Releasing Emotion
Several participants underscored the importance of emotional expression
during the program. Describing the group experience as an emotional
outlet where they could process difficult feelings and adjust to the new
reality of a Parkinson’s diagnosis, some participants commented on,
“just coming to terms with the fact that this is [how] my life
[is] gonna be going forward”. Another participant disclosed, “I
was fairly … overwrought with the emotion of it all … I
wanted to explain but I was having difficulty finding the words ‘cause
it was very emotional”. She went on to assert that for her the group
process was “really helpful just in terms of processing a lot of
emotions in a more kind of formalized setting to help me kind of move
forward”. To support needed emotional release, several participants
underscored the importance and experience of a safe, non-judgemental
ethos in the group. One participant disclosed, “here in the group I
felt safe to share that part of the illness” while another valued the
“opportunity to even just express yourself and listen to others in a
safe place and a place where I could [then] go out in the world and
carry on with life”.