Borrowing My Self: An Exploration of Exchange as a Group-Specific Therapeutic Factor

Thornton, Christine

doi:10.1177/0533316404042856

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is the experience of "other than" and an encounter with something that is different and new (Thornton, 2004). experience localises the interactions stemming from the blocks in communication in the here and now of the group experience that is directly observable and can be accessed and subject to intervention by the seminar group leader and the other seminar group members (Menarini, 1996).…”

Section: The Group Normmentioning

confidence: 99%

The group as a psycho-educational medium for the teaching of anti-racist practice on social work trainings

Stevenson

2017

Journal of Social Work Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article discusses the anxieties that lead to resistance to anti-racist and culturally sensitive reflection and engagement on social work trainings. It briefly discusses a culturally diverse social work training and the anxieties described by the students that hindered the integration of the teaching of race and culture during the training. The article then contrasts this with another more successful training experience on another social work course at a different university with a similar level of cultural diversity by the use of the group as a psycho-educational method to manage the student's defences and avoidance of the difficult and painful knowledge required to enhance reflexivity when it comes to issues of race. It discusses how the role and skills of the seminar leader can manage the student's defences through the use of group dynamic processes and concepts as psycho-educational tools; thereby deepening the observational and reflective skills of the social work students during their training in preparation for their future work within diverse settings and in line with the social work competencies and regulation requirements.

show abstract

Section: The Group Normmentioning

confidence: 99%

The group as a psycho-educational medium for the teaching of anti-racist practice on social work trainings

Stevenson

2017

Journal of Social Work Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this group both the therapeutic factors of ‘mirroring’ and ‘exchange’ were facilitated through social comparison. According to Thornton (2004) experiencing something as the same yet different can enable people to construct a personally meaningful modified identity. Comparison with others more severely affected led participants to view themselves as less severely affected than they had previously considered and to judge themselves less harshly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the concept of normalising is common in groups and important in terms of helping people feel less alone and isolated, transformational experiences in groups also occur from the encounter with difference (Thornton, 2004). Through social comparison in the group setting the therapeutic factor of 'exchange' was facilitated (Foulks, 1990).…”

Section: Overview Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Viewing others as worse and less affected was motivating for some participants indicating the importance of including people at different levels of severity within the group. According to Thornton (2004) the potential for transformational experiences in a group depends on the optimum balance of the recognition of sameness sometimes referred to as 'mirroring' and 'exchange' which refers to recognition of difference. The observation that many participants benefited from their experience of being on a different continuum of severity to others also has implications for practice in today's climate within the NHS.…”

Section: Implications For Counselling Psychology Practice -Structure mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

‘Life just kind of sparkles’: clients’ experiences of being in cognitive behavioural group therapy and its impact on reducing shame in obsessive compulsive disorder

Spragg

2015

Cogn Behav Therap

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study explored the personal accounts of service users relating to their experiences of being in group cognitive behavioural therapy (GCBT) for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Eight participants were purposively selected from two groups whose therapy had finished. These participants were interviewed, the data transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Five superordinate themes were generated: ‘Engagement in the group process’, ‘Normalizing’, ‘Courage to fight’, ‘Being my own therapist’ and ‘Restricted vs. engagement with life’. The findings in this study have implications for theory in terms of the relevance of shame-based appraisals in conceptualizations of OCD. Suggestions for future groups include the importance of exploring the development of the problem in the group setting and highlight an important role for the group in terms of increasing motivation and preventing dropout. Directions for future research and implications for theory are explored.

show abstract

“…Identity is understood not as a fixed quantity, but a shifting dynamic. Throughout our lives we make and re‐make our sense of ourselves, through the medium of ‘exchange’ – innumerable tiny encounters with others, within which we compare, contrast and connect: the encounter with what is other, different, new to us (Thornton, ). Exchange is an iterative, reciprocal process; its repetitions allow change to take hold at deeper levels, echoing the repeated experiences of the infant which create internal learning structures (Stern, ; Trevarthen, ).…”

Section: Home Relies On Intersubjectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hitting Home: Irish Identity and Psychotherapy in The UK

Thornton¹,

Corbett²

2014

Brit J Psychotherapy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examine the work of icap, a clinic for Irish people in Britain, to describe an (Irish) idea of ‘home’ within a psychoanalytic/group‐analytic discourse, and some aspects of its clinical significance in providing culturally‐sensitive psychotherapy. Our work weaves through four axes of trauma: the dislocation embedded in all migration, irrespective of the social or economic circumstances of the migrant; the long domination of Ireland by England, and some of the resulting complexities in Irish migration to Britain; childhood abuse, within the ‘home’ and within the Church‐run institutions sanctioned by the Irish state; and childhood neglect and deprivation. In clinical practice these levels interpenetrate and interact with each other. Early trauma followed by migration impacts on the patient's internalized ‘home’; culturally‐specific loss and yearning are then central to the creation and maintenance of identity, and linked to narratives of ‘home’. In trauma ‘home’ can become frozen in an idealized and/or terrorized state, whereas the creation of a healthy internalized ‘home’ depends on a creative fluidity, a need intensified when actual departure from the home country requires identity adjustment. We touch on the significance of the physical body and external ‘home’. Composite case studies illustrate these clinical themes.

show abstract

Borrowing My Self: An Exploration of Exchange as a Group-Specific Therapeutic Factor

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

The group as a psycho-educational medium for the teaching of anti-racist practice on social work trainings

The group as a psycho-educational medium for the teaching of anti-racist practice on social work trainings

‘Life just kind of sparkles’: clients’ experiences of being in cognitive behavioural group therapy and its impact on reducing shame in obsessive compulsive disorder

Hitting Home: Irish Identity and Psychotherapy in The UK

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About