Introduction Group and Rite
The small psychoanalytic group is itself a ritual that contains individual anxieties and allows them to be faced within a group setting, creating a sense of belonging and the possibility of change. One of my patients said, turning to his companions, “We’re not losers: we have the group.” The ritual is accentuated by the size of the group. Belonging to the group allows the recovery and sharing of one’s childhood history, even when it is dramatic.
In one group, a story of sexual abuse endured was preceded by a dream in which the patient was naked under his coat, and, commenting on the dream said, “now all of us are stripping naked.” The similar experiences of others make us feel more human, the mirror-effect of the group, Read more