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Can Support Groups Help With Anxiety Management? What Kinds Of Support Groups Exist?

Question: Can support groups help with anxiety management? What kinds of support groups exist?

George Pratt, Ph.D., Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla

Answer: It is very important to select the right kind of support group. The first one, which I recommend avoiding, is symptom sharing. People can get stuck in that. They can actually feel more anxious from attending those kinds of meetings. The second kind, that I do recommend, is skill development. There you're taught how to manage anxiety, tools to relax yourself, improve interpersonal relationships, etc. So with these tools, you can help yourself over a lifetime and manage anxiety constructively and, in some situations, perhaps eliminate it.

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