Why Group Therapy Changes Lives: The Power of Shared Experience
Those who return from the front often find themselves in a world they barely recognize. And it feels as if all words have run dry. But once they find others who know this silence from the inside, something extraordinary happens.
At the first meeting within the veterans’ Group Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy program, everyone looked at one another through the small windows on their screens. At first there was restraint, even tension. People spoke cautiously, in fragments. Someone shared a brief story about sleepless nights haunted by persistent dreams. After a pause, another participant lifted his gaze to the camera and said: “
When I hear you speak, it feels like you’re talking about me. And I feel less ashamed of my own dreams.”
Those words resonated as if someone had opened a window in a stifling room: other voices quickly began to join in. By the end of the meeting, each individual’s sorrows had woven into a shared fabric. What each of them had carried alone and thought of as a private darkness became something shared—and therefore less frightening.
Most of the work in the Group Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy program takes place online. In the regular video sessions, veterans not only listen to each other but also prepare themselves for deep work with their own experiences. They tell their stories, share their feelings, and receive support and professional guidance from facilitators. After each therapeutic session, the participants meet online again to integrate what they have been through: they discuss their experiences, search for words for new sensations, and learn to weave this experience into their daily lives. These meetings create a safe space where painful memories gradually turn into steps toward healing.
Online support groups are also held for wives and partners of servicemen. Women come to these meetings carrying the weight of waiting and the pain of ambiguous loss. They also find connection where before there had been only silence.
“I realized that my feelings are normal. And that taking care of myself is not a betrayal, but a strength,” said one participant after finishing the program.
These groups change lives in different ways. For veterans, they become a space where the symptoms of PTSD and depression can be reduced, where they can learn to speak about trauma and find empathy with others. For women, they are a place to share fears, replenish inner resources, and learn to care for themselves while they await news from those on the front line.
Groups restore a person’s sense that they are not alone. This does not require grand halls or ceremonial speeches—just a screen, an open camera, and the attention of people ready to listen.
In times when it is so easy to believe in isolation and the futility of effort, a shared hope is born in this space. One voice alone may be quiet, but it gains strength in a chorus. Our online groups are a chorus of people who have walked through fire, yet have not forgotten that others walk beside them.
”And when someone in the group, after many weeks of work, suddenly lifts their eyes to the camera and says:
I’m starting to feel like I can laugh again,” it becomes clear: this work truly changes lives.
Even after the darkest night, with others, you can once again see the sun rise.