Psychoanalytic Group Therapy

Psychoanalytic
Group Therapy
Marvin L. Aronson
e-Book 2016 International Psychotherapy Institute
From The Psychotherapy Guidebook edited by Richie Herink and Paul R. Herink
All Rights Reserved
Created in the United States of America
Copyright © 2012 by Richie Herink and Paul Richard Herink

Table of Contents
DEFINITION
HISTORY
TECHNIQUE
APPLICATIONS
www.freepsychotherapybooks.org 4
Psychoanalytic Group Therapy
Marvin L. Aronson
DEFINITION
Psychoanalytic Group Therapy refers to the application of
psychoanalytic principles to the treatment of individuals in small groups. The
goals of this form of psychotherapy are to elicit and ultimately to work
through the core conflicts of each member of the group.
HISTORY
Although several precursors appeared in the 1920s and 1930s, analytic

group psychotherapy did not emerge as a major therapeutic movement until
World War II. At first, it was regarded simply as an expeditious way to treat a
suddenly expanded patient population and not at all comparable — in depth
or effectiveness — to individual analytic psychotherapy. However, its
practitioners quickly realized that it not only constituted an important
treatment modality in its own right, but that it offered certain technical
advantages that were not available to the individual analyst.
Analytic group therapy is now practiced extensively throughout the
Psychotherapy Guidebook 5
United States. A burgeoning professional literature has accumulated and a
good deal of clinical research has been carried out. The field has also reached
a high level of development in Great Britain and in a number of Latin
American countries, especially Argentina and Brazil. Although there are many
exceptions, the Americans tend, both in theory and in practice, to focus on the
psychodynamics of the individual in the group, whereas the British and the
South Americans are more likely to address their interventions to the group
as a whole. In recent years, European therapists have become quite interested

in analytic group therapy, and there is every reason to believe that its clinical
APPLICATIONS there will greatly expand in the near future.
Important figures in the history of analytic group therapy in the United
States have included: Nathan Ackerman, Helen Durkin, Edrita Fried, Henriette
Glatzer, Asya Kadis, Emanuel Schwartz, Samuel Slavson, Arlene Wolberg, and
Alexander Wolf. In Great Britain, its leading exponents include: Wilfred Bion,
Henry Ezriel, S. H. Foulkes, Malcolm Pines, Joseph Rey, and A. C. R. Skynner.
Leading figures in South America are Bernardo Blay Neto of Brazil and Leon
Grinberg and Raul Usandivaras of Argentina.
TECHNIQUE
Group patients are instructed to interact with each other and with the
therapist as openly and nondefensively as they can. In the course of their
interactions, three major types of communications manifest themselves: 1)
accurate observations of and responses to events and personalities within the
group, 2) transference reactions (transference occurs when a patient shifts
feelings about a significant person in his past to other patients), and 3)

projections and/or more primitive projective identifications.
Each patient inevitably reveals the patterns of feeling and acting he

developed in his original family and that he still maintains in his intimate
relationships outside of the group via the network of multiple transferences
he establishes in the group. Concomitantly, he projects unacceptable aspects
of himself onto individual members, the therapist, or the group as a whole.
(Projective identifications are more likely to characterize patients with severe
ego disturbances, but they also appear, although to a lesser degree, in the
communications of neurotics and character disorders.)
The analytic group therapist employs repeated interpretations of the
emergent transferences and projections in order to bring their unconscious

determinants into awareness. As in individual analytic therapy, he
systematically interprets relevant aspects of the patient’s fantasies, defenses,
and security operations. He has the added advantage in group therapy of

being able to point out the precise interpersonal impact that each patient’s
behavioral patterns has on others.
By the middle phases of analyatic group therapy, the members typically
ally themselves with the therapist’s goals and begin to interpret each other’s
behavior and to deal with individual and group resistances. They also
establish a group culture that rewards those members who demonstrate a
willingness to experiment and to change. This benign peer pressure is
extremely salutary in prompting patients to take the emotional risks essential
for translating insights into more adaptive actions.
Elicitation and working through of core conflicts proceed most
effectively if group resistance is maintained at an optimal level. One of the
most crucial skills required of the analytic group therapist is that he be able to
resolve any group resistances that threaten to impede untrammeled
communication within the group.
Acquiring this skill necessitates specialized training; preferably, such

training should come after the therapist has mastered the intricacies of
individual psychoanalytic therapy.
Most American authorities agree that analytic group works best in
conjunction with individual therapy, conducted either by the same therapist
(combined therapy) or by a colleague (conjoint therapy). Ideally, patients
should be seen individually for at least fifteen to fifty sessions before they
enter a group. The reason for this is that individual therapy is much better
suited for establishing a working alliance. Clinical research has shown that
the majority of premature dropouts from group therapy are caused by
insufficient attention to the establishment of a working alliance in the early
phases of the therapeutic process.
APPLICATIONS
The indications for Psychoanalytic Group Therapy are essentially the
same as for individual analytic therapy. Preferably, patients should be of at
least average intelligence, have had some gratifying experiences in small
groups during their formative years, and possess a minimal capacity for
expressing their thoughts and feelings in words.
Initially, analytic group therapy was mainly used for treating neurotics
and character disorders. In recent years, modified versions of it have been
extensively utilized for the treatment of borderline and certain schizophrenic
patients in a variety of in-patient and day-hospital settings. Current
developments in object relations theory and in ego psychology have been of

considerable help in adapting analytic group therapy to the clinical needs of
these patients.

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All Rights Reserved

Created in the United States of America

Copyright © 2012 by Richie Herink and Paul Richard Herink

Psychoanalytic Group Therapy refers to the application of

psychoanalytic principles to the treatment of individuals in small groups. The

goals of this form of psychotherapy are to elicit and ultimately to work

through the core conflicts of each member of the group.

Although several precursors appeared in the 1920s and 1930s, analytic

or effectiveness — to individual analytic psychotherapy. However, its

practitioners quickly realized that it not only constituted an important

advantages that were not available to the individual analyst.

Analytic group therapy is now practiced extensively throughout the

a high level of development in Great Britain and in a number of Latin

as a whole. In recent years, European therapists have become quite interested

APPLICATIONS there will greatly expand in the near future.

Important figures in the history of analytic group therapy in the United

Henry Ezriel, S. H. Foulkes, Malcolm Pines, Joseph Rey, and A. C. R. Skynner.

Grinberg and Raul Usandivaras of Argentina.

group, 2) transference reactions (transference occurs when a patient shifts

feelings about a significant person in his past to other patients), and 3)

Each patient inevitably reveals the patterns of feeling and acting he

relationships outside of the group via the network of multiple transferences

he establishes in the group. Concomitantly, he projects unacceptable aspects

of himself onto individual members, the therapist, or the group as a whole.

(Projective identifications are more likely to characterize patients with severe

The analytic group therapist employs repeated interpretations of the

emergent transferences and projections in order to bring their unconscious

systematically interprets relevant aspects of the patient’s fantasies, defenses,

and security operations. He has the added advantage in group therapy of

behavioral patterns has on others.

establish a group culture that rewards those members who demonstrate a

willingness to experiment and to change. This benign peer pressure is

extremely salutary in prompting patients to take the emotional risks essential

for translating insights into more adaptive actions.

Elicitation and working through of core conflicts proceed most

effectively if group resistance is maintained at an optimal level. One of the

resolve any group resistances that threaten to impede untrammeled

communication within the group.

Acquiring this skill necessitates specialized training; preferably, such

individual psychoanalytic therapy.

Most American authorities agree that analytic group works best in

conjunction with individual therapy, conducted either by the same therapist

(combined therapy) or by a colleague (conjoint therapy). Ideally, patients

insufficient attention to the establishment of a working alliance in the early

phases of the therapeutic process.

The indications for Psychoanalytic Group Therapy are essentially the

same as for individual analytic therapy. Preferably, patients should be of at

least average intelligence, have had some gratifying experiences in small

extensively utilized for the treatment of borderline and certain schizophrenic

patients in a variety of in-patient and day-hospital settings. Current

developments in object relations theory and in ego psychology have been of

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