Role Lock: When the Whole Group Plays a Game

Abstract

One of the most vexing challenges for a group facilitator is deciding what to do when a group member seems to be interfering with the group's task (be it therapy, development, or learning) by repeatedly raising the same issues or demonstrating the same behavior. Often the group tries to “manage” such a member and then becomes stuck in group games. This article addresses the tension for the group leader between considering the needs of both the individual and the group as an entity in itself. Are the phenomena that occur in groups the result of individual tendencies, or are they the manifestations of that mysterious “meta-entity” referred to as the group-as-a-whole? In transactional analysis there is a tendency to rely on the examination of individual scripts to understand and resolve impasses in a group. This article introduces the concept of “role lock” (Bogdanoff & Elbaum, 1978) to address the meaning of impasses that involve the unconscious interaction of what Foulkes (1948/1983) called the “group-as-a-whole.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charlotte Sills

Charlotte Sills, M.Sc. (Psychotherapy), is a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in private practice in London, England. She is head of the transactional analysis department of Metanoia Institute, London, which offers an M.Sc. course in TA Psychotherapy and a B.A. (Hons) in TA Counseling.