Kelsey Keuleman

Curative Factors of Groups: Writing Assignment

CURATIVE: (adj.) ABLE TO CURE DISEASE

❖ Hope: the belief that change is possible

➢ From my understanding to have hope means looking forward to the future knowing

and understanding that things may be hard now but they are going to turn out okay

in the end as long as you keep one foot in front of the other and keep moving

toward a positive outcome.

❖ Commitment to Change: a willingness to specify what changes are desired and to make

use of the tools offered by the group process to explore ways of modifying one’s behavior

➢ To me a commitment to change means you are accountable for your actions thus

far, you know you got yourself to this position, and you are dedicated to making all

of the changes that are necessary to heal and have a life beyond your wildest

dreams with sobriety.

❖ Willingness to Risk and to Trust: Opening oneself to others, being vulnerable, and

actively doing in a group that which is necessary for change

➢ My interpretation of this is challenging your belief systems, willing to go against your

thought pattern and trusting the process and those who are part of the process. It is

scary when entering treatment and most addicts have learned to not trust anyone
 really. So by taking a risk and putting your fears aside and trusting everything you

demonstrate this curative factor

❖ Caring: Demonstrated through the listening and involvement of others, expressed via

tenderness, compassion, support , and even confrontation.

➢ The way I see this, it is showing that you have empathy, and you regard the

members of the group as people, and have a valid interest in the things they say and

do. You want to see them thrive and enjoy the rest of their lives and will help them

for the short period of time that you are in their lives as much as you can without

inhibiting their personal growth.

❖ Acceptance: Involves affirming a person's right to have his own feelings and values and to

express them.

➢ To me acceptance is an understanding of the things that cannot be changed, being

okay with the way things are going, and owning your responsibility for your actions..

❖ Universality: The realization that certain problems ( such as loneliness, need for

acceptance, fear of rejection, fear of intimacy, and hurt over past experiences) are universal

➢ When speaking to others in group settings, when you feel so alone before thinking

nobody’s problems are like mine. I doubt anyone has gone through things so

horrible like I have endured. I am the one person in the world that has these

emotions and thoughts and feelings, you find out so quickly people can relate to the

issues you have more than you'll ever know. You are not alone in this struggle, and

these feelings are oh so very common.

➢ The book says that confrontations can be a good thing as long as they are

calculated and well thought out. I believe they can be as well as long as the actions

taken are for a positive outcome and that the confrontations are not just reactions

but they are thought about and planned and not just a spur of the moment. I think

confrontations should take emotions and put them to the side so as to work through

them in a healthy manner.

❖ Power: Then recognition that one has untapped reserves of spontaneity, creativity,

courage, and strength. The sense that one has the internal resources necessary to direct

the course of one's life.

➢ I believe that power is the understanding that you are in control of your life and your

future. That you have a responsibility to yourself to commit to sobriety and to the

rest of your life.. Because you are worth it and you deserve it. You can see those

things you were so blinded to before in your addiction, you have talents you didn't

want to tap into, but through realizing them and using this power to tap into them,

you can have a fantastic life ahead of you.

❖ Freedom to experiment:

➢ Freedom: Having the ability to act or change without constraint

➢ Experiment: Trying out new concepts or ways of doing things

■ The way I see this is you are creating yourself into a new person more or less,

so in front of other group members and your facilitators, you get to plug and
 play. See what works for you as a new person and see what doesnt work for

you. Play with your personality, reinvent yourself.

❖ Feedback: Information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc.

which is used as a basis for improvement.

➢ When you are using the freedom to experiment and trying new things, the others

that are in your group and the facilitator can give you constructive criticism, positive

or negative, in a way that isn't degrading, or rude, just tells you if they believe it

worked or didn't. Feedback I think is a very important part of recovery.

❖ Catharsis: The expression of pent up feelings.

➢ I think catharsis is a very important part of recovery and to be honest your life. I am

the type of person who bottles everything up inside and then I turn that inward

towards myself. Catharsis is going to the top of the mountain and screaming as

loud as you can to let those emotions out. It means going to the batting cages to hit

some balls and expel the anger. Having a good cry because you need it. That's

what catharsis means to me

❖ The Cognitive Component: an attempt to find words to explain the feelings that are

expressed through catharsis

➢ This is something I really struggled with in my addiction. It is labeling your emotions.

What are you feeling that is coming out and everyone can see? The cognitive

component puts a label on the feelings you are letting out during the time you are

on the top of the mountain screaming. Knowing the emotions you are having are
 valid and normal and labelling helps you be able to process them and dispel the

negative ones

❖ Self-disclosure and the group member: sharing personal details about themselves with

group members

➢ This is like our last class, when we had to share personal things about ourselves.

Sharing our secrets, giving the other members trust. By sharing bits of yourself they

can feel comfortable sharing themselves and vice versa

❖ Self-disclosure and the Group Leader: Too much self-disclosure on the part of the

group leader can be counterproductive. Group leaders must remember that their job is to

facilitate and otherwise direct and evaluate the group member’s interactions

➢ The group leader is there to facilitate, you are there to direct the flow of the

conversations, not to tell your story. Let the members of the group share theirs, it's

their turn.

❖ Humor: Laughing at oneself

➢ Humor is being able to clone yourself for the silly things you have done or thought.

Laughter is the best medicine, and if you are like me I laugh when I am

uncomfortable so as to make myself feel better. Humor is taking a step back and

not letting things get to you.

❖ Cohesion: characterized by a high degree of “Togetherness”, at times, providing a climate

in which participants feel free to share problems, try new behaviors, and in other ways

reveal the many dimensions of themselves.

feeling that they can share with the others their thoughts and feelings without being

judged or thought of in a negative manner.

My 5 most important cohesive factors:

○ I think having humor is of utmost importance. I think that laughter is really the best

medicine in many situations. I tend to laugh when I am nervous, and try to have a

sense of humor when things get too heavy. In this context it said laughing at

yourself is important. I believe it is. At times some things we do that we thought are

so serious we need to be able to look back on them and laugh because in reality

they were dumb and silly.

➢ Freedom to experiment

○ I think that freedom to experiment is important because when you come from

being an addict, and you are getting sober, you are completely reinventing yourself.

Your old habits and old ways are not going to fly anymore. Therefore, being in a

safe place where you can try things out without someone being judgemental

towards you or degrading you in any way is a fantastic thing. It's scary to have to

change everything about yourself but it is important or you will fall back into your

old habits and behaviors.

➢ Willingness to risk and to trust

○ Oh another one I believe could make or break someone's sobriety. Like i said

before when you have been chemically dependent for such a long time, you begin

to learn you cannot trust anyone. This means that when you do have to put trust in

someone when entering treatment, it's so scary. The fact that counselors assure

clients that they can trust them, that we are not going to do anything to them to hurt
 or jeopardize their sobriety in any way is something that a client needs. JUst like in

our zoom session, we all pretty much said we needed to feel like we were in a safe

place before we were going to share with others our secrets, reassurance was

necessary for us to be able to trust the group. And that is what our clients need to be

able to risk it and trust people again,

➢ Willingness to change:

○ This is important because without the willingness to change, what is your sobriety

going to be?? Nothing because if you aren't willing to change you are most likely

just going to manipulate your way around the system and the program to get

yourself out to go get high again. If you aren't ready, it's not going to work. If you

aren't doing it for yourself, it wont work. You have to be done with that lifestyle and

that part of your life to be willing to take the step to change what needs to be

changed in order to live a fulfilling sober life.

➢ Hope:

○ I think hope is important because at times, sobriety is hard work, Sometimes it feels

like the universe is against you like nothing is going your way. All these emotions are

coming up, you hurt, it is sucky, but with hope, you can see that there is a light at the

end of the tunnel. Hope is the rain after a drought. It is what gets people through

the dark days to the sunny ones. The good days are coming, you just have to go

through some stormy weather in the meantime. Stick it out.