You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The prognostic intervention is one of many modern analytic techniques designed to help patients verbalize their thoughts, feelings, and impulses constructively in group therapy. It is used when group members are acting upon their feelings instead of expressing them in words, and when the overall functioning of the group is jeopardized. The term “prognostic” refers to the therapist's efforts to head off the potential impact of treatment-destructive resistances before their damaging effects are realized. The prognostic intervention is a unique way for the therapist to confront group-destructive behaviors, and to initiate a “pre-emptive strike” against these damaging forces.
The technique is derived from the pioneering work of Hyman Spotnitz, and from the body of joining techniques he developed. It has been used in group therapy workshops and seminars designed to provide experiences in emotional learning. Thus, the technique has been taught in an experiential manner and, in this way, has been handed down to generations of modern analysts. This teaching approach has been discussed with great clarity by Phyllis Meadow in her paper on modern analytic training (1988).
The prognostic intervention was developed and refined by Leslie Rosenthal, who established its use as a tool for resolving treatment-destructive resistances in group therapy. The technique has been illustrated in a number of his papers discussing resistance in groups (1971, 1976, 1979, 1985). The earliest known illustration of the prognostic intervention is cited below: