Support Groups Whether you’re dealing with a chronic illness, emotional problem, life transition, or want to enhance your health and well-being, your community may have a group where you can come together with people in the same situation. But maybe you’re feeling a little unsure or skeptical about participating in a support group. What can you expect? How can a support group help you?

What Is a Support Group?

In earlier times, barn raisings, square dances, quilting bees, and other community gatherings were places where people came together to celebrate, nurture, encourage, and console one another. Today, most of us need that same nurturing, encouragement, intimacy and consolation, particularly during difficult times. But face-to-face interactions within the community are becoming more and more scarce. If we’re lucky, we get support from family and friends, but sometimes they can’t quite understand what it’s like to be in our situation. A support or self-help group comprising people in the same situation may help fill the void.

Support and self-help groups involve regular meetings where people experiencing similar problems or life transitions come together to offer each other support and encouragement. In the last 25 years, there has been a huge increase in the number of support and self-help groups. Today there are over 400 distinct types of support and self-help groups in the United States and Canada.

Types of Support Groups

Support and self-help groups tend to address one of the following issues:

  • Chronic illnesses/conditions , such as cancer , diabetes , fibromyalgia , post-traumatic stress disorder , alcoholism and depression
  • Situational crises , such as divorce, unemployment, single parenting, widowhood, caregiving, and surviving a loved one’s suicide
  • Personal growth and wellness , such as weight loss, smoking cessation, exercise, men’s and women’s groups
  • Family support , which includes groups that help family members cope with a loved one’s illness or condition

Benefits of Support and Self-help Groups

Although support and self-help groups can vary greatly, all groups share one thing in common—they are places where people can share personal stories, express emotions, and be heard in an atmosphere of acceptance, understanding, and encouragement. Participants share information and resources. By helping others, people in a support group strengthen and empower themselves. In addition to providing support, some groups may also focus on community education or advocacy.

Are They Good for Your Health?

For the last decade, conventional wisdom has held that participation in a support group is good for your health. This belief has been largely based on a 1989 Stanford University study, which suggested that support group participation increased the survival rates of women with breast cancer. However, a Canadian study found that support group participation did not increase the survival rates of breast cancer patients. With regard to the health benefits of support groups, what are we to believe?

Quality of Life Benefits

Despite the inconclusive evidence, participating in a support group has many benefits that may ultimately have a positive impact on health. According to Donald Rosenstein, MD, chief of psychiatry consultation service at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, there is a lot of evidence that support groups help reduce anxiety, depression, and feelings of isolation.

“There is also some data to suggest that some individuals' lives may be prolonged,” he says.

The emotional support derived from support group participation can help reduce stress, which can have a positive impact on health. Further, people may greatly benefit from the information sharing that takes place in a support group. They may learn how to manage symptoms, develop better coping skills, and communicate more effectively with their doctors. By attending support groups, partners, friends, and family members may also learn how to be more understanding and supportive of their chronically ill loved ones. In time, all these benefits may help reduce stress and enhance recovery.

Does Everyone Benefit?

Participating in a support group does not guarantee feeling better and living longer.

“Support groups vary enormously,” says Julia Rowland, PhD, director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Survivorship. “They can be helpful for people who feel comfortable in a group, but they aren’t the answer for everybody.”

Finding a Support Group

Most communities, large and small, have support and self-help groups of various kinds. You can often find out about groups in the community pages of your phone book or local newspapers. National self-help organizations such as Alcoholic’s Anonymous typically have local chapters and are listed in the phone book and on the Internet. You can also ask your healthcare provider or therapist for information about support groups. The National Library of Medicine has an index called DIRLINE that can be useful. DIRLINE can be accessed online at http://dirline.nlm.nih.gov .

Perhaps you have an issue for which no relevant group exists in your community. In that case, you may want to consider starting a support group. Let your healthcare provider know that you plan on starting a support group and leave your phone number for others to call. Find a comfortable and accessible place and a convenient time to meet. Get the word out by using the community pages of your newspaper and posting and distributing flyers to area doctors, hospitals, libraries, etc.