Group therapy for mothers of disturbed children.

Resistance in group psychotherapy

“…Special manifestations of aspects of a masochistic character structure are discussed by Beukenkamp (1955}, Rosenthal (1963 and Livingston (1971). The shoring up of self-esteem in masochistic characters before in-depth interventions are attempted is advocated by Durkin (1954) and Scheidlinger (& Pyrke, 1961;& Holden, 1966) for those patients who are in treatment for ancillary reasons.…”

Parents’ groups: How group members perceive curative factors

“…The Slavson-Durkin debate underlies the choice of level of treatment for any parents' group, as each leader faces the decision to emphasize either guidance or the development of insight, leading to deeper personality change. Durkin (1954) postulates that parenthood and its responsibilities challenge a previously adequate neurotic equilibrium and cause the parents unconsciously to seek a new emotional balance involving the children. The child often adjusts to this type of parental involvement by finding a neurotic solution of his own.…”

Maternal Ambivalence in a Group Analytic Setting

“…The rationale behind our long-term analytic group work with mothers has been based upon the work of Slavson (1951), Durkin (1948) and Blomfield (1982), and the ideas of other writers, including Schindler (1966). We are considering here literature relevant to a psychoanalytic or group-analytic approach.…”

“…We are often dealing with deeply ambivalent mothers of very difficult children, and it is here that our short-term parent effectiveness training approaches prove insufficient. In the words of Helen Durkin (1948)`There is little point in parents making futile conscious efforts to improve their ways of handling the children on the basis of advice which, by the very nature of their problems, they are so often unable to follow'.…”