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As a social worker for, TSA’s NYC Counseling Program, I have found that one of the most potent strategies for helping people work toward a more assured self concept is through the use of the Support Group. Many people with TS have never met, or even seen, another person who, like themselves, has TS. Their sense of self, therefore, has always been a subjective one with regards to how they have integrated their TS into their lives, its meaning to them and their reactions to it. Invariably, the unfortunate result of this is the individual with TS may feel, to some degree, as though he is defective, unlovable or worthy of contempt. This is discernable in the lives of adults I have seen, many of whom live lives that are more solitary than what would be considered normal; some live as though they have, indeed, been shorn from the herd. This can also be seen in children who are more shy, withdrawn or reclusive than what would be considered healthy. Such a child often opts to stay home and play video games rather than go out and affiliate with peers.
One of the primary ways in which a Support Group for individuals with TS helps is the mutual aid system the group creates. With TS especially, it creates an all in the same boat phenomenon that has a powerful effect on the groups members. They learn that they are not alone in their feelings, that their feelings have had powerful effects on their lives and they sometimes discover emotions of their own that they were unaware of. Common experiences are shared and their feelings can be converted into positive energy that helps them to deal, together, with personal as well as social issues.
TS Support Groups force the individual who attends to develop an objective resonance with other group members who share in what can sometimes be a primary source of identity. As data, experiences and feelings are shared group members assist one another to problem solve. At times they also confront one another about the faulty perceptions and distortions of others and the self. Thus, as group members offer help to others in the group, they help themselves at the same time. This phenomenon was recently enacted in an Adult Group that I facilitate. In short, one group member was forcefully telling another member that it is important to let go of the false perception that others are watching and judging him due to his tics. This issue was germane to the person who was doing the speaking, as well. Therefore, by relating to someone else that it is important to see himself more objectively the speaker was also helping to heal his own distorted perceptions of himself.
Evan Michaels, LCSW, works in TSA’s New York City Counseling Program, which is funded by the City of New York and provides counseling to individuals with TS and their families as well as offering support groups. For further information about the Counseling Program please click here.
©2007 Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc. 42-40 Bell Boulevard / Bayside NY 11361 / 718-224-2999