among the therapeutic approaches to mental conditions that help individuals recover through sharing and supporting one another among individuals with the same mental challenges. Professional mentors or group leaders lead the groups, observing and assessing the developmental stages of each member for adequate recovery. The groups may be online or face-to-face, depending on the members’ locality and preferences. With most people embracing technology in their daily activities, therapy, and medication, support groups also go online for peer support. Online forums for peer support include virtual platforms that members can easily access and share information significant to the group. This essay explores how online peer groups facilitate the effective recovery of individuals with depression and anxiety disorders.
The Mental Health Association of Central Florida
In the United States, mental health associations are primarily non-profit organizations dealing with specific communities. Mental Health Association of Central Florida is among the many associations dealing with individuals having mental issues in Florida and the surrounding community. The institution’s mission is to build a mentally healthy community by providing mental services and support to residents of Florida (Rohini et al., 2020). As a non-profit organization, the institution offers free help to willing clients through therapy, peer groups, and counseling. The institution hosts peer support recovery through online forums and face-to-face to reach everyone who qualifies for the program (Rohini et al., 2020). The institution has transformed the community by serving collaboratively with community members, sharing resources and networking, and advocating for people with mental incapacitations in Florida.
The Role of Group Leaders
Peer support groups have different structures depending on the type of communication, mental characteristics of the group members, and type of therapy. Some groups have a leader who has overcome the particular disorder, a mental health specialist, or both. The first responsibility of a group leader is ensuring all members have access to information about the group’s activities (Behler et al., 2017). Leaders organize time schedules for online meetings and activities such as virtual conferences, discussion forums, and phone calls. The time schedules must consider each participant’s availability. As a leader, being a role model for the group is mandatory (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). Therefore, group leaders also act as mentors by showing positivity, support, and sharing resourceful information with the group. Another role is seeing to the needs of all group members, for instance, following up on members who may be absent or individuals who fail to show improvements in their mental conditions. During the virtual meetings, group leaders ensured all members’ attendance and participation by giving directions on logging into the group and offering technical help.
Group Interactions During the COVID-19 Period
The arrival of the pandemic gave rise to many technological advancements and online platforms for social interactions. With the physical distancing and lockdowns, many individuals resorted to online services to transact business and obtain services such as medication, therapy, and education (Cheng et al., 2020). Member of the support group interacted and engaged in group activities through video conferencing using Zoom and Google meets. One-on-one interaction included exchanging text messages and emails offering encouraging messages, recent experiences, and resourceful information on how to cope with depression and anxiety. Alternatively, members interacted through social media sites like Facebook to offer peer-to-peer experiences and engage in activities that reduce depression and anxiety, such as playing games.
The group members’ varying ages, demographics, and mental disorders significantly impacted their recovery and mental development. The older adults had more life experiences to share, offering motivation and hope to the young members that they could overcome their anxieties and depression. The individual with severe anxiety disorders could relate the beginning of the disorder with others, which helped know the stage where the condition worsens and apply preventive measures. The young members also learned from the older people’s experiences which helped develop a flexible and robust mindset to face future challenges.
The Therapeutic Factors Observed
The main objective of peer support groups is connecting people with the same life experiences and challenges to share and support each other in healing and recovery. Particular therapeutic factors must be present for adequate recovery and mental development in the group sessions. In the virtual group, the most prominent therapeutic factor was universality. Universality is belonging and identification to a particular community (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). Universality is essential in promoting self-esteem, awareness, and acceptance in society, leading to positive outcomes in therapy. Most individuals with depression and anxiety disorder tend to feel lonely and hold on to depressive thoughts that the suffering is unique to them (O’Leary et al., 2018). However, peer support groups offer the relief of knowing other people are experiencing the same emotions to help cope with the disorder (Rohini et al., 2020). Group members felt more connected through sharing similar experiences and challenges, which brought relief from not being alone in difficult situations. Recognizing other peels struggles creates a kinship bond contributing to positive attitudes in the recovery process by overcoming the huddles together.
Cohesiveness
Peer support groups need member commitment and positive attitudes towards recovery. Cohesiveness gives members a sense of acceptance, responsibility, and positivity for the progress of the group and individual levels. According to (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005), group members who show cohesiveness have more interpersonal interactions and regular group attendance because they believe in the therapeutic approach. Cohesiveness facilitates commitment and fewer relapses because members work towards a particular goal in earnest (O’Leary et al., 2018). All 13 group members were committed to the program and the recovery process by attending virtual meetings, socializing in groups and interpersonally, and offering more support to members with severe depression. The cohesiveness resulted in gaining more information on depression and anxiety and ways of interacting socially to overcome the mental illnesses.
Hope
Hope is the most vital factor in life, particularly in the recovery process of mental illness. Individuals need hope to push through and overcome challenges that cause the mental disorder and find acceptance in society. Having hope is believing that the future is brighter than the present and working towards that future (Behler et al., 2017). Hope is important during the recovery process because it instills the faith that one can make it despite the severity of the condition. In the support group, individuals found hope through sharing experiences, discovering similarities in the experiences, and finding ways to overcome the challenges together. During conference meetings, members explained that listening to others’ stories of depression and anxiety disorder gave them something to reflect upon and disorder find ways of coping and supporting each other towards betterment.
Altruism
Peer support involves sharing information and experiences to help each other overcome similar challenges. In group therapy, altruism refers to reciprocating support through encouragement, sharing, recommendations, and hope (O’Leary et al., 2018). Altruism is essential in understanding the essence of peer support and reciprocation of feelings and ideas in the recovery process (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). It supports the emotional growth of group members’ emotional stability by allowing each member to feel important and offer help to a common problem in the group. Some participants explained that offering help is rewarding, while others stated that reading other people’s experiences is a motivation to share their own and offer support. Sharing information gave members different viewpoints of the condition and various suggestions on coping approaches towards recovery.
Conclusion
Generally, the group was socially active in interpersonal communication and virtual conferences. However, some participants had personal inadequacies such as more challenging struggles, limiting group activities, and offering help. Members with limited resources to offer support felt inhibited because of the inability to reciprocate emotions and ideas. Peer support groups should find strategies for ensuring all members’ comfort in sharing to avoid reciprocity pressures that may hinder the recovery process. Participants appreciated the peer support through online forums and expressed the privacy and resourcefulness of using online platforms. This experience was insightful and eye-opening that peers are the best in helping to solve life’s struggles and challenges.
It was encouraging to see unfamiliar people coming together and forming bonds being friendship to heal each other. People have different life experiences and challenges, which gives more understanding and different viewpoints to mental disorders. I learned that other people have worse problems than others, and only through sharing can one feel the others struggle and offer help. I would recommend peer support for individuals with mental incapacities because sharing g a common problem gives rise to better solutions. Finally, online peer support groups can be more effective in providing therapy for mental illness and have the potential to offer speedy recovery than face-to-face peer groups.
References
Behler, J., Daniels, A., Scott, J., & Mehl-Madrona, L. (2017). Depression/Bipolar peer support groups: Group members’ perceptions about effectiveness and differences from other mental health services. The Qualitative Report, 22(1), 213-236. Web.
Cheng, P., Guohua, X., Pang, P., Wu, B., Jiang, W., Yong-Tong, L., Wang, M., Ling, Q., Chang, X., Wang, J., Xiaocheng, D., Lin, X., & Xiaoting, B. (2020). COVID-19 epidemic peer support and crisis intervention via social media. Community Mental Health Journal, 56(5), 786-792. Web.
O’Leary, K., Schueller, S. M., Wobbrock, J. O., & Pratt, W. (2018, April). “Suddenly, we got to become therapists for each other” designing peer support chats for mental health. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14). Association for Computing Machinery.
Rohini, P., Smith, M. E., Patankar, K. U., & Subharati, G. (2020). Social Networks, Community Integration, and Recovery for Individuals with Severe Mental Illnesses in India and the U.S: A Comparative Study. Community Mental Health Journal, 56(6), 1004-1013. Web.
Yalom, I. & Leszcz, M. (2005). Theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books