Group Therapy: A Psychoanalytic Viewpoint

The purposes of this paper are to investigate the possibilities of psychoanalytic group therapy and to formulate the criteria for an ideal experimental situation.

An attempt is made to identify certain group characteristics, to assay some definitions essential for the field, to offer criteria for the selection of a therapist and of the group members. The values in psychoanalytic group therapy, the goals, limitations and possible dangers are suggested.

Groups vary in their characteristics and purposes. They vary in size, sex, and age level. A group may be natural (as a family) or socially organized (as a school or charitable organization). It may be accidental (as a crowd at the scene of an automobile crash) or purposeful (as a political caucus). A group's life may be short (a theater audience) or of long standing (a religious sect). A group may be leaderless, transient, amorphous; or it may be guided by a body of knowledge, laws, religious or philosophical precepts, or it may be guided by a natural leader—as a scout master—or a supernatural one—as God.

A group may be essentially functional—that is, gathered together to produce automobiles, to elect a governor, or to participate in a choral recital. Or a group may come together for purely personal reasons, for the pure pleasure of being with each other and for no other reason—such a grouping would be on the basis of truly personal relationships.

Groups are expressions of cultural patterns. In groups, the socializing process is at work. This socializing process may contribute to an individual's healthy growth or to his becoming mentally ill. The socializing process is the most significant group therapeutic or traumatic agent in our lives—the slowest to change, the least malleable. It is only grossly goal-directed and valid statistics on its effects are very difficult to obtain.

Cultural Patterns as Group Therapy

Our educational system—a significant segment of the socializing process—provides group thera