When people picture group therapy, they often imagine a circle of chairs and a room full of strangers. In reality, group therapy comes in several different types, each led by a trained therapist and each designed with a different purpose in mind.
Some groups are built around learning, others focus on practicing new skills, working through thought patterns, or simply having space to talk openly with people who understand. Knowing what those options look like makes it much easier to picture where you might fit and to have a more informed conversation with a provider about which type could help.
What Is Group Therapy?
Group therapy is a form of treatment where one or two licensed therapists work with several people at the same time. Members usually share a common challenge or goal, and the therapist guides the conversation so the time stays focused, respectful, and productive.
What makes group therapy distinct from meeting one-on-one is the group itself. You’re not only receiving support from a professional, you’re also hearing from people navigating similar challenges. Many members say the most meaningful moment of going through group therapy was realizing they weren’t the only one dealing with these issues.
Groups provide a safe, confidential space to speak honestly, and the therapist is there to make sure it stays that way.
What Happens During a Group Therapy Session
Sessions vary depending on the type of group, but most follow a familiar rhythm:
- A small number of members: Groups are intentionally kept small enough that everyone has room to participate without feeling overwhelmed.
- A regular schedule: Most groups meet weekly for about an hour to an hour and a half.
- A therapist-led structure: Your therapist may open with a topic, a skill, or a check-in, then guide the discussion from there.
- Participation at your own pace: You’re encouraged to share, but you won’t be forced to. Many people spend their first session listening and understanding how the session works.
- An agreement to keep things private: Confidentiality is a ground rule for everyone in the room.
If the idea still feels intimidating, most people find the discomfort fades once they’ve sat through a session or two and the group starts to feel familiar.
Support Groups vs. Group Therapy
Sometimes these two terms get used interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing.
Support groups
Support groups are typically peer-led. Members come together around a shared experience to offer encouragement and understanding to one another. They’re often larger, more open, and focused on ongoing mutual support.
Group therapy
Group therapy is led by a licensed mental health professional. It’s a clinical treatment with defined goals, therapeutic structure, and a trained facilitator guiding the work.
Both can be genuinely valuable, and many people benefit from both. The distinction simply comes down to whether you’re looking for peer connection or professional treatment.
Common Types of Group Therapy
Here are some of the most common types you’re likely to encounter.
Psychoeducational Groups
Psychoeducational groups combine learning with therapeutic support. The focus is on understanding: how a condition works, what drives certain patterns, and what tends to help.
A therapist may cover topics like managing stress, recognizing symptoms, or understanding how mental health conditions affect daily life. Members often leave with practical knowledge and a clearer sense of what they’re dealing with, which can make everything else in treatment feel more manageable.
These groups tend to be a good fit if you want to better understand what’s happening and why.
Skills-Development Groups
Skills-development groups are hands-on. Rather than focusing mainly on discussion, members learn and practice specific tools they can use in everyday life.
Depending on the group, that might mean working on emotional regulation, mindfulness, healthy communication, conflict resolution, or anger management. Skills groups drawn from approaches like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) also fall into this category, with a strong emphasis on managing intense emotions and navigating relationships.
These groups are often time-limited, running for a set number of weeks with structured content and sometimes practice to try between sessions. Practicing alongside other people, where you can get real-time feedback, is part of what makes them effective.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Groups
CBT groups apply cognitive behavioral therapy in a group setting. CBT centers on the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and on recognizing the thought patterns that keep you stuck.
In a group format, members work through those patterns together. Hearing someone else name a thought you recognize in yourself can be clarifying in a way that’s hard to replicate alone, and the group offers a chance to challenge unhelpful thinking with support.
CBT groups tend to be structured and goal-oriented, which suits people who like a clear framework.
Process-Oriented Groups
Process groups, sometimes called process-oriented groups, are the format closest to the classic image of group therapy. There’s less predetermined curriculum and more open, in-the-moment conversation among members.
The focus is on what happens between people in the room. Group dynamics become the material itself: how you relate to others, the roles you tend to fall into, and the patterns that show up in your relationships outside the group. With a therapist guiding the process, members give and receive honest feedback and gain insight into how they come across.
These groups are typically longer-term and work well for people interested in deeper self-understanding and improving how they connect with others.
Relapse Prevention Groups
Relapse prevention groups support people maintaining progress in addiction recovery. Members identify personal triggers, build coping strategies, and create plans for high-risk situations with the accountability and encouragement of a group that understands it firsthand.
The shared experience matters because being in a room with people who know what recovery actually requires can be a meaningful source of motivation.
How Group Therapy Fits Into Treatment
Group therapy is rarely a standalone answer. More often, it’s one piece of a broader treatment plan tailored to your needs.
What Group Therapy Can Help With
Different types of groups suit different concerns. Here’s a few examples of how they tend to line up.
- Depression and other mood-related concerns: Psychoeducational and CBT groups can help you understand what’s happening and work on the thought patterns that fuel it, while the connection in any group setting helps counter isolation.
- Anxiety and stress: Skills-development groups are useful for building concrete coping and relaxation tools, and CBT groups help address anxious thinking directly.
- Grief and major life transitions: Process-oriented groups offer space to talk openly with others who understand what loss and change feel like.
- Relationship and communication patterns: Process groups and skills groups both shine here, since you can observe your patterns in real time and practice new approaches with immediate feedback.
- Anger and emotional regulation: Skills-based groups, including anger management, focus on recognizing triggers and responding differently.
- Addiction recovery: Relapse prevention groups provide structure, strategy, and accountability for maintaining progress.
Your provider can help you figure out which type makes sense for what you’re working through.
Combining Group and Individual Therapy
Group and individual therapy aren’t competing options, they often work best together. Individual sessions give you private, focused time to go deep on personal history and goals. Group sessions give you perspective, connection, and a place to practice what you’re learning with other people.
Many people do both at once, and the combination can be more effective than either alone. If you’re weighing the two, our breakdown on the benefits of group therapy vs. one-on-one counseling dives into the differences in more detail.
How to Choose the Right Type for You
With several options, choosing can feel like one more decision on your plate. A few questions can help narrow it down.
- What are you hoping to get out of it? Knowledge, practical skills, insight into your relationships, or ongoing accountability all point toward different types of groups.
- Do you prefer structure or open conversation? Psychoeducational skills and CBT groups are more structured, while process groups are more open-ended.
- How much time do you want to commit? Some groups run for a set number of weeks; others are ongoing.
- What’s your comfort level with sharing? All groups involve some openness, though the amount varies. It’s okay to start where you feel steady.
You don’t have to sort this out on your own. A provider can walk through your goals with you and recommend a group that fits, and if the first one isn’t quite right, adjusting is a normal part of the process.
Explore Group Therapy at Denova
At Denova, group therapy is part of our whole-person approach to care. Our licensed therapists lead groups in a supportive, confidential setting, and they work hand-in-hand with our psychiatry, primary care, and case management teams so every part of your treatment is connected.
Whether you’re considering group therapy on its own or alongside individual sessions, we can help you find the right fit. We offer virtual care options to work with your schedule. Reach out to get started; connection is often where healing begins, and you don’t have to do this alone.
