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Group-Analysis: Taking the Non-Problem Seriously
... It is not a coincidence that Brexit, another avoidant attachment manoeuvre emerged only a few years after the privatization of the NHS started. Instead, and as argued before, these processes seem to represent a disturbance in the communication, a symptom of national avoidance that has not been able to be translated into a nonproblem (Garland, 1982). ...
This article examines the psychological effects of the reorganization of the NHS. Through a combination of theoretical and clinical perspectives, the authors describe the psychological effects of the neoliberal and privatizing policies that have changed the landmark of the NHS in England. The article uses Foulkes’ main theoretical viewpoints as well as some Bionian ideas in an attempt to illustrate the losses, challenges, tensions and opportunities that the NHS has experienced in the face of change and pressure. The ultimate aim is to describe how group analytic theory and technique could aid understanding of, and thereby alleviate, some of the pain that the organization has endured through this process.
... The analytic group has its own particular way of confronting group members with this reality, and perhaps it is in the grappling-with and working-through of this fundamental problem-or should that be 'non-problem'? (Garland, 1982)-that much of the therapeutic potential of the group lies: 'For me to change', group members begin to realize, 'for me to develop my capacity to relate, to feel and to love, others in my group must participate and be prepared to change also, just as I am changed in unexpected ways through my relating to them'. As they find their way through this conundrum, group members become ever more aware of how the positions they take up or assign to each other through their communication affects the figurations of relationships that they are a part of, in their lives both within and beyond their group. ...
In this article I develop an account of therapeutic change in terms of the dynamics of positioning within figurations.
I argue that the concepts of ‘positioning’ and ‘figurations’ can be integrated to describe processes of change occurring both at the level of the group and of the individual. I propose that figurations in the group are mutative, provoking change in the individuals within them.
I go on to suggest that the psyche is structured by relational positions and that as the individual is able to develop the capacity for increased positional flexibility within the matrix of the group, parallel changes occur in the patient’s internal world. This idea is considered in relation to Foulkes’ concept of ego training in action.
... This revealed the unbearable reality that had so far been avoided. Garland (1982) wrote that group analysis works by taking the nonproblem seriously. At this juncture, the non-problem to be taken seriously was about a container that kills rather than creates, or kills what has been created before it blossoms and grows into an independent being. ...
The conductor’s identity as a group member, allied with the potential for the unconscious co-creation of anti-group forces is the centre-stage for the debate I herewith present. This is inextricable from, and central to, the complex inter-subjective group matrix. The conductor’s counter-transference as an inter-subjective group experience, lends powerful insights into feelings of hate in the group, and its resultant anti-group dynamics. How hate may be understood as a shared, co-created experience is examined. The conductor’s potential for narcissistic over-identification with the group and possible lack of containment, is explored, including the potential for anti-group contributions. The myth of Pygmalion illustrates the frustration encountered when the container fails to meet one’s needs. Suggestions are offered regarding the importance for conductors to work through potential contributions of anti-group forces and their own hate of the group.
... The group members' behaviour oscillates between detachment and emotional outbursts and conflicts. At this stage, members begin to shift emotionally from their own problem, the reason for which they joined the group, to the 'non-problem' (Garland, 1982) of the relationships within the group. ...
This article provides a brief review of the development of psychoanalytic views on the function, role and use of dreams in therapy. Dream telling is considered to be associated with a specific stage of group development. It is assumed that telling and processing dreams in the group aids members in restoring the integrity of their ‘inner image of the group’ when this integrity is threatened by conflicts. Telling and processing dreams in the group is also perceived as capable of performing other functions: alleviation of separation anxiety, a ‘levelling and regulating’ effect on the dreamer’s involvement in the group process, and the alignment of the positions of group members in terms of meeting the challenges of group development. Both the resistance and the motivation for development are always simultaneously present in dream telling. Which trend will prevail at any given moment depends on the particular situation in the group analytical process.
... Deeply upset by the event, Gregorius goes in search for her, and boards the night train to Lisbon where he suspects he will find her. Taking 'the-non problem seriously' as Caroline Garland put it so well (Garland, 1982) he encounters a group of Portuguese people. Getting involved with them, he comes across the events of Portuguese history in the 1970s, a time we remember as the Carnation Revolution. ...
The article firstly questions the possible relationship between group analysis and philosophy. It then discusses the Foulkesean ‘ethics’ of leadership and its roots in Freudian psychoanalysis and the European Enlightenment. In this context, Foulkes’ group analytic conception of the superego and his view that the group members ‘collectively’ constitute the norm from which ‘individually’, they deviate being (re-)considered. Building on this ‘Law of Group Dynamics’, it is argued that the particular kind of experience allowed for in and by group psychotherapy is one of ‘moral intimacy’, a concept borrowed from the Swiss philosopher and novelist Peter Bieri. Ending on a note on aesthetics, some aspects of the relation between imagination and social-historical creation are being elucidated.
... This complexity may be more apparent in groups; and is described in relation to group process by Garland (1982). Garland calls it the 'problem' and the 'non-problem' in group therapy, and suggests that the group analytic process is effective precisely because other group members can see past the cover story and into the 'real' story, or at least a different story. ...
In this article, I will discuss a narrative approach to psychodynamic group work with offenders. Drawing on my experience of running groups for offenders in a high secure psychiatric hospital, I will argue that (a) identity is created in narratives and stories and (b) that psychodynamic therapies allow people to change their narratives of themselves; and (c) that this is particularly significant when the story that must be told is one that involves a violent crime. I will try and set out how offender patients come with ‘cover’ stories, which are thin, and incoherent, and explore how dialogue in groups can facilitate changes of narrative and thus transform a thin story into something richer and more self-reflective.
... Michael Balint (1957) noted how various types of psychological distress might often be manifested as symptoms of physical illness. The defence may then become a problem in its own right; it is often only when treatment starts that one gets a sense of the 'nonproblem' (Garland 1982), as exemplified in the fictitious example in Box 1. As Holmes (1998) suggests, the 'symptom' is only a fragment of a much bigger narrative of the personal experience of the patient and it is this that the psychodynamic practitioner explores. ...
Values-based practice is a new approach to working with complex and conflicting values in mental health practice. Theoretically, it argues that many clinical and ethical dilemmas in psychiatry arise because of the different value perspectives taken by the players involved. By exploring the differences in value systems 'held' by each player, it may be possible to come to a richer consensus that can incorporate both similarities and differences. In particular, values-based practice suggests that, traditionally, the value perspective of the patient is often either not considered or is ignored, and that by giving it voice, clinical practice will become more patient-centred. In this article, I will compare values-based practice with other types of systemic thinking in mental healthcare and I will discuss some areas of clinical practice where values-based practice may be difficult to apply.
... The shared politicized narrative of traumatic deprivation and oppression is 'chosen' as a defensive 'non-problem' around which 'fighters' from both types of service can rally. The primary task of remembering the grief associated with the original traumas is replaced with an expression of grievance which must then be taken very seriously (Garland, 1982). Sometimes these grievances are expressed as if on behalf of the clients, at other times on their own behalf, but in both cases the original problem has been replaced by what Main (1957) described as 'the ailment'. ...
Although not all homeless people are personality disordered, many are offenders and all are de facto anti-social, either in their orientation to the world or in the eyes of the beholding world. We re-define and re-locate the problem from the social fact of the actual homelessness into the interpersonal and intrapsychic world of the ‘unhoused mind’, and explore the complex reciprocal relationship between the housed and the unhoused. The article concludes by discussing the impact on individual workers, staff teams and organizations who are tasked with attempting to help such people.
A 60‐year‐old woman with depression from early adulthood and suicidal ideation, free‐floating anxiety, and somatic complaints was diagnosed with dysthymia in her 40s and prescribed a range of antidepressants. She was sold to another family at age 1. She was treated as a slave by the new family (expected to do unpaid work and not allowed to go to school as the natural children of that family did) but not otherwise abused. A few years after her divorce, she lived with her daughter and her daughter's family, but her intrusiveness created conflict and unhappiness. The case demonstrates the long‐term effect of selling a child and how a failure to mourn the lack of proper care and the attempt to create the family that she has not had with subsequent generations creates further difficulties. A 56‐year‐old woman presenting with depression and obesity, and the less able child of the family, had been kept at home to look after parents. She had remained unmarried and lived with the family of one or the other siblings. She did not see herself as the agent of her own predicament, and this was beyond what was thought to be common in that culture. She did not seem likely to respond to insight‐oriented therapy and was advised to accept support and protection so that she can begin to manage her own life. A 21‐year‐old woman was admitted after a suicidal gesture. She had been self‐harming on occasions when she felt the threat of abandonment. There was a strong family history of depression as her maternal grandmother suffered from it and her mother committed suicide at the age of 32 (when Ms. B was 2 years of age). Ms. B was brought up by her maternal grandmother. She was indulged by maternal grandfather. She was manipulative and occasionally used amphetamines and cannabis. Ms. B had consulted a psychiatrist on numerous occasions and had a “core” insecurity based on her remote relationship with her father and stepmother and a contemporary insecurity because of the realistically insecure relationship with her boyfriend. There was a vicious circle of the early experience influencing the present relationships. Her wish to establish a reparative relationship with “the doctor” posed a risk of the doctor engaging in a personal relationship with her with serious consequences for both. There was a serous need for the doctor to keep the relationship strictly professional and predictable with arranged appointments. One of the therapeutic objectives was to help Ms. B develop a realistically positive view of herself. Mrs. A is a 60‐year‐old widowed housewife presenting with depression and somatic symptoms. She was stressed by concern that her son was developing depression and felt inferior to her long‐term friends. Her husband died of cancer after many years of a good marriage. Mrs. A's first contact with a psychiatric service was after the flat that was below hers in the tower block was destroyed by an explosion and a major fire, which was publicized in the local press. The fire caused three deaths. The arsonist was jailed. She received some posttraumatic counseling. Mrs. A recovered promptly after admission (well before antidepressants had an opportunity to have a pharmacological effect). This was a development signifying the psychological parameter in her condition. The doctor needed to form a view whether Mrs. A was able to cope with being disabused about organic origin of her depression. This observation could lead to Mrs. A being helped to restore her view of herself as of equal value to that of her friends. Bob is a 30‐year‐old married primary school teacher suffering from depression and anxiety. He was arrested for downloading child pornography. He claimed that he confessed to it “under duress.” His mother suffered from a delusional disorder and his brother from autism. Bob had no friends and was described as “socially awkward, weird.” He suffered an episode of sexual abuse at age 12. Failing to consummate his marriage was stressful, and he and his wife tried to facilitate intercourse by watching pornography together. They wanted to have children. The diagnosis was severe depression and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The sexual dysfunction was considered part of the ASD. However, handling confidentiality in relation to the law and disclosure of pedophilic tendencies in patients and aspects of the duties of a doctor as a treating psychiatrist and as a member of society are discussed. Mrs. C, a 68‐year‐old widow living alone, walks with the aid of a walker due to arthritis of knees. She was feeling that as she had fulfilled her duties to her family, she no longer had a reason to live. She had feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. Received cognitive behavioral therapy from a clinical psychologist on account of her pathological grief. The doctors shared some of her feelings of helplessness. Mrs. C had to cope with losses of husband, family, and physical well‐being (with all the limitations that this brings). Mrs. C needed to readjust her thinking from focusing on the past and the losses to the present and the capacities and connections that she does have and the realistic use she may make of them.
Those offenders who are diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) pose a higher risk of re‐offending and are a challenge to rehabilitate. In this paper, the author discusses a community service use of group therapy with men diagnosed with ASPD, using interpersonal techniques based on group analysis and mentalization‐based therapy. With clinical material taken from a year‐long psychodynamically informed group to highlight intra‐ and inter‐personal development, the author examines how the group progressed from a hostile place where cooperation could not be imagined to a space in which trust became a possibility. This paper explores how antisocial men might become more prosocial using both the group process itself as a medium for intervention and the exploration of symbol and metaphor to develop an emotional language to enable change. Psychological change is perceived in the way words are used to develop insight and capacity to think about the minds of others. I conclude that more research is needed but that a mixed technique group has promise in the treatment of offenders with ASPD in the community.
This article addresses the complex issues when working with group members who have been traumatized by institutional and inter-generational racism in the context of white supremacy. The article engages with how a group analytic understanding can assist clinicians to engage with group members who have experienced racial trauma and structural oppression when these dynamics are inevitably generated in psychotherapy groups. I discuss the concepts of ‘erasure’, ‘bearing witness’ and also introduce the concept of ‘psychic ghettoization’, which can provide the conductor with some conceptual tools to manage the complex issue of racial trauma. I argue that there is now more than ever a need to remain relevant to the diverse and often marginalized communities we serve. To do this requires group analysts and indeed all clinicians to urgently scrutinize and develop theories and techniques for working with racism in our practices and clinics. A lack of intervention equates to a by-standing and a complicit collusion with racism which risks a re-traumatizing dynamic being paralleled in our clinical work with group members from marginalized communities.
I present below an attempt to understand complexity theory and the dialectical relationship between theory and group analytic practice. These are often concepts difficult to make sense of as they are rarely illuminated with clinical material for the reader or the trainee group analyst to comprehend. After the introduction of the Kantian and Hegelian dialectic and its use to understand group analytic concepts, I move on to the complexity theory and attempt to illustrate its significance with a clinical example from a small group analytic group. Cavafis’s celebrated poem ‘Ithaka’, is used as a metaphor for the utmost importance of the splendid interpersonal and transpersonal journey in group analysis with all its challenges and gains that this brings to the individual and to the group as a whole as the emphasis is on the process (journey) rather the destination (Ithaka).
After a century of development, group therapy is today one of the most widely practised treatment methods in psychiatry with an extensive literature. There are three principles common to its wide range of applications. First, the therapist calls the ‘community’ into the consulting room where, together with the therapist, it becomes the therapeutic agent. Second, the therapist assembles a group of people who can contribute to a commonly held resource from which its members can each derive benefits. And third, the therapist does nothing for them in the context of the group, that they can do for themselves, and one another. This chapter starts by providing a conceptual framework that differentiates methods, models, and applications for the practice of group therapy in adult psychiatry. After classification of the different methods and applications we discuss the main theoretical models; explore the dynamic life of therapy groups; consider some of the key clinical issues facing practitioners; their applications to a range of patient populations and settings; their evaluation and justification and their historical evolution this century. In the conclusion we consider the planning of group services and the training of their practitioners. This revision of the chapter has brought it up-to-date with the contemporary literature in a field that has seen a great deal of innovation since the original 2000 edition. The developing evidence base for group psychotherapy is ‘Guardedly optimistic. The literature has become stronger and deeper and is capable of supporting evidence-based treatment recommendations for some patient populations.’ The evidence base for the effectiveness of group psychotherapy has been growing with the field. Some 700 studies, spanning the past three decades, have shown that the group format consistently produced positive effects with diverse disorders and treatment models. These show that both individual and group psychotherapy will effect much the same set of results. For group therapy to be effective it has to utilize those therapeutic factors originally laid out by Foulkes and later by Yalom—the group has to be the primary focus of therapy; patients need to be well selected; and therapists need to be adequately trained. The chapter will address these questions of focus, selection, and training. Although the two authors of this chapter are both group analysts, we have set out to provide a full account of the wide range of group work practice. The United Kingdom is our own working location which lends emphasis to the chapter but it is compiled with sources and references that address the international field and it gives attention to current literature in many countries including North and South America and Continental Europe.
Notions of whiteness, white supremacy and racial hatred such as the recent multiple racist murders by a white supremacist in New Zealand are at the forefront of public consciousness. How do whiteness and racism play out in a clinical and social welfare context? This article illustrates the impact of trauma on a vulnerable young white woman who although was not the direct target of a racist assault was left traumatised by witnessing it. It discusses how initially she sought refuge in a racist solution synonymous with a psychic retreat to her own detriment. Working with such complex, unconscious and bewildering dynamics is extremely challenging for clinicians. It describes the impact of these dynamics on a clinician of colour who attempted to work with this young woman in a child and adolescent mental health service after the family was referred as a consequence of her assaulting her child shortly after witnessing the racist attack. The unconscious responses to trauma and challenges for clinicians and clinician of colour in particular when working with racism in the consulting room are also discussed.
Despite its critical role in successful counseling, case conceptualization has received less attention in group counseling than in individual counseling. The current research examined what information is considered important in group case conceptualizations by interviewing 12 master counselors in group counseling. Interview data were analyzed by using Consensual Qualitative Research. Two domains and 12 categories emerged from the data. Results indicated master counselors in this study conceptualized group counseling focusing concurrently on Group Functioning and Individual Functioning. Limitations and implications for practice of group work, supervision, and future research were presented.
Foulkes’ concept of the matrix, the hypothetical web of communication, has long since left the consulting room and entered the wider sphere of communities, countries, and institutions. This article will discuss how the matrix encompasses a whole profession, that of medical doctors. Together with a deep-rooted sense of identity, which I refer to as the medical self, the medical matrix contributes to doctors’ professional wellbeing but also begins to explain the enormous recent increase in mental illness in the medical profession seen across the world.
The article focuses on doctors. However, the ideas are relevant to any group (for example, teachers, the clergy, psychotherapists) which has a strong personal and professional identity, with all its attendant privileges and problems.
This book aims to describe and explain the bias against brief psychotherapy, whilst stressing the importance of actively challenging resistance and working through the transference. It also covers the positive use of anger - even from the first session. As a group analyst concerned with social and psychological issues, Dr Angela Molnos brings a unique perspective to bear on the problems raised, both for society and the individual, by the confusion and the prejudice surrounding HIV infection and the Aids epidemic. Recognizing that these problems can vitiate even the most enlightened health care policies, she draws on her experience gained by working in several countries to put the case for the application of group analysis, through the organization of staff support groups, to those directly concerned with policy implementation; The carers themselves. In the first part of her book Dr Molnos demonstrates how, if unchecked, conscious and unconscious prejudice can promote destructive tendencies within the groups involved with HIV and AIDS patients.
The social and cultural basis of group analysisA century of group therapyPlanning an analytic groupDynamic administrationThe symptom in its group contextThe start of a new groupA newcomer to the groupThe group in actionLife events in the groupBringing therapy to an endTherapeutic pitfallsChallenging scenariosThe group analyst in troubleThe Large GroupAll in the same boat: homogeneous groupsGroups for children and adolescentsFamily therapy: a group-analytic perspectiveThe application of group analysis to non-clinical settingsThe supervision of group therapyThe group analyst as a professionalThe changing landscape of group analysisGlossaryBooks on group-analytic psychotherapyChapters on group analysis in general textsGeneral texts on group psychotherapy
This article focuses on the transferential feelings evoked in the group therapist, towards the phantasy object that is the group-as-a-whole. This focus allows the analyst to present a specific viewpoint as to the unconscious function accorded to the therapist of a group-analytic group. It is proposed that this function is essentially a paternal one and forms part of the primitive oedipal triangular matrix that inevitably develops in any group situation.
The Practice of Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy is a comprehensive handbook, addressing the provision of therapeutic help for babies and their parents when their attachment relationship is troubled and a risk is posed to the baby's development. Drawing on clinical and research data from neuroscience, attachment and psychoanalysis, the book presents a clinical treatment approach that is up-to-date, flexible and sophisticated, whilst also being clear and easy to understand. The first section: The theory of psychoanalytic parent infant psychotherapy - offers the reader a theoretical framework for understanding the emotional-interactional environment within which infant development takes place. The second section, The therapeutic process, invites the reader into the consulting room to participate in a detailed examination of the relational process in the clinical encounter. The third section, Clinical papers, provides case material to illustrate the unfolding of the therapeutic process. This new edition draws on evidence from contemporary research, with new material on: Embodied communication between parent and infant and clinician-patient/s Fathers and fathering Engagement of at-risk populations Written by a team of experienced clinicians, writers, teachers and researchers in the field of infant development and psychopathology, The Practice of Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy will be an essential resource for all professionals working with children and their families, including child psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and clinical and developmental psychologists.
Unter Matrix scheint Foulkes (1964; Foulkes u. Anthony 1965) das kommunikative Gefüge der Gruppe verstanden zu haben, wie es sich unter psyehoanaiytisch-sozial-psychologischen Aspekten darstellt. Dieses Kommunikationsgefüge stellt einen Mutterboden dar, der zur Korrektur von Erfahrungen aus früheren Beziehungen im Hier und Jetzt anregt und Weiterentwicklung ermöglicht.
Als die Systemtheoretiker anfingen, sich nicht nur mit Maschinen, sondern auch mit Lebewesen zu beschäftigen, erfanden sie den Begriff der „lebenden Systeme“ (z. B. v. Bertalanffy 1968). Lebende Systeme sind offene Systeme. Offene Systeme sind in der Lage, ihre innere Struktur durch die Aufnahme von Informationen zu verändern. Die menschliche Paarbeziehung kann in diesem Sinne als lebendes System beschrieben werden.
Die Kommunikations- und Systemtheorie hat unser psychotherapeutisches Denken verändert. In der Familien- und der Gruppenpsychotherapie hat sich dies am frühesten ausgewirkt (vgl. z. B. Bateson et al. 1956; Durkin 1964; Weiner 1974; Roman 1976). Die psychische Erkrankung eines Individuums, ihre Entstehung, ihr Manifestwerden und ihre Stabilisierung, wenn die Symptomatik aufrechterhalten wird, aber auch der Rückgang oder das völlige Verschwinden des Symptoms sind vielfach determiniert. Hierbei können erlebnisbedingte Störungen der frühen Kindheit beteiligt sein, deren Weiterverarbeitung in der späteren Kindheit, der Adoleszenz und im Erwachsenenalter, nichtpsychologische Faktoren, z. B. somatische, konstitutionelle und genetische Disposition, und Lebensereignisse verschiedenster Art.
Under current social conditions group analysis and group therapy will gain more importance in the future. Applications in in-and outpatient settings are shown and illustrated by a clinical example.
The roles of individual psychotherapists and of group psychotherapists are described and discussed. Role differences exert an influence on the therapy process and on therapist preferences as to group versus individual therapy. Difficulties in offering group psychotherpy in an outpatient setting are discussed. The comparison takes more recent concepts into account: Relational Therapy and Mentalisation Based Therapy.
This book offers practitioners, teachers and students of psychotherapy a detailed and comprehensive account of group analysis. It demystifies the workings of analytic groups and looks at the great stretch of issues and tasks confronting the therapist in the practice of group analytic psychotherapy. Each stage in the process is fully discussed: the assessment and preparation of patients for groups, dynamic administration, beginning and ending a group, and the introduction of new members into an established group. A chapter on psychopathology gives a picture of the main psychiatric conditions which the group therapist is likely to encounter, and offers clear guidelines on how to manage them in a group context. An exposition on the group in full flow provides an unusual insight into the processes which constitute the analytic culture, including the analysis of dreams, the art of interpreting, use of the transference and countertransference, and the place of play, humour and metaphor. Difficult and challenging scenarios, such as dropping out, scapegoating, the silent group member, and monopolisation of the group are treated in depth, as are Large Groups, homogeneous groups, groups for children and adolescents, family therapy, groups in non-clinical settings, and the supervision of group therapy. The impingement of the therapist' s own personal issues is also given attention. The authors have flanked their narrative with accounts of the historical, social and cultural origins of group analysis, and a vision of the future provided by the newer strands of thinking in the field. The text is enlivened by colourful vignettes drawn from the authors' own experiences, and by sharply focused dialogues between the two authors, designed to illustrate their contrasting and complementary perspectives. The book represents a distillation of the authors' long experience in the field of group analytic practice and training in the United Kingdom and internationally.
In Foulkes the concept of matrix is closely connected with a social theory of mind and thus the unconscious, which stands in contrast to the metapsychology of classical psychoanalysis. However, Foulkes only partially succeeds in explicating this social theory of mind and using it for a group-analytic concept of the dynamic unconscious. The intersubjective change in psychoanalysis opens up a new window of opportunities for that. Possible consequences for the understanding of consciousness and the unconscious within a group are outlined in the first part of the following article. Among these consequences is the awareness of the central role of the play or play-block in establishing shared consciousness or unconscious. This significant meaning of play for the group-analytic process is explained in detail in the second part. The playful nature of the group-process, containing emotional presence, freedom from specific purpose and the simulation of real-life situations, develops in the protective atmosphere of clearly defined settings. This is basic to a creative group process where an as-if-situation gives room to perform and re-arrange patterns of relations. Here, conscious processes mesh with unconscious ones. Finally, specific situations in plays are presented to illustrate the significance of the sensory-symbolic level of communication for the group's mentalization process.
This collection of papers, published between 1976 and 2003, traces the innovative connections which the eminent group analyst Dennis Brown made between medicine and psychoanalysis. They reveal his important insights into how the principles of group analysis can improve our understanding of philosophy and ethics, and trace the development of trans-cultural dimensions of group analysis.
This chapter argues that a necessary component of online learning design is the deliberate creation of conflict. It argues that conflict is not a by-product of creative design, it is an important ingredient in creative design; as such it should be planned for, and the emphasis on its creation should not be downplayed. Drawing on the work on groups by Bion (Experiences in groups, 1961) and Obholzer (The unconscious at work, 1994), the paper argues that the creative urges of learners are engaged via the application of group conflict; via an understanding of the importance of conflict and brief studies of both group formation and of conflict in groups, this reflective and theoretical paper explores learner anxiety, especially through a psychoanalytic lens.
Rich traditions of group therapy permeate the substance misuse field - from residential and day-centre group programmes and the fellowship group tradition to the panoply of support/education and relapse prevention groups offered by out-patient services. There are specialist groups - e.g. art therapy and psychodrama- and groups for special population- e.g. relatives, prisoners and adult children of alcoholics. This important collection is written by many well-known experts, several renowned on the international stage, with perspectives from the UK, USA and Scandinavia. They share their extensive experiences in the conceptualisation, setting up and running of therapy groups. Ultimately, all are concerned in their groups to increase empathic contact and thereby to facilitate opportunities for addicts to embark upon change. With no equivalent UK book of its kind, the reader has a rare opportunity to consider this subject in impressive scope, diversity and depth.
In this paper we argue that work with groups in forensic settings highlights key elements of the relational processes at the ‘outerface’ of the group, as well as within the group. Drawing on Bion's idea of containment we explore the triadic aspects that are fundamental to group and systems work and examine the specific quality of attention that this requires of the group therapist/analyst.
Zusammenfassung Der Matrixbegriff ist bei Foulkes eng mit einer sozialen Theorie des Mentalen und damit auch des Unbewussten verbunden, die zur Metapsychologie der klassischen Psychoanalyse im Gegensatz steht. Es ist Foulkes aber nur in Ansatzen gelungen, diese soziale Theorie des Mentalen zu explizieren und fur ein gruppenanalytisches Konzept des dynamisch Unbewussten zu nutzen. Mit der intersubjektiven Wende in der Psychoanalyse eroffnen sich dafur neue Chancen. Die moglichen Folgen fur die Auffassung von Bewusstsein und Unbewusstem in der Gruppe werden im ersten Teil des folgenden Artikels skizziert. Zu diesen Folgen gehort die Einsicht in die zentrale Rolle des Spiels bzw. von Spielblockaden fur die Herausbildung von geteiltem Bewusstsein bzw. Unbewusstem. Diese Bedeutung des Spiels fur den gruppenanalytischen Prozess wird im zweiten Teil expliziert. Der mit emotionaler Prasenz, Zweckfreiheit und Simulation von Ernstsituationen verbundene Spielcharakter des Gruppenprozesses entfaltet sich im schutzend...
When the ‘unexpected’ happens to a group conductor, it can be disturbing but it can also provide an excellent learning opportunity. This article explores the response of a therapy group to an unexpected event—one that had an impact on containment—and looks at what can be learnt from a theoretical perspective. A musical analogy is used to highlight the power of the ‘expected unexpected’ and there is a focus on the issue of pattern recognition as it arises in both music and psychotherapy. This leads to a consideration of ideas about change from writers such as Zinkin, Stacey and Garland. Bringing these theories together with Foulkes’ group specific factors of resonance and location, I argue that the ‘unexpected’ is a crucial and perhaps necessary element for change in an analytic group.
This article argues that from a Group-analytic perspective, the communication dynamics of the Internet are similar to those of any large group. Personal experiences are recounted, showing how the Internet can enable a large group of 450 members to function effectively. Drawing on Kreeger's seminal work on the large group, comparison is made between the `Internet forum' and the extended matrix, questioning Foulkes's scepticism as to the possibility of ever realizing a healthy, functioning large group. The writer looks towards the increasing use and applications of the Internet as one of the most important contemporary issues in group analysis.
This paper was presented to the Institute of Group Analysis, London, in July 1990, at the end of the qualifying course. It describes the work of a once-weekly group for psychiatric outpatients in a hospital setting. The therapeutic process is discussed in terms of Donald Winnicott's theory. Included also are comments on the author's personal and professional development during the course of training.
Enid Balint's 1972 article `Fair Shares and Mutual Concern' is the starting point of a consideration of the development from greed and rivalry towards a sense of fairness. Her account emphasizes patriarchal moral law, the early mother-infant relationship during demand feeding and parents' capacity to be concerned for each other despite differences of interest. What is missing is an examination of the role of sibling relationships, which have often been underestimated in both psychoanalysis and group analysis until relatively recently. A selective review of the literature attempts to fill this gap. It is proposed that group analysis not only vividly exposes sibling dynamics, it also allows them to be worked through and transcended.
It is well known that infants as soon as they are born tend to use fist, fingers, thumbs in stimulation of the oral erotogenic zone, in satisfaction of the instincts at that zone, and also in quiet union. It is also well known that after a few months infants of either sex become fond of playing with dolls, and that most mothers allow their infants some special object and expect them to become, as it were, addicted to such objects. There is a relationship between these two sets of phenomena that are separated by a time interval, and a study of the development from the earlier into the later can be profitable, and can make use of important clinical material that has been somewhat neglected. Those who happen to be in close touch with mothers' interests and problems will be already aware of the very rich patterns ordinarily displayed by babies in their use of the first 'not-me' possession. These patterns, being displayed, can be subjected to direct observation. There is a wide variation to be found in a sequence of events that starts with the newborn infant's fist-in-mouth activities, and leads eventually on to an attachment to a teddy, a doll or soft toy, or to a hard toy. It is clear that something is important here other than oral excitement and satisfaction, although this may be the basis of everything else. Many other important things can be studied, and they include: 1. The nature of the object. 2. The infant's capacity to recognize the object as 'not-me'. 3. The place of the object – outside, inside, at the border. 4. The infant's capacity to create, think up, devise, originate, produce an object. 5. The initiation of an affectionate type of object-relationship.
The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming
- S Freud
FREUD, S. (1908) The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming. Standard
Edition, Vol. IX
Paradox and Counterparadox
- M Palazzoli
PALAZZOLI, M. et al. (1978) Paradox and Counterparadox. Aronson, New York