Group Psychotherapy and How Interpersonal Neurobiology Can Help Explain It

Mirror neurons biologically help explain the idea that “individuals attune to one another and represent themselves in and through each other” (Gantt & Badenoch, 2018, p. 25). The idea we are mirrors of one another and can deeply know and understand ourselves through connection is not a new idea but one that psychological science is slowly catching up to.

Attachment theorists and neuroscientists recognize that interactions with our nurturing person or people are responsible for establishing the physiological structure of our limbic and cortical regions early on in life (Gantt & Badenoch, 2018). Through these early relationships we gain templates about how to anticipate the world, how to perceive it and of our own value within it. Early on we encode these memories implicitly through “bodily sensations, behavioral impulses, and emotional surges.” (Gantt & Badenoch, 2018, p. 4).

The limbic system, our emotional brain, slowly strengthens connections through socialization with our middle prefrontal cortex most significantly until age 25 (Majeski, 2007, p. 432). The middle prefrontal cortex helps make up “our sense of self, attachment to others, our emotional regulation and overall brain integration” (Gantt & Badenoch, 2018, p. 4).  These early pathways can understandably develop in unhelpful ways given stressful, traumatic, and painful environments growing up. We inevitably learn unhelpful ideas about ourselves and the world as we go through life.

Group therapy offers a fertile space to helpfully rewire these connections in a healthier more adaptive way through feelings of safety, validation, and being seen and heard by others. The goal of group therapy is to create a space where these early templates can rewire, co-regulate, and form new healthier pathways of connection. Treating an individual is great and adding a sense of community and attunement with others multiplies the healing of being seen and heard. It speaks to our innate human desire for a sense of belonging and connection. Many collectivistic cultures have already intuitively known of this mirroring and strengthening of self through connection. An indigenous epistemology beautifully demonstrates this concept stating “Lak’ech In Lak’ech.” In other words “you are my other me.” This is something we must feel, experience and live as a value in order to know, something we sometimes miss out on in our own Western individualistic way of being. 

References:

Gantt, S. P., & Badenoch, B. (Eds.). (2018). The interpersonal neurobiology of group psychotherapy and group process. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429482120

Majeski, R. A. (2007). The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals (2nd Ed.): A Review of: “By Patricia Broderick and Pamela Blewitt Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall ©2006 608 pages. ISBN: 0-1317-0684-5” Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601270701411098

CU Boulder school of Education (2018, November 30^th). In Lak’ech: You Are My Other Me — Magnolia Landa-Posas. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUzhbJKLfuE