Clinical Observations on the Effect of Analytically Oriented Group Therapy and Group Supervision on the Therapist

This modest study began at Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, New York, as a group seminar for training the residents in the techniques of group psychotherapy. As might have been expected, the first group of five residents (all undergoing private analysis) responded with great anxiety at being exposed to the group therapy situation. The initial response of these volunteers was a great enthusiasm. As their work was discussed in their own analyses and commented upon by other hospital supervisors, eventually it became apparent to both the therapists and the writer that this enthusiasm was a reaction-formation to their great anxieties in the group situation. Although this was suspected by the experimenter and other supervisors at the hospital, in several cases it was not confirmed in their individual analyses until months after the group supervisory experience had come to an end. The fact that these residents were in personal analyses makes this clinical observation all the more reliable

At this point, what had started out to be a conventional teaching seminar seemed to have an added significance. When the second series of seminars began with four new residents and one holdover volunteer resident (two of whom were being analyzed), a growing awareness of the unique nature of the group transference began to develop despite resistance on the part of the writer. The writer at first resisted this growing awareness because he did not wish to serve as the therapist but desired to remain merely a didactic teacher. This awareness came as a poorly defined but emotionally intriguing experience through a slow process of working through the first realization. The realization was challenging, but not readily understood, at the time and aroused anxiety which could be allayed only by further investigation and greater understanding. With further experience and the analogous example of individual controls, the awareness came that the supervisor must assume the role of a group therapist as well