My grief counselor, who has helped me enormously, has a huge 'NO YOU MAY NOT" when it comes to grief support groups. Unless professionally led (in other words, not peer led), all these groups seem to do is repeat, over and over endlessly, the worst nightmare you've ever experienced. Every single group I've attended has taken me backward instead of forward. Unless you have a certified grief counselor in charge of a bereavement group, AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE. The journey through grief is difficult but its end result is INCREASE in strength and faith, not DECREASE. If you feel WORSE after attending, then obviously this is not something YOU should be doing.

Yes, my group is professionally led. I just wanted to get an idea of other people's experiences.

I think it's important to consider your overall feeling as well. I have found that in both individual and group therapy, there are days where I come away from it feeling better, and sometimes, in more pain. But I've learned to tell the difference, from healing pain and pain that is causing more harm. Even that happens once in a while, though, as we are all human.

I've also learned that in order to be successful in a group setting, you need to be relatively stable yourself, as you don't have the control over what's said, either to you, or to someone else, by any of several other people. Hearing something that triggers your pain, even when it's said to someone else can still cause those feelings to surface.

I've been to several support groups as well as years and years with one-on-one with several different therapists. Some of each have been good experiences and some bad, overall. Just remember, even in therapy, you are the ultimate decision maker in your life, and the best judge of what is really true and acurate for your own individual experiences.