A fictional look inside the strange, uncomfortable, funny and sometimes powerful world of group therapy
Four free online screenings | WATCH FROM HOME
As a person who has led therapy groups for a long time, I know well how difficult it can be to explain how group therapy helps people.
Some imagine a support group where everyone takes turns talking about their problems. Others imagine being forced to share things they don't want to talk about with a room full of strangers. A well led interpersonal therapy group is quite different!
When a group begins working well, people start paying attention not only to what they're talking about, but to what is happening between them. People take risks. They hold back. They get irritated. They laugh. They misunderstand each other. They become attached to one another. They notice things they would rather not notice.
And, ideally, they become increasingly able to talk honestly about all of it.
That's difficult to capture on a webpage, but a movie can do something different!
ABOUT THE FILM
Group: The Schopenhauer Effect was developed with fictional characters, a real psychoanalyst, and no conventional script.
The film is not a documentary, and it's far from a perfect representation of how every therapy group works.
It is a dramatization that's made for both entertainment and educational purposes.
I think it illuminates some important aspects of group therapy that are difficult to describe: emotional engagement, immediacy, resistance, containment, vulnerability and the complicated things that happen when people try to relate honestly with one another.
The movie is also interesting, funny, uncomfortable, engaging and provocative—which, come to think of it, isn't a terrible description of group therapy!
Wednesday, October 21 — 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. CST
Thursday, October 22 — 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. CST
Friday, October 23 — 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. CST
Sunday, October 25 — 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. CST
Choose whichever screening works best for you and register below. The movie is 119 minutes.
The film is watched online from home. Because of the screening license, everyone attending a particular screening watches the movie together (on their own devices) at the scheduled time.
Again, there is no cost to attend.
As a person who's benefitted greatly from group treatment, I'm interested in increasing awareness of group psychotherapy and giving more people an opportunity to see what happens when a collection of people begins trying to talk honestly with one another.
Feel free to watch the movie and turn off your computer/TV when it's over.
For anyone who's interested in breaking it down or who has questions, I'm going to host a free Zoom from 7:00 - 8:00 on Monday, October 26 for 10-15 people. I'm also happy for people to reach out to me directly if you have questions.
We can talk about what the film gets right, what it gets wrong, questions it raises, and what actual group psychotherapy can look like.
No one will be asked to disclose anything personal or participate in anything resembling a therapy group.
I have a strong interest in group psychotherapy and would like to see it become a more visible and widely understood form of treatment. Well-led psychotherapy groups can offer something powerful.
Seldom in everyday life do the same people get together week after week with the explicit purpose of becoming more emotionally present, understanding themselves better, talking honestly about what is happening between them and helping one another grow. Doing so can be quite powerful!
I'd like more people to understand what that kind of work can look like—and I'd like more therapists to think seriously about group therapy as an option for their clients.
I'm covering the screening costs, so there is no charge to attend and no obligation to participate in anything afterward.
Watch the trailer. If you're intrigued, pick a screening.
Zach Bryant, Ph.D.
4205 Hillsboro Pike, Suite 301, Nashville, Tennessee 37215, United States
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