When siblings become a group

Giving birth to the unborn: Processing the experience of sibling abortion and transgenerational trauma in groups

“…Many authors have pointed out the limited attention paid to sibling relationships and transferences in group analysis theories and practice (e.g., Ashuach, 2012; Parker, 2020; Shapiro and Ginzberg, 2001) and in psychoanalysis in general (e.g. Coles, 2003; Orange, 2014).…”

“…According to Klein,an only child suffers to a far greater extent than other children from the anxiety it feels in regard to the brother or sister whom it is forever expecting, and from the feelings of guilt it has towards them on account of its unconscious impulses of aggression against them in their assumed existence in the mother’s body, because it has no opportunity of developing a positive relation to them in reality. (Klein, 1932, cited in Parker, 2020: 10)…”

Sibling witnessing in the horizontal axis. Response to 46th Foulkes Lecture by Miriam Berger: May 2023

“…Siblings who share the experience of growing up together are constantly acting as one another’s witnesses, and I think this is a vital aspect of the sibling matrix (Parker, 2020). Foulkes famously said that we are ‘social through and through’ (Foulkes, 1948).…”

Book Review: Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice: Contemporary Group Analysis, Psychoanalysis and Organizational Consultancy (New International Library of Group Analysis)

“…I also enjoyed Marie-Jose Blanco’s second chapter, ‘Siblings and Groups—Groups of Siblings?’ which too, explores the impact of the leader’s sibling matrix (Parker, A Group-Analytic Exploration of the Sibling Matrix: How Siblings Shape our Lives, 2020) on the group. She writes: ‘The conductor’s own sibling transferences are an integral part of the process of group development’ (p.32), suggesting that they have not been given sufficient attention, a point I heartily endorse.…”