The former is where members seek to improve themselves, where as the latter set encompasses advocacy organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.
Meetings of Behavior Control groups tend to be significantly larger than Stress Coping counterparts (by more than a factor of two).
Nevertheless, their emphasis on psychosocial processes and the understanding shared by those with the same or similar mental illnesses does achieve constructive treatment goals.
[4][9] If self-help groups are not affiliated with a national organization, professional involvement increases their life expectancy.
[6] In 1991 researchers Marsha A. Schubert and Thomasina Borkman created five conceptual categorizations for self-help groups.
Examples of a federated self-help group would be Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and Recovery International.
This list includes, but is not limited to: acceptance, behavioral rehearsal, changing member's perspectives of themselves, changing member's perspectives of the world, catharsis, extinction, role modeling, learning new coping strategies, mutual affirmation, personal goal setting, instilling hope, justification, normalization, positive reinforcement, reducing social isolation, reducing stigma, self-disclosure, sharing (or "opening up"), and showing empathy.
[3] A framework derived from common themes in empirical data describes recovery as a contextual nonlinear process, a trend of general improvement with unavoidable paroxysms while negotiating environmental, socioeconomic and internal forces, motivated by a drive to move forward in one's life.
The latter includes positive thinking, increasing one's own personal agency/control and activism within the mental health system.
[7] The role of self-help groups in instilling hope, facilitating coping, and improving the quality of life of their members is now widely accepted in many areas both inside and outside of the general medical community.
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop presented at this workshop, advocating for relationships that are not superordinate-subordinate, but rather emphasizing respectful, equal relations.
Professional referrals to self-help groups thus can be a cost-effective method of continuing mental health services and the two can co-exist within their own fields.
Participation in self-help groups for mental health encourages more appropriate use of professional services, making the time spent in care more efficient.
Similarly, reduced utilization of other mental health services may translate into additional savings for the system.
[4][10][21] The therapeutic effects are attributed to the increased social support, sense of community, education and personal empowerment.
[8] Social support, in general, can lead to added benefits in managing stress, a factor that can exacerbate mental illness.
GROW was founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1957 by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Cornelius Keogh, and people who had sought help with their mental illness at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings.
GROW groups are open to anyone who would like to join, though they specifically recruit people who have been in psychiatric hospitals or are socioeconomically disadvantaged.
[18] The term "neurotics" or "neuroses" has since fallen out of favor with mental health professionals, with the movement away from the psychoanalytic principles of a DSM-II.
[30] Groups in Mexico, however, called Neuróticos Anónimos, still are referred to by the same name, due to the term "neuroticos" having a less pejorative connotation in Spanish.
Recovery, Inc. was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1937 by psychiatrist Abraham Low using principles in contrast to those popularized by psychoanalysis.
[32] Recovery International is open to anyone identifying as "nervous" (a compromise between the loaded term neurotic and the colloquial phrase "nervous breakdown");[31] strictly encourages members to follow their physician's, social worker's, psychologist's or psychiatrist's orders; and does not operate with funding restrictions.
[18] Fundamentally, Low believes "Adult life is not driven by instincts but guided by Will," using a definition of will opposite of Arthur Schopenhauer's.
Edward Sagarin compared it to a modern, reasonable, and rational implementation of Émile Coué's psychotherapy.
[10][18] Researchers have also elaborated specific criticisms regarding self-help groups' formulaic approach, attrition rates, over-generalization, and "panacea complex".
A study of Schizophrenics Anonymous found expert power to be more influential in measurements of perceived group helpfulness.
Predatory and opportunistic behavior in these environments which by association involve divulging volatile mental states, medication changes and life circumstances mean opportunities by those willing to leverage information that is often normally guarded and deeply personal, is a risk more-so than in other social meetup settings or professionally governed bodies.