In a support group, members provide each other with various types of nonprofessional, nonmaterial help for a particular shared burdensome characteristic. The help may take the form of providing relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also provide ancillary support, such as serving as a voice for the public or engaging in advocacy. Mind-Body Intervention uses a variety of techniques designed to enhance the minds capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms. ... ‹ The template below (Mind-body interventions) is being considered for deletion. ... Autogenic training is a term for a relaxation technique developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Schultz first published in 1932. ... Biodanza is a system of affective integration, organic renovation and a re-education in original life functions, based on vivencias (intense experiences in the here and now) created through movement, dance, and encounter situations within a group. ... Eutony is a mind-body discipline created by Gerda Alexander based upon the experience of ones own body. ... The Feldenkrais Method is an educational system intended to give a greater functional awareness of the self. ... : Hypnotherapy is therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis. ... Terms and concepts in alternative medicine provides a glossary of quick and to the point definitions of important terms and concepts unique to alternative medicine (CAM). ... For other senses of this word, see Meditation (disambiguation). ... The Metamorphic Technique is a gentle form of foot, hand and head massage that can be carried out by anyone with a brief training in the technique. ... Rebirthing is a branch of alternative medicine which postulates that human birth is a traumatic event (see birth trauma) and that a discipline consisting of a combination of connected breathing techniques, relaxation and focused awareness can have therapeutic benefits. ... Somatic psychology, also known as body psychotherapy, is an academic and applied field involving the study of therapeutic and holistic approaches to the body, somatic experience, and the embodied self. ... Sophrologie was created by Alfonso Caycedo in the 1960s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Yoga whythbytvfbyjfgnuj6yfgy6gbytbythbthnbtyyhn uyuytnhunnytnjytjyhnygfhjnynjhfygnhen used as a form of alternative medicine is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation, practiced for over 5,000 years. ... Terms and concepts in alternative medicine provides a glossary of quick and to the point definitions of important terms and concepts unique to alternative medicine (CAM). ... Alternative medicine is defined as any of various systems of healing or treating disease (as chiropractic, homeopathy, or faith healing) not included in the traditional medical curricula taught in the United States and Britain.[1] Complementary medicine is defined as any of the practices (as acupuncture) of alternative medicine accepted...

Maintaining contact

Support groups maintain interpersonal contact among their members in a variety of ways. Most groups have traditionally met in person in group sizes that allowed conversational interaction. Support groups also maintain contact through printed newsletters, telephone chains, internet forums, and mailing lists. Some support groups are exclusively online.

Membership in some support groups is formally controlled, with admission requirements and membership fees. Other groups are "open" and allow anyone to drop in at an advertised meeting, for example, or to participate in an online forum.

Self-help or Professionally run

A self-help support group is fully organized and managed by its members, usually volunteers. Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs, typically facilitated by members, are one major type of self-help groups, that are also sometimes referred to as fellowships, peer support groups, mutual help groups, or mutual aid self-help groups. Though the term self-help can refer to any case whereby an individual or a group betters themselves economically, intellectually or emotionally, the connotations of the phrase have come to apply particularly to psychological or psychotherapeutic nostrums, often purveyed through the popular genre of the self-help book. ... Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal society for recovering alcoholics. ... // A Twelve-step program is a set of guiding principles for recovery from addictive, compulsive, or other behavioral problems, originally developed by the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) to guide recovery from alcoholism. ...

Professionally run support groups are facilitated by a professional who does not share the problem of the members,^[1] such as a social worker, a psychologist, or a clergyperson. The facilitator controls discussions and provides other managerial service. Such professionally run groups are more often found in institutional settings, including hospitals, drug-treatment centers and correctional facilities. These types of support group may run for a limited time, and an attendance fee is sometimes charged.^[1] A hospital today is an institution for professional health care provided by physicians and nurses. ... Drug treatment can mean either: Treatment of illness with drugs - see Medicine. ... This article is about the institution. ...

On-line support groups

Since at least 1982, the Internet has provided a new venue for support groups. Diverse remote networking formats have allowed the development of both synchronous groups, where individuals can exchange messages in real time, and asynchronous groups, where members who are not connected to a network at the same time can read and exchange messages. E-mail, Usenet and Internet bulletin boards have become popular methods of communication for self-help groups and among facilitated support groups. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. ... An Internet forum, also known as a message board or discussion board, is a web application that provides for online discussions, and is the modern descendant of the bulletin board systems and existing Usenet news systems that were widespread in the 1980s and 1990s. ...

Support groups have long offered companionship and information for people coping with diseases or disabilities, but on-line situationally oriented groups have expanded to offer support for people facing various life circumstances, especially those involving personal and cultural relationships. In 2006, Yahoo! listed more than 30,000 support groups focusing on a wide range of health-related topics within its hosted domains, though research suggests only several thousand of those groups may currently be active. The wide range of support groups now active on the Internet can make offer individuals support for an equally wide range of life circumstances. However, a researcher from the University College London says the lack of qualitative directories, and the fact that many support groups are not listed by search engines can make finding an appropriate group difficult. [1] ...

Some people, however, feel that the internet still provides a wide range of benefits to self-help seekers through services other than Yahoo! Groups. Many self help groups can be found on message board services similar to BBSes which are not governed by any search engine and so may simply be harder to find. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, playing games, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ...

The message boards are picked up by the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Alta Vista, just like any website. Especially if the board owner submit the board to the search engines. But after a while, topics, keywords and forums will be picked up anyway. Besides, both Google and Yahoo have directories with lists of support groups for different diseases. The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as Dmoz, has directories with lists of support groups. The volunteer editors adds support groups to the lists even when the forums are not submitted. Google’s directory is using the ODP directory. It is not difficult to find an online support group, but it is hard to find a good one. This article is about the corporation. ... AltaVista home page, 2004 The name AltaVista refers both to an Internet search engine company and to that companys search engine product. ... The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from , its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. ...

Marc D. Feldman, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for Psychiatric Medicine, has warned about sympathy-seekers that invade Internet support groups. He calls it Munchausen by Internet. In these disorders, people cook up or induce fictitious illnesses in themselves or others in an effort to gain sympathy. And there's no doubt these storytellers can have an enormous impact on Internet support groups. Among other things, Feldman says, they can:

• Create a division between those who believe the tale and those who don't
• Cause some to leave the group
• Temporarily distract the group from its mission by forcing it to focus on the poser "Overwhelmingly, these support groups offer a tremendous benefit to people," he says. "[But,] as in other areas of our lives, we have to be informed."

Other categories

In the case of a disease, an identity or a pre-disposition, for example, a support group will provide information, act as a clearing-house for experiences, and serve as a public relations voice for sufferers, other members, and their families. Compare Mental Health Stigma, depression, mood disorders, Mensa International and gay pride, for example. This article is about the medical term. ... Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as he is influenced by his belonging to a group or culture. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Mental health is a term used to describe either a level of cognitive or emotional wellbeing or an absence of mental illness. ... Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder, or unipolar depression when compared to bipolar disorder) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily living. ... A mood disorder is a condition where the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to the circumstances. ... Mensa is the largest, oldest, and best-known high-IQ society in the world. ... Gay pride or LGBT pride refers to a world wide movement and philosophy asserting that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity. ...

In the case of alleged ex-cult members or personal addictions, on the other hand, a support group may veer more towards helping those involved to overcome or move "beyond" their condition/experience. This article does not discuss cult in its original meaning. ... For other uses, see addicted. ...

History

Formal support groups may appear as a modern phenomenon, but they supplement traditional fraternal organizations such as Freemasonry in some respects, and may build on certain supportive functions (formerly) carried out in (extended) families. A fraternal organization, sometimes also known as a fraternity, is an organization that represents the relationship between its members as akin to brotherhood. ... “Freemasons” redirects here. ... a family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 Family is a Western term used to denote a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption. ...

Support groups in the media

• The novel and movie Fight Club present a wry analysis of support groups and their function.
• In the Pixar film Finding Nemo, the two main characters encounter three different sharks that form a self-help support group to help each other swear off fish as food and change their image.

This article is about the literary concept. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Fight Club[1] (1996) is the first published novel by American author Chuck Palahniuk. ... Finding Nemo is an Academy Award-winning computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. ...

External links

• American Self-Help Group Clearinghouse (U.S.)
• Local Self-Help Group Clearinghouses (Worldwide)
• National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse (U.S.)

See also

• Cancer support group
• Community Organizations
• List of Twelve-Step groups
• Self-help
• Self-help groups for mental health

Cancer support groups provide a setting in which cancer patients can talk about living with cancer with others who may be having similar experiences. ... Community organizations are nonprofits that operate within a single local community. ... An incomplete list of 12-Step-Groups: AA Alcoholics Anonymous ACOA - Adult Children of Alcoholics [1] ADD-Anonymous - for people suffering from ADD [2] Al-Anon/Alateen AAA - All Addictions Anonymous [3] Anti-Nutrient*Addicts Anonymous [4] BA - Borderliners Anonymous [5] CA - Cocaine Anonymous CDA - Chemically Dependent Anonymous [6] CEA... Though the term self-help can refer to any case whereby an individual or a group betters themselves economically, intellectually or emotionally, the connotations of the phrase have come to apply particularly to psychological or psychotherapeutic nostrums, often purveyed through the popular genre of the self-help book. ... There are several international mental health self-help organizations including Recovery, Inc. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} APA Dictionary of Psychology, 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.