Estructura de los grupos terapéuticos

Abstract

This paper deals exclusively with the structure of therapeutic groups conducted according to the psychoanalytical technique. The conduction of groups according to psychoanalytical norms and principles enabled us to find technical procedures and theoretical concepts specific to therapeutic groups. We have studied the structure of therapeutic groups first in what concerns the interrelationships of its different components, at any given moment of its evolution, and then its modifications in the course of evolution. In the first case we were able to observe that the structure of groups constitutes a gestalt which endoses two sub-groups: the group of the patients and that of the therapeutists. The two subgroups are connected dialectically and they have in common a finality. Their function is to create and develop what we call “the illness of the group”. We also describe an “abstract group entity” which expresses the illness and which is the result of a dialectic synthesis of the projections of both healthy and sick parts of the individuals forming the group. This “abstract group entity” selects those projections and is the result of a team work of both the patients and the therapeutists. (...)