THINKING ABOUT GROUPS
Historical perspectives
• Man is a social animal.
• When Man settled in large groups in one area, cultures and civilisations
evolved.
• In the animal kingdom, it is natural for a pecking order to exist.
• Despite our advances in science and technology, we cannot escape these primitive needs, which are highlighted in our day-to-day conflicts.
• Man is a social animal.
• When Man settled in large groups in one area, cultures and civilisations
evolved.
• In the animal kingdom, it is natural for a pecking order to exist.
• Despite our advances in science and technology, we cannot escape these primitive needs, which are highlighted in our day-to-day conflicts.
Some early therapeutic groups Greek civilisation: healing temples, dialogue groups (Plato)
- 18th century: Anton Mesmer, ‘Animal Magnetism’
- 1907: JH Pratt, physician dealing with tuberculosis patients in USA
- 1913: ‘Totem and Taboo’, Freud, psychoanalytic processes in anthropology and social groups
- 1920: first use of the term ‘group therapy’, JL Moreno, USA
- 1921: ‘Group psychology and the analysis of the ego’, Freud, the relationship of groups to their leaders (Church and Army)
- Post 1920s: A Adler, psychiatric day hospitals and therapeutic clubs
- 1939: P Schilder “some of the patients could not have been treated individually with classical analysis. They reacted only in the group.
Post WW2 therapeutic groups
In the USA:
1943: SR Slavson, educationist and self-taught psychoanalyst, founder of the American Group Psychotherapy Association
1946: work of C Menninger, Chief of Army Psychiatry
1946: ‘Psychodrama’, JL Moreno
In the UK:
1945: Northfield experiment in The Northfield Military Hospital, Bion & Rickman, SH Foulkes & T Main
1946: Tavistock Institute, W Bion and H Ezriel – applied psychoanalysis in groups
1946: Cassel Hospital, Medical Director T Main, psychosocial nursing
1949: M Jones’s work at The Henderson Hospital – ‘the therapeutic community’
1952: Group Analytic Society, SH Foulkes and ET Anthony
1961: M Balint, ‘Balint groups’ (GPs/patients)
1971: Institute of Group Analysis
1990s: Median Group Section of GAS, P de Maré
1943: SR Slavson, educationist and self-taught psychoanalyst, founder of the American Group Psychotherapy Association
1946: work of C Menninger, Chief of Army Psychiatry
1946: ‘Psychodrama’, JL Moreno
In the UK:
1945: Northfield experiment in The Northfield Military Hospital, Bion & Rickman, SH Foulkes & T Main
1946: Tavistock Institute, W Bion and H Ezriel – applied psychoanalysis in groups
1946: Cassel Hospital, Medical Director T Main, psychosocial nursing
1949: M Jones’s work at The Henderson Hospital – ‘the therapeutic community’
1952: Group Analytic Society, SH Foulkes and ET Anthony
1961: M Balint, ‘Balint groups’ (GPs/patients)
1971: Institute of Group Analysis
1990s: Median Group Section of GAS, P de Maré
Types of group
Closed e.g. training cohort, intensive psychotherapy group
Slow-open e.g. psychotherapy group (less intensive), Median group
Open e.g. Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, AlAnon
Closed e.g. training cohort, intensive psychotherapy group
Slow-open e.g. psychotherapy group (less intensive), Median group
Open e.g. Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, AlAnon
Processes and Factors
Dr Pat de Mare & Dr N Yoganathan 2006
Curative processes
1 SUPPORTIVE e.g. Self-help groups, social clubs
2 ANALYTICAL e.g. Freudian and Neo-Freudian principles, dealing with intra-psychic conflicts
3 EXISTENTIAL e.g. Yalom, dealing with problems of the here and now
4 DIALACTICAL e.g. P de Maré, from hate, through dialogue,to Culture in the large group
Therapeutic factors in groups, Yalom 1985
• Universality
• Altruism
• Corrective recapitulation (of family group)
• Imitative behaviour
• Catharsis
• Interpersonal learning
• Cohesiveness
• Existential factors
1 SUPPORTIVE e.g. Self-help groups, social clubs
2 ANALYTICAL e.g. Freudian and Neo-Freudian principles, dealing with intra-psychic conflicts
3 EXISTENTIAL e.g. Yalom, dealing with problems of the here and now
4 DIALACTICAL e.g. P de Maré, from hate, through dialogue,to Culture in the large group
Therapeutic factors in groups, Yalom 1985
• Universality
• Altruism
• Corrective recapitulation (of family group)
• Imitative behaviour
• Catharsis
• Interpersonal learning
• Cohesiveness
• Existential factors
Some destructive groups
Jim Jones and Jonestown 1978
David Koresh
David Koresh