Introduction to the Special Edition: The Implications of Multicultural Diversity and Ethnopolitical Conflict for Working with Groups

This introduction to a special edition of the journal Group on The Implications of Multicultural Diversity and Ethnopolitical Conflict for Working with Groups explores the reasons that social and political forces and traumatic societal events have until recently been neglected in the theory and practice of group psychotherapy. Freud's abandonment of the infantile seduction theory and subsequent emphasis on intrapsychic fantasy and defense, the philosophy and science of the Enlightenment, and professional norms in a field dominated by individuals from privileged classes and cultures are cited as sources of the relative neglect of ethnopolitical conflict, minority issues, and multicultural diversity in the treatment process. The articles in this journal attempt to redress these shortcomings and constitute a movement towards including these factors in the common standard of training and treatment.