Group Processes and the Therapist’s Subjectivity: Interactive Transference in Analytical Group Psychotherapy

Abstract

Interactions among the group therapist, the group members, and the group as a whole, especially enactments, are conditioned by the therapist’s identity, defenses, and present relationships within his or her social networks. It follows from these considerations that difficulties in a group process stem from the group therapist’s inability to understand well–enough what the group members are acting out and that they can be overcome only if the therapist extends the limits of his or her identity. Therefore, it has to be taken into account that the leader of a group is always a member of other groups whose dynamics in turn determine one’s capability to understand the interactions in the group in which he or she is a therapist.