Group Analysis – A Valuable Alternative To Individual Therapy
It is increasingly recognised by the therapy professions that the problems people have are problems in-between-people rather than in the individual. Group psychotherapy acknowledges this as the relational or interpersonal factor.
When people are starting to consider therapy, they usually say they prefer individual therapy to group therapy. This is surprising, given that most human activities occur in groups, for instance in the family, at school or university and at work. Also, many of the emotional problems people experience have arisen from disturbed relationships within these groups. It is increasingly recognised by the therapy professions that the problems people have are problems in-between-people rather than in the individual. Psychotherapy acknowledges this as the relational or interpersonal factor.
Human beings are social beings. We live, work and play in groups. As a child, each human being has to learn at first to find a place in his or her family group and the original grouping of three, father, mother and child, can be seen as the basis of all group phenomena. Then there are others, other mother- or father-figures and relatives, sibling, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and finally the social context of the child’s community and locality.
Human beings need each other, but are also afraid of each other. Like the child, who needs to hold someone’s hand or to sit on their lap in order to feel safe enough to engage with a new person or a new place, every newcomer to a group has to negotiate a similar state of anxiety. Before developing a sense of belonging to a group, the fear of joining the group and expectations of attacks from those already in the group must be negotiated. Every newcomer to a therapy group needs a firm bond or alliance with the group conductor in order to negotiate this frightening situation.
The fear of groups may well be based on a fearful experience in the early family group. Given the reluctance in regard to joining a therapy group, this may well be an indication for the number of people with anxieties stemming from their early family life. Individual therapy is often confined to internal psychic dynamics and neglects external events and influences. These are in contrast part and parcel of the working model of group analysis, which considers for instance the importance of sibling dynamics within the family setting. Social difficulties in general are also not always given enough consideration in individual therapy. Group analysis by definition includes group dynamics, as well as external social dynamics and influences and takes the public, social and political environment and its impact into account.
Group therapy addresses similar issues as individual therapy, like relationship problems, depression or anxiety, but the group situation is in addition an excellent therapeutic medium for difficulties relating to social situations. The group conductor may well be a parental figure or acting as the super-ego, which arouses particular expectations, fears and wishes, but these feelings are not the same for everybody in the group. Transferences differ for different group members. They are distributed amongst many in a group and appear not only in relation to the therapist. In a group the whole projection and transference scenario is wider and richer than in the individual setting, because there are more people available to be used for that purpose. The group setting helps patients to understand their internal object relations and current relationships better, because these are made visible through the interactions in the group and can be explored in the ‘here and now’.
Group therapy has its specific potency and strength, in that the working through of projections and transferences is much more visible in the group, because there are others who listen and bear witness to the interactions. It is more comfortable to questions a peer or be questioned by them and take over their insight, because group members find it much easier to accept challenges or criticism from their fellow group members rather than from the conductor. Also, in a group the position or view of the therapist can be questioned and relativised by others, something that can never happen in individual therapy. For instance, group members may support a fellow patient’s opinion or even challenge the thinking of the therapist. An event like this has enormous potential. New ways of behaviour can be tried out that way with less difficulties amongst equals. This is one of the reason why in group analysis the conductor needs to let the group do the work and only becomes active, when the group has got stuck in some way.
The encounter with diversity in the group setting with its variety of personal backgrounds, including class, sexual orientation, ethnicity or culture, provides a rich tapestry of experience akin to that found in the wider social environment today. Every new group member, like every immigrant, experiences the difficulties of joining a new cultural environment, feeling a foreigner and having to adjust in the process of recovery from experiences of loss and alienation. The multi-cultural groupings in societies today come with a high potential for insecurity. They share a smaller common ground due to the underlying differences and cultural variations and these variances generate a greater general base of anxiety and aggression. It is important to recognise these differences, to address them and think about them, since deep and often unconscious mutual cultural deprecations prevent a better reciprocal understanding and acceptance. There is a special necessity today to recognise and learn to tolerate these differences, because this process promotes a value system that embraces diversity and invites otherness. In order to feel secure, we all need to belong to groups familiar to us, which separate us from, as well as connect us with the wider community and society as a whole.
Groups are the natural environment for human beings.
Groups are necessary for the development of human beings.
Groups are frightening and joining a group is anxiety provoking.
A newcomer to a group needs an alliance with the group conductor.
Fear of groups may come from a fear of early family experience.
Groups address social difficulties.
In groups projections and transferences are visible and shared out.
In groups the therapist can be questioned and challenged by others.
Groups emphasise sibling relationships.
Groups provide diversity and differences.
Groups help us to grow up.
Groups have enormous potential, which has not only therapeutic significance, but also social, political and environmental relevance for the future of humanity.
Amélie Noack is affiliated with GANLondon, the Group Analytic Network London
www.ganlondon.net; [email protected]; Telephone: 0845 166 4154
Bibliography
Foulkes, S. H. (1964) Therapeutic Group Analysis London: Allen & Unwin
Foulkes, S. H. and Anthony, E. J. (1965) Group Psychotherapy, The Psycho-Analytic Approach London: Penguin Books
Foulkes, S. H. (1986) Group-Analytic Psychotherapy, Methods and Principles. London: Karnac
Important:
TherapyRoute does not provide medical advice. All content is for informational purposes and cannot replace consulting a healthcare professional. If you face an emergency, please contact a local emergency service. For immediate emotional support, consider contacting a local helpline.
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