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From Survivor to Self: How Process Groups Reclaim Identity · Professor Peterson’s Psychology Classroom

• 0:00
  Welcome to this edition of Psychology Explained by
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  Dr. Curtis Peterson, who is trying to bring psychology alive
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  for us all. Kind of the idea of
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  process groups when it comes to people who
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  have gone through trauma. Okay.
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  Many individuals, I'm not going to say all,
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  uh, come into a a domestic
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  violence group or a survivor group or something
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  like this, and they have this cognitive
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  identity and this emotional identity that I damaged
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  because I was abused. And so their identity
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  becomes a victim, a survivor of
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  domestic violence. And their whole entire
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  world can become, um,
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  based upon that abuse they experience.
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  Okay, and in the end, what a process group
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  hopes to do, and this whole treatment process
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  that we've gone through, is a shift from
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  identity as a abused
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  victim to an identity where I
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  have me, and that
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  abuse is part of my experiences.
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  It's not what defines me,
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  it's not what controls me, but it
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  is just a part that informs
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  me of my next steps.
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  So the true kind of reason behind
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  a process group is what's called identity
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  decoupling. Okay,
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  it's helping an individual recognize who
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  they are as a whole and complete individual,
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  and this thing of, of domestic violence,
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  of addiction, of substance use,
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  of anxiety, and of depression are
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  just a small component that
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  I have allowed to take over
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  all of me and who I am and define myself
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  of it. So it's a decoupling process.
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  To say, no, I am a unique
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  individual. I have all of these positive qualities. I have
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  a lot of quirks I need to work on. And that trauma
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  or that addiction or that anxiety
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  or that depression, it's right there. It is
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  part of me, but it doesn't own me.
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  And then this kind of exemplifies where we want
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  to go with individuals.
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  Is this shift in mind
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  processing that this
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  thing that I've allowed to control my life is
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  not who I am.
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  It doesn't own me. It doesn't control me.
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  It is a part of me that I recognize
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  I manage, I deal with,
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  but I am all of these other things as well.
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  Okay, so, uh, that kind of takes
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  us through what we hope is the complete process.
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  So I'm gonna, uh, end kind of with this idea, and we'll,
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  we'll, we'll continue on. We'll get out of here a little bit early for today.
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  But I want to just synthesize these models. In the
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  perfect world,
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  psychoeducational groups again are peer-led
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  or professional-led. It's about shared
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  experience and mutual aid.
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  They tend to be flexible and discussion-based,
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  even though their topic is well— and the idea
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  is normalization and connection. Okay,
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  then we go into the treatment, which should be led professionally
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  or at least supervised professionally, as we
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  discussed. And this is about symptom management
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  and practical coping skills.
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  These tend to be highly structured and intervention-driven.
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  Okay, and the primary goal is
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  measurable symptom reduction in the here and
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  now. Okay, and then process— this
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  should be professional only. It can be a
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  licensed individual, or it can be this professional up
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  here who has enhanced skills and ability.
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  And this is emotional processing and interpersonal dynamics.
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  They tend to be semi-structured but
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  very interactional-based. And this
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  is what we give that deepened self-awareness and
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  relationship— relational repair. But again,
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  it's about that decoupling of identity.
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  I come into this because I'm a victim of
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  abuse or a survivor of abuse. I have
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  a cancer. I can't stop
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  drinking, the substance owns me now. And that's
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  who I completely am. And then I learned to manage
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  these symptoms. And I go through and work
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  on them and come up with skills to deal
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  with trauma responses and triggers
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  and those kinds of things. And then I
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  learn how to have healthy relationships
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  with myself, with others, with— and
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  I come to realize that this thing up here that owned
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  me during the psychosocial support stage no
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  longer owns me anymore. It's a part of me,
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  but it doesn't define me.
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  Thank you for joining us for this Psychology Explained.
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  I hope you'll join us in later episodes where we can— we'll continue
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  to investigate the human mind and psychology.