Running head: DEPRESSION SUPPORT GROUP REACTION PAPER

Support Group Reaction Paper

Depression and Anxiety
Taylor Stanton
Jackson College

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Abstract
This support group reaction paper will go through my experience at a Depression and Anxiety
group lead by Larry Zolman at Allegiance Health. I chose to focus on a woman who was
sexually abused and has now been struggling with depression the majority of her life. I will
discuss my opinions on the benefit of support groups in our community and how the night
seemed to impact the people in attendance. The group was able to come together, with many
different issues, and work towards all of their goals together.

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Support Group Reaction Paper

Depression and Anxiety
Deciding where to go to for my support group was an easy choice. I picked to attend the
weekly Depression and Anxiety support group at in the Anderson building at Allegiance Health. I
chose this group because I work in the Anderson building and have always heard great things
about this particular support group. It is held every Monday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The group
is held by Larry Zolman, who is a social worker on the out-patient unit in Behavioral Health at
Allegiance. The purpose of this weekly group is to aid clients who need a safe outlet to express
their feelings and find the support that they very much require to improve their condition that
they deal with every day.
Larry said that the clients ages can range anywhere from 18 to late sixties. The group
that I attended had 6 people in it, in addition to me and the group leader. The ages ranged from a
couple that looked like they were in their late twenties to a woman who was in her fifties. One
client who caught my attention was a woman who was in her thirties and had a history of abuse.
She had been sexually abused when she was in high school and has been depressed and unable to
form a healthy romantic relationship since then. Client stated, Nothing has ever helped me, so
Im hoping this group will change things.
A support group or out-patient kind of program could be really beneficial to this client.
This is shown by the Journal of Groups in Addiction p190.200 (2015) & Recovery, Results
showed that measures of anxiety and depression were lower in participants at the end of the
program compared with the beginning of the program. It is not surprising that a more long-term
approach, which includes support group attendance, to depression is shown to have a higher

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success rate than no long-term treatment. The client had a pervious hospitalization in her early
twenties due to her depression leading to suicidal ideations in the past. Larry asked and she was
not feeling suicidal at this point. The client stated that she had never attended support groups
before and her only follow up care after her hospitalization was to see her psychiatrist
occasionally.
This woman is not alone in her feelings of depression following sexual abuse as a youth.
As stated by the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse p.534-551 (2013), Of 430 sexually abused
outpatient youth ages 3 to 17, thirty-four percent of youth experienced suicidal ideation or
behavior. Such a horrible event should never happen, but unfortunately it does. Youth are not
mentally developed enough to handle such an event. As they sexually abused youth age, they are
unable to form healthy relationships because they have not dealt with their emotions. This is
definitely why I believe we have support groups. People like this client need support to get their
mental illness and be able to have a successful life. They need to be able to discuss the struggles
and their accomplishments within the depression with a safe group in a therapeutic and
encouraging environment.
It was a good opportunity to be able to sit in on a support group and be a fly on the
wall. Seeing people from our community that are struggling having a place to go to was nice to
see. The fact that they have a time set aside just for them to just talk is very beneficial. Also,
Larry does such a great job of conducting the meeting and guiding the conversation. The people
are welcomed to talk or sit back as they need to. The advice gained from this group is helpful to
developing better communication techniques within the clients relationships. They are working
towards being able to have healthy relationships and make progress on their anxiety and/or
depression and I am fortunate I got to sit in.

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References
Weinstein, A., Zlatkes, M., Gingis, A., & Lejoyeux, M. (2015). The Effects of a
12-Step Self-Help Group for Compulsive Eating on Measures of Food Addiction,
Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Efficacy. Journal Of Groups In Addiction &
Recovery, 10(2), 190-200. doi:10.1080/1556035X.2015.1034825
Wherry, J. N., Baldwin, S., Junco, K., & Floyd, B. (2013). Suicidal
Thoughts/Behaviors in Sexually Abused Children. Journal Of Child Sexual
Abuse, 22(5), 534-551. doi:10.1080/10538712.2013.800938