- Analytic treatment helps clients explore one’s self by finding meaning and understanding of one’s own history and thinking.
- Special consideration is on the unconscious (out of one’s control).
- The group leader helps group members in the process of self-exploration by establishing the appropriate conditions for group therapy.
- Goal: enable clients to reach personal control and to achieve peak satisfaction in living.
- Group process involves the spontaneous and free-flowing interaction between group members.
- Group process is similar to free association in 1:1 therapy.
- Interactions between the group may be conscious, unconscious, verbal, or non-verbal.
- Regular attendance is expected as group members joining may cause conflicts.
- Groups should be diverse in its members, e.g., males and females; heterosexual and homosexual.
- No one member should stand out from the rest.
- Members often follow a contract that involves (1) confidentiality, and (2) freely sharing their thoughts without editing.
- Members are encouraged to observe and comment on each other’s appearances and behaviors, including non-verbal aspects.1
- Transference is used for self-exploration and is “the unconscious repetition in the here and now of pathogenic conflicts from the past, and the analysis of transference is the main source of specific change brought about by psychoanalytic treatment.”2
- Transference occurs when group members experience their past experiences through the current relationship with the group members and the group leader.
- Group members may perceive the group leader incorrectly because of transference distortions, as long as the group leader leads the group.
- Transference distortions can be overcome with consensual validation and increased therapist transparency.3
- Other strategies include resistance analysis and dream analysis.
- Members work through their problems through constant personal interaction and becoming aware of other’s emotional difficulties.
- Members are then able to gain insight into their own emotional barriers.4
- Kleinberg, J. L. (Ed.). (2015). The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of group psychotherapy. John Wiley & Sons.[↩]
- Kernberg, Otto F. “The four basic components of psychoanalytic technique and derived psychoanalytic psychotherapies.” World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) vol. 15,3 (2016): 287-288. doi:10.1002/wps.20368[↩]
- Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group therapy (5th ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books.[↩]
- de Schill, S. (1958), Introduction to Psychoanalytic Group Therapy. New York: American Mental Health Foundation, 1969, 6th rev. ed.[↩]