Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:64-69
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychoanalytic group therapy in clinic and private practice
M Day
The author reviews the process of psychoanalytic group psychotherapy in
private practice and in the clinic setting. He describes the patients who
are most likely to be referred for such therapy, most of whom have "failed"
in other types of therapy. The group therapist begins with an empathic
diagnostic evaluation of the patient's difficulty. As the patient engages
in the group, he or she can compensate his or her ego; at the same time the
patient develops a transference that is the main source of future work. In
time, ego analysis and analysis of the infantile neurosis can be done.
Finally, all the analytic work is consolidated during the process of
termination.
