Psychoanalysis, Group Analysis, and Beyond presents an important new paradigm in psychoanalysis and group analysis, presenting the individual and the group as elements of a wider whole and taking socio-political and cultural contexts into account. Juan Tubert-Oklander and Reyna Hernández-Tubert explore the contributions of group analysis to this new perspective, which suggests a holistic conception of the respective status and nature of what the common-sense view of the world conceives as the individual and the community. Part I presents thoughts on the ‘gelding’ of psychoanalysis, focuses on the limitations of classical psychoanalysis, and elaborates on key topics including epistemology, inclusion and exclusion, culture, and the real. Part II considers the reincorporation of what had formerly been excluded, through the theory and practice of group analysis. Finally, Part III bridges the gap, presenting several approaches to the building of the new paradigm that is so sorely needed. Psychoanalysis, Group Analysis, and Beyond will be of great interest to group analysts, psychoanalysts, and psychotherapists in practice and in training, as well as other professionals specializing in group work.

By extending the views of Foulkes, Bion, Freud, and Klein, this book draws the outline of a group analytic theory and meta-theory by studying the paternal and maternal functions as expressed by the conductor and the group analytic group respectively and extrapolating them to the psychoanalytic aspects of Lacan and the structuralism of Levi-Strauss's anthropological views. From this perspective, it investigates major group analytic phenomena, such as the role of money, envy, scapegoating and the regular or early ending of group therapy by patients with neurosis and borderline personality disorders. Part of the book is devoted to analyzing how eating disorders or depression in psychosis can be effectively treated and how the defective function of dreaming in psychosis can be reconstituted through group analysis, and stresses the need for research into the neural correlations of dreaming. The book further explores the ways in which group analysis can be used in the domain of the social unconscious by probing the dialectic of desire and despair in the post-modern world.

The classic, in-depth history of psychoanalysis, presenting over a hundred years of thought and theories Sigmund Freud's concepts have become a part of our psychological vocabulary: unconscious thoughts and feelings, conflict, the meaning of dreams, the sensuality of childhood. But psychoanalytic thinking has undergone an enormous expansion and transformation since Freud's death in 1939. With Freud and Beyond, Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black make the full scope of twentieth century psychoanalytic thinking-from Harry Stack Sullivan to Jacques Lacan; D.W. Winnicott to Melanie Klein-available for the first time. Richly illustrated with case examples, this lively, jargon-free introduction makes modern psychoanalytic thought accessible at last.

This book presents a selection of papers on the subjects of Relational Analysis and Group Analysis, written in the ten-year period that goes from 2002 to 2012. It deals with the problems of interpretation from the hermeneutic, psychoanalytic, and group-analytic points of view.

What does it feel like to encounter ourselves and one another as implicated subjects, both in our everyday lives and in the context of our work as clinicians, and how does this matter? With contributions from a diverse group of relational psychoanalytic thinkers, this book reads Michael Rothberg’s concept of the implicated subject—the notion that we are continuously implicated in injustices even when not perpetrators—as calling us to elaborate what it feels like to inhabit such subjectivities in relation to others both similarly and differently situated. Implication and anti-Black racism are central to many chapters, with attention given to the unique vulnerability of racial minority immigrants, to Native American genocide, and to the implication of ordinary Israelis in the oppression of Palestinians. The book makes the case that the therapist’s ongoing openness to learning of our own implication in enactments is central to a relational sensibility and to a progressive psychoanalysis. As a contribution to the necessary and long-overdue conversation within the psychoanalytic field about racism, social injustice, and ways to move toward a just society, this book will be essential for all relational psychoanalysts and psychotherapists.

This book explores the interpersonal world of sibling relationships, explaining how these relationships are central to the development of the psyche of the individual, of the group, of society and of the organisation. Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice considers four key areas: sibling relations, sibling trauma, the law of the mother and the horizontal axis. The contributors journey through examples from the psychological, philosophical, organisational, social and cultural realms, giving a new perspective on the psychic world and the importance of sibling relationships as an empowering and therapeutic component for building relationships. While we are used to looking at the individual, the group and at society through the vertical, hierarchical relationship that results from parent–child relationships, this book discusses and reveals the impact of the horizontal axis. Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice will be important reading for psychoanalysts, group analysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in practice and in training.

"Beyond the Anti-group: survival and transformation" builds on the success of Morris Nitsun's influential concept of the Anti-group, taking it into new domains of thought and practice in the current century. The concept focuses on anxiety and hostility within, towards and between groups, as well as the destructive potential of groups. In Beyond the Anti-group". Morris Nitsun continues his inquiry into the clinical implications of the anti-group but also explores the concept beyond the consulting room, in settings as wide-ranging as cultural and environmental stress in the 21st century, the fate of public health services and the themes of contemporary art. Groups are potentially destructive but also have the capacity for survival, creativity and transformation. Focusing on the interplay between the two, Morris Nitsun explores the struggle to overcome group impasse and dysfunction and to emerge stronger. By tracking this process in a range of cultural settings, the author weaves a rich tapestry in which group psychotherapy, organizational process and the arts come together in unexpected and novel ways. The author draws on group analysis and the Foulkesian tradition as his overall discipline but within a critical frame that questions the relevance of the approach in a changing world, highlighting new directions and opportunities. Readers of Beyond the Anti-group: Survival and Transformation will be stimulated by the depth, breadth and creativity of the author’s analysis and by the excursion into new fields of inquiry. The book offers new impetus for psychotherapists, group analysts and group practitioners in general, students of group and organizational processes, and those working on the boundary between psychotherapy and the arts.

An Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater is a comprehensive book presenting Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater as a unique form of group psychotherapy. This pioneering book is the first of its kind, examining this new approach, the theory behind it, and the numerous considerations and diverse possibilities involved in using the technique to promote a significant reflective process among participants. Informed by years of Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater practice and research, the authors detail a collective-creative method that allows for the creation of a therapeutic experience centered on feelings of belonging, acceptance, visibility and liberation. It is presented to the reader as a path toward their development and growth as a conductor working in this newly evolving field of group therapy. The book will be of great interest to dramatherapy students, trainees and professionals, and group therapists who wish to reflect upon their practice through the mirror of Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater as well as facilitators and actors working with Playback Theater or other improvised genres.

This collection of articles by Dr. Helena Hargaden makes the case for the evolution of relational theory from a scientific and poetic knowledge base, expressing the different forms of human suffering. Journal articles, book chapters, and speeches spanning the course of 22 years trace the evolution of the author’s own mind alongside the evolution of relational theory. Drawing on her knowledge of science and poetry, Dr. Hargaden examines case studies tracing the relational process which involves the vulnerability of both therapist and client as change happens in them through complex relatedness. The author makes broad in depth theoretical links with humanistic and psychoanalytic perspectives which reveal the richness inherent in the term ‘Relational’. Themes explored include intersubjectivity, the use of the analyst’s subjectivity, mutuality, therapy as a two-way street, dissociation, enactment, the use of ‘the third’, race, gender and sexuality. Blending approachable language and themes with highly intellectual ideas, this text will be of high value and intrigue to a wide range of readers, particularly transactional analysts and relational psychotherapists.

The Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) celebrates forty years from its foundation with the publication of two new volumes tracing the foundations and applications of Group Analysis. The first volume ('Foundations') aims to publicise the foundations of group analysis (with the earliest papers of Foulkes) as well as the most influential theoretical contributions by pillars of modern group analysis, such as Pines, Brown, and Hopper. The reader will be able to see the development of Group Analysis, form an opinion about the trajectory that it follows, and judge which way the tradition of openness and creative integration of diverse theoretical contributions will lead in the twenty-first century. The second volume ('Applications') focuses on the numerous fields of work that use group analytic principles. Workers in the field of forensic psychotherapy would now consider it a great omission if they did not use some form of group analytic intervention, as would professionals dealing with those who manifest personality disorders, or those who work with different age groups, such as adolescents.