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The group started its work in September 2024. Setting: once a week, 1.5-hour sessions. The group consisted of eight participants (three men and five women) and two female psychotherapists. The participants’ ages ranged from 27 to 45. Most of them were from Chernivtsi, with one participant from the Kyiv region and another from Kharkiv. The latter two had relocated to Chernivtsi in March 2022 due to the full-scale invasion. All participants had undergone individual psychotherapy for varying durations (from 1.5 to 7 years).
At the beginning, there were many expressions of fear regarding self-disclosure within the group, as well as resentment toward the psychotherapists who had brought them there. Some participants voiced uncertainty about whether group therapy suited them, expressing hesitation about staying long-term and struggling to articulate their thoughts. By the third or fourth session, comments such as, ‘I don’t understand anything, but it’s very interesting,’ started emerging. Participants with prior psychotherapy experience were more active and openly discussed personal issues.
During the fourth session, one of the psychotherapists was absent. A participant shared a dream in which she was walking through a forest and saw the therapist approaching her on a suspension bridge. Behind the therapist, a shaggy monster was chasing her. The participant was waving her hands, urging the therapist to hurry and not look back. She interpreted the monster as the second psychotherapist. This led to a broader discussion in the group about the desire for individual therapy.
In the second month, a complaint was raised against a more ‘experienced’ participant for ‘invalidating’ another participant’s story in the previous session. He was surprised, as he had not realized this. The participant requested that he be more sensitive to her. In the next session, the same participant seemingly inadvertently referred to the group leaders as ‘coaches,’ which surprised the therapists. This w