Have you ever fallen out of a two-story window while you were still asleep? Ever accidentally caught a mouthful of some of your deceased, cremated parent’s ashes during a ceremony gone wrong? If so, maybe you need to talk to someone.
The Atlanta-filmed documentary “Group Therapy” features some of the world’s most talented comedians, including Neil Patrick Harris, Tig Notaro and Nicole Byer, who share intimate, hilarious conversations surrounding mental health — and encourage others to do the same.
The documentary won critical acclaim at the Tribeca Festival last year, and is now available on Amazon Prime. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with its director, comedian London Hughes and a local mental health expert to get to the bottom of it all.
What is ‘Group Therapy’?
Filmed in front of a live audience, “Group Therapy” is hosted and moderated by Harris. A group of stand-up comedians, each well known for their ability to bring laughter to any stage, participate in a unique conversation to shed light on mind health through humor.
“Everyone on that stage is going through something that someone in that audience or maybe yourself probably went through,” the documentary’s director Neil Berkeley told the AJC. “Most times we either keep it to ourselves or, hopefully, we talk to a therapist, maybe a friend. But that was the point — to show that, even though they’re jokes, they’re real stories that really happen to these people and they’re able to make light of it and just talk about it and say it out loud.”
The entire cast opens up to each other — and an intimate audience — conveying heartwarming stories that have made them who they are and ultimately impacted their careers. Notaro shares about her struggle with cancer and her mother’s passing, a retelling of a harrowing story that led to a “jaw-dropping cancer stand-up routine” in 2012 and a Netflix documentary shortly after. Mike Birbiglia, a struggling sleepwalker, discusses the time he jumped through a two-story window. Gary Gulman breaks down his experience battling severe depression for over 30 years.
“That’s what every doc should have,” Berkeley explained, speaking on the importance of empathy. “That’s the goal, to show that it’s OK to talk about these things. We don’t have to go on stage and get behind a microphone, but we can call a friend or a therapist and just get it out there.”
One of the documentary’s participating comedians has a unique history with Atlanta. Around 14 years ago, England-native Hughes flew across the pond and made her U.S. stand-up debut right outside Georgia’s capital city.
“I’ve got a lot of love for Atlanta,” she told the AJC.
With a Netflix special under her belt and a meteoric career with comedy titan Kevin Hart’s HartBeat production company, Hughes returned to Atlanta for the documentary, saying the stage is where she often sets the record straight — and she doesn’t hold back.
“I do think sharing is therapeutic,” she explained. “And I do think a lot of the times, a lot of frustration that’s going in my life, I do get on stage and talk about it. All of my stand-up is real. I don’t like to lie on stage.”
The power and danger of sharing
According to Morehouse School of Medicine assistant professor and licensed psychologist Kristin Carothers, Ph.D., sharing your struggles with others can be a powerful thing.
“You all are reflecting back what you hear the other person saying. You’re validating it through your own experience. You get to see that you’re not alone,” she told the AJC.
Credit: VML
Credit: VML
While Carothers believes sharing can be therapeutic, just as “Group Therapy” suggests, the Atlanta-based mental health expert warned it’s important that people share in safe, structured and healthy environments — preferably with a professional.
“The issue is there comes a problem when the sharing is not functional,” she said. “(When) sharing is just a dump, a continuous dump, and there’s never a resolution. Or people become re-triggered and they don’t know what to do with that information after they’ve held it, then you’ve got a problem.”
How to share in a healthy way
Trauma dumping on loved ones is not a good idea, but there are healthy ways to share.
“In order to share, you need to know that the space is safe and confidential,” Carothers said. “If you don’t believe it’s safe or (that it will) be private for you to share with a family member or friend, then you should be looking for a group that’s done in a therapeutic context.”
In the end, a mental health professional is going to be your best bet.
“That qualification means that they have studied, that they have gotten some type of certification that says they are aware of the psychological needs of people and how to keep people safe as they share emotional experiences that are hard.”
Celebrating tough conversations
While raising awareness about mental health and emotional sharing is a North Star, “Group Therapy” is also about celebrating the comedians that made it possible.
“The goal was to never be super dark, scary or make these stories sound like they’re not gonna make it,” Berkeley said.
“It was always just, let’s celebrate talking to each other. And I think (the documentary) does that. And these people … they’re wonderful. If you’ve never heard of Tig or Mike or London, most people can find something. They’ll have a new comedian to admire.”
Even if you’ve never accidentally leaped through a window or taken a rogue breeze-worth of human ashes to the face, the “docu-therapy” has something to offer everyone.
“I felt like I related to every single one of those stories, even though I wasn’t living that life, you know?” Hughes said. “And I feel like when you watch it, you will relate to everything and everyone.”
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