Different Models of Analytic Group Psychotherapy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on and to compare various psychoanalytic models which are used in the conceptualisation of the processes occurring in small psychotherapeutic groups. Three tendencies are roughly differentiated: (1) the tendency to analyse the individual patient in the group (Slavson, WolfsonandSchwartz, Kuiper); (2) the tendency to stress the importance of the group as a whole (Bion, Ezriel, WhitakerandLieberman), and (3) the tendency to consider the group more as a network of interpersonal relations (Foulkes). For each model the following aspects are analysed: the importance of the group or the individual; the role and the attitude of the therapist, and the factors which are considered therapeutic.