A Philosophy of Group Psychoanalysis

The psychoanalyst who begins group therapy has to rely on theoretical concepts he found useful in his work in individual therapy. These are soon found wanting and he is led into a search for more comprehensive concepts which can to some extent be found in the other social sciences. The broader perspective permits a more thorough understanding of the relationships of individual to society, and a greater appreciation of the complex interrelatedness of all human activities.

This paper presents some reflections about the relationships of individuals in society and their connection with group therapy that have come from work in group psychoanalysis and the reading that it has stimulated. What has been most significant is the realization that the concepts of conflict and patterns of integration that are of such great value in individual analysis are also useful in group analysis and are universally applicable. The difficulty of the task consists in identifying and describing the nature of the forces that make up relationships and conflict solutions. In the physical world, measurable abstractions, permitting the expression of conflicting forces in mathematical equations and laws, can be made. Here we deal with interacting constants.

In dealing with living situations we must contend with interacting variables and the task of selecting what is most relevant among the conflicting forces is of paramount importance. Thus, when dealing with the biological world a different order of abstractions becomes necessary. Quantifiable abstractions and their expression in interacting constants are possible to a limited degree only. Functional entities on an empirical basis are used and their usefulness can be extended if each entity is looked at in terms of conflict, conflict solutions and integrating patterns. For example, each organism is the more or less successful solution of conflicts between its needs and the environment. The latter consists of un-systematized and loosely systematized