Group Analysis

Group analysis as a discourse of knowledge has much to offer how we construct homosexuality. Yet despite this rich background, group analysis has been slow to construct a clear theory of psychosexuality, and specifically homosexuality. The aim of this article therefore is to consolidate and expand current conceptions of sexuality, through an exploration of homosexuality within group analytic theory using ideas such as discourse analysis, desire, jouissance, the Other and the role of language in the matrix of the group. The article proposes a number of urgent research questions for group analysts around experiences of differing sexualities in a therapeutic group.

This article is a personal reflection on the nature of the complexity called forgiveness. The article tries to avoid moralizing by situating the reflection in the social and personal context of the author. Through this route reasons are established as to why it is difficult to be a reflective citizen, and why the author is more prone to being a paralyzed citizen. The individualistic and internalist account of forgiveness is discredited, and it is argued that forgiveness is a property of the network. The article argues for the necessity of ‘recognition’ prior to any possibility of forgiveness, and in this work the bystander is allocated a central role.

This article explores the phenomenon of what I have termed opaque silence in groups—silence which is particularly impenetrable. It is argued that this silence has its origins in traumatic experience and the manifestation in the unconscious life of the group of the basic assumption (ba): Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification as described by Hopper (1997; 2003; 2012). A description of the phenomena associated with opaque silence is given, and their relationship to Hopper’s theory. A clinical vignette is provided that demonstrates the manifestation of opaque silence in a group of adolescent patients and how the author managed it. This is followed by a discussion of the application of the theory to clinical technique.

This article presents a brief review of the conductor’s role towards the group, since the initial definitions provided by S.H. Foulkes and E.J. Anthony (1957 [1984]). Meanwhile E.L. Cortesão (1967; 1979; 1988; 1989 [2008]; 1991) tackled the initial conceptualizations of matrix and group processes, believing they were not sufficiently developed to explain the technique or any other meta-theory in group analysis. So he developed a complementary point of view, the concept of ‘pattern’, which would embrace all the phenomena related to the matrix and simultaneously be more aware of the conductor’s presence and influence through his personal and general characteristics, his specific postures and his attitudes when he holds and sustains the group process within the matrix. He proposed this concept of pattern as a kind of imprint brought by the conductor into the group’s matrix, which conveys and sustains the matrix when he promotes and develops a group-analytic process.

Contempt acts as one of a range of group defences against unbearable feelings. It can disable the group’s potential to communicate meaning to each other. If experiences of contempt can be understood and worked within the group, they can serve a developmental function, enabling the group to mature, develop greater trust and intimacy, and explore shared meanings with each other. Three interconnected clinical episodes of contempt are offered as illustration, structured as prequel, central episode and sequel.