Working with dreams in a bereavement therapy group

There is ample theory and research about group therapy, dream work, and bereavement as separate subjects. However, there is little written specifically about utilizing dream work in bereavement therapy groups. Using the Foulksian group analytic model, dreams in one particular bereavement group (for parents of children killed in a terrorist action) were interpreted in such a way as to help members access deep unconscious feelings. This helped facilitate a fuller and more complete mourning process. The analytic, dream interpretive activity also helped overcome resistance in the group-as-a-whole and thereby facilitated movement through group development phases.     

Addiction as an attachment disorder: implications for group therapy

This article presents a perspective on addiction that not only substantiates why group therapy is the treatment of choice for addiction, but also integrates diverse perspectives from 12-step abstinence-based models, self psychology, and attachment theory into a complementary integrative formula. Attachment theory, self psychology, and affect regulation theory characterize addiction as an attachment disorder induced by a person's misguided attempt at self-repair because of deficits in psychic structure. Vulnerability of the self is the consequence of developmental failures and early environmental deprivation leading to ineffective attachment styles. Substance abuse, as a reparative attempt, only exacerbates that condition because of physical dependence and further deterioration of existing physiological and psychological structures. Prolonged stress on existing structures leads to exaggerated difficulty in the regulation of affect, which leads to inadequate modulation of appropriate behavior and self-care and increased character pathology.     

Rhetorical processes in therapy: the bias for self–containment

This paper argues that therapy tends to reproduce a particular version of personhood, identified by Sampson's notion of the self–contained indi–vidual. The self–contained individual is a contemporary Western construction, which requires a denial of the interactive processes that permit its appearance and idealization. Focusing on constructionist therapies, it is argued that therapists use rhetorical strategies to more or less systematically argue for self–containment as a preferred way of being. These rhetorical manoeuvres render different aspects of self–containment plausible, practicable and 'real', while alternative versions of the self and behaviour are discursively minimized, becoming less plausible in the process. An analysis of two family therapy sessions is then used to illustrate these processes. It is suggested that therapy may reproduce Western ideals about being human.     

Inpatient adolescent group therapy as a social system

This paper describes a method of group therapy that 1) utilizes open systems theory to describe the social structure of group therapy, and 2)presents interventions drawn from Masterson's ideas for treating borderline personality disorders. Illustrations from a group therapy program for chemically dependent adolescents in a short-term, inpatient treatment unit of a general hospital are offered. It is proposed that under constrained conditions of treatment, such as those described, group therapy can be effective if there is precision about the system boundaries of task, role, time and place, and if group interventions are based upon a theoretically and clinically consistent model such as Masterson's.     

Towards emotional containment for staff and patients: developing a Work Discussion group for play specialists in a paediatric ward

This paper describes the evolution of a staff Work Discussion group run by a child psychotherapist in a teaching hospital for more than 15 years. It offers insight into the emotional experience of both NHS staff and patients as seen through the lens of the discussion of the staff’s work. The author identifies three main stages in the evolution of this group, as trust and the feeling of a safe space gradually developed. The first stage was identifying and understanding the emotional experience of patients, through the use of observational skills and psychoanalytic concepts; the second emerged as staff began to include their own emotional experience in the narrative; the last stage saw a qualitative shift in the staff’s capacity to share the pain generated by the work, knowing about it through holding it in the group’s mind and being able to reflect on it, allowing them to process experience in a way that made the work more bearable – akin to Bion’s concept of ‘containment’. This evolution is illustrated with relevant vignettes in the light of some theoretical and historical considerations. The paper demonstrates the value of Work Discussion groups in terms of indirectly supporting hospitalised patients, as well as promoting staff’s resilience and professional capacities in difficult contexts.     

From the dreams of a generation to the theory of dreams: Freud's Roman dreams

In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud's interpretation of oedipal desires does not occur at the expense of historical and personal desires, which are always there as a backdrop. In the relentless examination of his own dreams that Freud makes in order to show the mechanisms inherent in all oneiric deformation, we are also led to another, specifically historical, aspect of the issue of Jewish emancipation, which he experiences at first hand. By analysing his own dreams, Freud not only shows us the mechanisms governing dream formation, but also develops a pointed critique of his contemporary society and its prejudices.     

'We are the stuff that dreams are made on': the use of dreams in systemic therapy

This paper considers the place that dream material has occupied in therapy, and particularly family therapy. A rationale will be given for the inclusion of this source of information by systemic therapists. The use of dreams in systemic therapy with individuals, couples and families is described. Dreams are divided into five main categories: those that precipitate therapy, provide hypotheses, as memories, relationship dreams, and those that reflect the process of change. Each category is described and illustrated with relevant clinical material. The paper concludes with a method for working with dreams that is congruent with a systemic perspective applicable to individual, conjoint or family therapy sessions.     

The holding/containment function in supervision groups for group therapists

Group supervision is essential for group therapists, given the difficulty of following and reflecting on the multiplicity of processes in therapy groups and the unique opportunity of exploring them as they resonate and become enacted in the supervision group. More specifically, the paper discusses the critical function of holding/containment in supervision groups. Clinical vignettes are presented to highlight the importance of the holding/containment function and the obstacles that hinder its emergence. The role of the therapist's interpretations as a primary means for ensuring effective holding and containment is examined.     

Testing for transitive class containment as a feature of hierarchical classification

Three experiments investigated responding consistent with transitive class containment, a feature of hierarchical classification. Experiment 1 replicated key components of a preliminary attempt to model hierarchical classification (Griffee & Dougher, 2002) and tested for responding consistent with transitive class containment. Only 2 out of 5 participants showed the expected pattern. Experiment 2 tested whether repeated exposures to the Experiment 1 protocol would give rise to the expected pattern more reliably. None of 3 novel participants demonstrated the pattern. In Experiment 3, physically similar stimuli used in Experiments 1 and 2 were replaced across testing cycles by arbitrary stimuli. Transitive-class-containment-consistent responding was observed in all 3 novel participants. Implications, limitations and future research are discussed.     

Modifications of Yalom's interactional group therapy model as a mode of treatment for alcoholism

As a result of a review of the literature and especially Brown and Yalom's (1977) clinical report, it is suggested that the preferred mode of treatment for alcoholism is group psychotherapy. The group's ability to provide support, structure and reinforcement for abstinence make it a powerful catalyst in the recovery process. In measures of time, efficacy and recovery, group psychotherapy generally succeeds where other treatment modalities frequently fail.