1.  Create a safe place for people to express themselves and try new ways of interacting  Learn fluid boundary interactions and boundary choices  Connecting to others with less intensity than one – on- one interactions  Maintain the relationships through the ups and downs of the group  Transfer the group experience into other relationships

2.  Includes medications for disorders that have a psychological component  Includes invasive procedures such as brain surgery  Includes Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT)  Treats the medical symptoms that impact psychological problems

3.  Reduces inpatient treatment  The profit from medication has led to research into treatments that have benefitted millions of people  Antidepressants allow for recovery from depression and reduce suicide  Used to take many weeks to be effective, now people see results within a week

4.  Reduce anxiety symptoms in OCD, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder & Hypochondria  Eliminate acute psychosis (visual and auditory hallucinations)  Treat ADD and ADHD  Eliminate depression symptoms  Allow people to enjoy their lives again

5.  Has a very bad reputation from history and movies  Are both quite commonly used today for intractable mental illness  ECT is now performed with anesthesia and in very low doses with much less damage.  It changes the chemistry and brainwaves.  A patient will have multiple sessions

6.  Has a bad reputation from years of unscientific misuse in vulnerable populations  Prefrontal lobotomies were done on thousands of patients with an ice pick inserted through the eye socket and random back & forth destruction of the prefrontal cortex.  Now is performed by trained neurosurgeons in sterile hospitals for intractable mental illness, chronic pain and neurological disorders.

7.  There are many options to treat emotional distress ranging from simple goal directed coaching sessions, through intensive psychotherapy, medications and invasive intervention.  Assessment and treatment planning by seasoned professionals helps people choose the right level of intervention and style of help they receive.  Unless a person is an immediate threat to themselves or others, no treatment can be forced upon them.