[yes]

Holly shmolly. I just had a group session (abt 10 ppl) - not quite therapy but an art-therapy workshop on examining your relationships, focusing on your family. Two things struck me:

- it's a bunch of strangers, why are so many willing to share their personal info with them?! when it was my turn to speak, i talked about how i drew what i drew, but no mention of how i feel about members of my family or anything - i think it's crazy to tell strangers that - what do you guys think? (it just struck me because almost everyone else was SO much more open than me!)

- it also made me realize how hard public (10 ppl isn't even really public!) speaking is for me. i'm not sure why it matters so much to stand out... hm.

- i also felt like some of these people are just into this whole self-analysis through imagery thing and are making it all up. one girl said she felt like she just HAD to draw a picture at some point, and she drew mountains, which she said represent her trying to hide, etc - i was thinking "PLEASE! stop acting..." i don't know if i'm being too presumptuous.

anyway, this is more of a diary out loud, so feel free to comment, advise, or share related experiences =)

-yes

[moimeme]

A lot of people use groups the way LSers use the Shack - as a place to dump thoughts they don't feel free to dump elsewhere. People can be very self-revealing in these sessions because it's freeing to them. In a very large city, the chances you'll run into each other again are pretty slim, and besides nobody is supposed to use what they hear against the others in any way.

As for the participants, I've found that some people want very much to 'find themselves' and are extremely earnest in their attempts. They often tend to seem somewhat overmuch in their fervour, but I think that's due to how badly they need to resolve their issues. Be gentle with mountain lady.

[yes]

this is a college-based group though, so chances aren't TOO slim and who knows what kind of people are in your group? for all you know, they'll gossip away... i dunna.

i'll be gentle on the mountain lady, don't worry, i don't show anything =)

-yes

[tattoomytoe]

i took an art therapy course once...and i do think that the leaders will make ageneralized assumption sometimes to get the ball rolling, but i think that art interpretation is totally personal...