Abstract

Seven children are sitting around the table in silence, there are four boys and three girls aged between nine and ten years old. Every now and then they give each other a stealthy glance and carefully observe the small room in which we are sitting. There is no furniture to catch the eye, except a large blackboard, that stands out against the white walls…. They’ve been sitting like this for ten minutes with a decisively expectant air. This is their first session of group psychotherapy, I tell them that we are going to share a common experience and all together we will try to understand what is going on between us. In order for this to happen I go on, they can say anything that comes into their minds. They continue to sit silently, motionless, only their legs are moving restlessly under the table. Every time I start a new group I am always a little anxious and I ask myself as they probably do too, what’s going to happen ? I have already met them several times, alone or with their parents, so I am already familiar with their problems: inhibition, sleeping difficulties, enuresis, and attention disorders are just some of them.

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