Toto's Take: Curable Groups Review
Because for some odd reason reviews aren't widely available to inform spending the Grand on Curable Groups
Dear Companions,
The below prosaic discussion reviewing a support group may not serve as a proportional headliner for this week’s events per se. A flurry of activity that from the outside looks like non-activity surrounding my situation, small and big decisions alike, explorations, and staring down the proverbial barrel. But the ability to plunge to the gray depths and surface like a grand porpoise to examine and share the bureaucratic choices surrounding one’s experience, which may be, ideally, or perhaps especially, of use to others, is exemplary of the wonderful, if not spastic, duality of nature. Even in crisis there are moments of zen, stifling boredom, anticipation of what is to come, and raspberries to indulge. So with that being said, please see my review of Curable Groups, a support group I joined in July from the popular app Curable for folks learning to heal through cutting edge pain psychology.
Last week I talked in general terms about my on & off hunting in virtual worlds to find truths, resources, and support as I battle my way out of the Abyss. As mentioned in Upside, a book on Post Traumatic Growth, many studies support virtual support networks as key to recovering from Trauma. But what about recovering from chronic pain or illness or anxiety/depression,? And what conditions make a group successful? The Slate Article entitled When Pain Becomes Who You Are, speaks to the issue.
On the one hand…
“[VIRTUAL GROUP} places are not good for chronic pain patients to be…They promote fear and hopelessness, which is exactly what you don’t want in recovery…. pain was becoming the lens through which you may view the world.
On the other hand…
It is possible to foster camaraderie that doesn’t reinforce pain as an identity or activate the brain’s alarm system. For example online groups where members engage in a positive way, where people cheer on one another’s recovery wins.
You want conversation to be on the focus on pain neuroscience and recovery, and moderators working to keep it that way.
But even still…
Too much engagement even with positive networks could keep people focused on their pain in a way that’s ultimately unhelpful. Not only do negative posts tell our brains “danger,” but constantly paying attention to these groups keeps you preoccupied with pain.
For some people who become isolated in their symptoms, it can be helpful, but for some people, they kind of go too far.
So to sum, groups are good for SOME people. Groups are good if you do not become obsessed with them, and where the moderation is not open-ended, but rather steered toward a positive and helpful discussion.
With that in mind, this review is for folks who might be interested in doing Curable Groups 12-week program. It’s a bit strange that I searched Reddit, Facebook, and other platforms and could not really find any reviews, so hopefully his helps!
To see why I need this stuff, please check out my About page.
One caveat, I probably joined just over 50% of the group sessions for personal reasons, and I simply did not feel like it was worth joining all of them, for reasons below, although I did go through all the video content.
Here is what I found.
Overview
Curable App is an online pain psychology program, which helps folks learn about the newest science behind pain, and the studied ways to heal from it. Curable Groups are a gathering of 10-12 people over the course of 12 weekly sessions to go over 10 video workshops (below). There are also 2 doctor visits Q&A’s. There is 1 moderator who facilitates the conversations. The sessions are each 2 hours long, with a short 5-10 minute break after 1 hour. For our group, we had a writing exercise after the break (but I did not find them particularly relevant). The total cost today is about $1,100.
The Videos
The themes are as follows:
Reclaiming Your Identity
Disarming Your Danger System
Breaking Out of Chronic Fear
Moving Past the Past
Releasing the Pressure to be Perfect
Taming Your Inner Critic
Mastering Your Emotions
Breaking the Habit of People Pleasing
Rediscovering Joy, Play, & Gratitude
PROS: The videos are roughly 90 minutes each and seem to be a bit more dense than the information in the app, or at least presented as more of a story. The sequence presented is also good. For example, starting with Identity really crystalizes why you are in the Group to begin with as you begin to realize how much pain has become a part of your identity. The videos incorporate writing and a little bit of meditating so if you have difficulty switching between the education and the exercises features in the basic Curable app, this provides a helpful and structured way to consolidate the information and do at least some exercises.
CONS. The videos are 90 minutes long, so it’s hard to do them in one sitting. It’s also hard to time them so you can remember what’s salient for the Group discussion. As a result, most of the people didn’t really seem to stay on topic or delve into the video too deeply during Group. I didn’t like most of the meditations in the videos as compared to Tara Brach, for example, so I think Curable is better at staying in their lane.
No offense to the “host” of the videos (Lauren), who also does the interviews on the apps, but I do not particularly like the way she speaks so it gets a little grating. Also, the examples she provides from her own experience seem really limited in comparison to the big pain issues (sometimes decades long) that other people probably face, so when she would take a big finding and compare it to how it helped her to run 5 miles, I felt there’s a disconnect for the listener who might be struggling to simply leave the room.
The Moderator
This was a very weak part of the program, and ultimately what is most essential to the success of a group. While I liked our moderator as a human being, she was sweet, effervescent, positive, she often would just ensure people spoke. She provided very little direction and did not steer people away from discussing their pain, especially at the beginning. This is precisely what the Slate article warns against.
The moderator did not offer much expert advise in response to what people were saying, and basically remained in a passive role of moderating the group discussion, which I believe is a huge missed opportunity, and left me feeling wanting much more.
I felt we needed more guidance to digest the materials in the video, and more structure to have meaningful conversation. Often I just felt like I would benefit by watching the videos twice rather than spending 2 hours of unmoderated discussion by non-experts such as myself, except for the fact of the “community aspect”, which is a pro to doing the group.
Group
PRO: If you are looking for like-minded people, if you are overwhelmed (or getting shunned) talking to loved ones who love you dearly but have never shared your experience, then its nice to take a breath, and be in a setting with people who do. In my “real world” I do not know anyone suffering from my condition in the way that I am— suddenly, and persistently. They don’t need to subscribe to all the Jedi mind tricks I now need to believe in and employ in order to beat this thing.
Seeing the far flung locations people hail from, the variety of backgrounds, and that some people have been suffering for a very long time (decades) before finding themselves in the Group, really puts things into perspective: You are not alone. And that, in and of itself is valuable, whether you stay through the whole program or not. The moderators say that people tend to stay in touch and even meet in their groups after the program. Mine just ended, and I have already received an email from the group to continue meeting.
CON: First off, two hours in my view is too long. Especially for an essentially unstructured conversation. It was definitely nice to be in the group, however, I felt that with the poor moderation the first few weeks, especially, many people got stuck repeating their pain stories. I have heard this is a common complaint people have for the Groups, and if you are sensitive to that sort of thing, it can increase your own doomsday feelings. This is why totally open forum discussions are not desirable even if you are the most optimistic of pain sufferers. My fix: I tended to mute people if I felt they were going down a pain story road too long. I also went off video a lot because sitting for two hours straight on the topic of pain neuroscience can be pain inducing. Also try as you might, you are going to compare your success with others, so again if you are sensitive to that, you will need to consider that in your decision. At the same time, if you can remain balanced, you will see, everyone struggles in their own way, and so again: You are not alone.
Last point, I did not like that Curable did not give us all of our email information at the start of the program, including the moderators! I think being in an email chain or WhatsApp group with everyone would have been so nice over the course of the 12 weeks. And would have probably allowed for more feedback to optimize the sessions.
Doctor Visits
PRO: You do learn from other people’s questions, and having an expert in the room means you are learning more in these sessions than in the Group sessions. I really liked Dr Stracks and he was our second Doctor visit. He is known for his warm and calm demeanor, and rightfully so. He is not a TMS hardliner. For example, he wouldn’t tell you to quit your bodywork, if you have a good relationship with your provider, and feel its helping you mentally, unlike Dr Sarno who would have said you absolutely must quit anything that is not related to the mind work. I
I asked Dr Stracks if he would consider experimental medications that focus on neuroplasticity like ketamine or psychedelics, and while he personally could not provide that, he felt it could be a viable option to include into the TMS work. I think we all left feeling pretty good after talking to him, but you can also schedule a one-on-one through his private practice (which will of course be more expensive, but more productive).
CON: For the doctor visits Curable will combine your Group with another Group. As a result there are at least 20 or more people in the session, so you will only be able to ask 1 or 2 questions, which can be frustrating. Obviously it goes without saying but the doctors aren’t going to be able to give you a diagnosis in the group. You will only be able to talk to the doctor for about 5 minutes so it’s hard to get the most out of it. I was not a big fan of the first doctor session, but I really enjoyed the second with Dr Stracks. I suspect it’s safe to say you will feel the same way about one of your doctors.
Conclusion
I think the groups definitely helped me over the hump of pushing myself to do things like graded exposure, which I write about here, and really dive into the material since the weekly formats were such that you felt obligated to try to apply it in real life, and that’s great. On the other hand, you start to realize that is not sustainable to apply a new major practice to your life each week, and ultimately you will need to revisit the content again, and possibly, again, to digest and apply it.
At the end of the day, I’m not sure I could have engaged in anything more active than this option during this period, so from that perspective, I think it was a good use of my time, and kept me from wallowing in my flare. As per the Rolling Stones, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.
Of course, I think the Group could have be better if the CONS in my list were addressed such as better, more structured moderation. This is why I effectively stopped showing up for the second half outside of a couple sessions.
Following the Slate discussion, I don’t feel so bad about doing what was right for me. If you measure the parts of the program, I still got my worth, per group session, per video, per option to meet like-minded people, to get that smoke signal of community on the island of Lost. So if you go for it, but feel like it’s becoming a drag, if you feel like you need a break, you can do that, and don’t disparage over the sunk cost.
At the end of the day, I joined a small community. Like all communities, we will either keep in touch, or move on and become each other’s memories like summer camp friends. Either way, I hope we all progress.
Another note, with my background in the tech/digital space, I could smell that this was Curable’s scalable model as a start-up, to package their content and get it out to as many people as possible at a premium cost to the app, with super low overhead. So from an an entrepreneur’s perspective, I respected them for that, but I felt a little bit like they “got me.”
Hope this helps! Please feel free to ask me any questions. Last point, I just joined Dan Buglio’s private group and will check out his coaching. I also have a one-on-one scheduled with him toward the end of the month. Please subscribe so you can get more updates on my journey!
Much love from the HEALINGVRSE,
Rebecca