Mindscape Collective is now The Consciousness Library. Same library, new name. You may need to sign in again. About the change
Skip to content

International Journal of Group Psychotherapy

ISSN 0020-7284

2 papers in the library · publishing 1998-2001

Papers

The group psychotherapist as contemporary mystic: a bionic object relations perspective.

International Journal of Group Psychotherapy October 1, 2001 V L Schermer

Mystical awareness offers intuitive knowledge of group realities, relevant to therapy groups. The author argues that mystical thought, unlike logical positivism, informs group consultation, leadership, and self-transformation. Drawing on Bion and structuralist theories, the concept of a "sacred space" is introduced as the group context enabling mystical experience. A kabbalist parallel to early development and projective identification illustrates how sacred metaphor and myth can enrich group interpretation.

Working with spiritual and religious themes in group therapy.

International Journal of Group Psychotherapy January 1, 1998 J R Jacques

Psychoanalytic therapy groups can function as spiritual communities that deepen the understanding of group transference. Beyond repeating family-of-origin dynamics, group-as-a-whole dynamics include a spiritual dimension. Clinical vignettes from a midphase group illustrate working with spiritual and religious themes psychodynamically by treating them like dreams. Amplifying and interpreting symbolic themes guides members through transference to their family of origin, where they access childhood memories and the transitional space of religious experience in which they created God representations to solve self and object dilemmas. This working-through process facilitates integrating or transforming new self and God images.