An Introduction
I have great pleasure in bringing to this edition of Contexts the Foulksian term ‘Translation’, researched and compiled by Svein Tjelta. This will be the 5th Group analytic term published in this publication.
Svein Tjelta’s many accomplishments include an extensive career as a Clinical Psychologist, a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and a Group Analyst. He is a former training analyst, supervisor and lecturer at the IGA Norway, a member of the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Societies, has lectured at the University of Bergen. He is a special supervisor and therapy trainer for the Norwegian Association of Physicians and an external supervisor at the IGA, and former director for Group Therapy Section at the Norwegian Psychological Association.
He is also a prolific writer, former chief editor of The Matrix, (Nordic Journal of Psychotherapy), has published several articles on group psychotherapy in The Matrix and in the Journal of Group Analysis and he is co-author of the book ‘Unconscious Interplays’ (1987).
Since January 2016 Svein has been the Principal Editor of the Group Analytic Dictionary project. He took up the leadership of the GAD team, developing a structure and compiling a number of Group Analytic terms with the ultimate goal of writing and publishing the first Group Analytic Dictionary.
It is I think particularly apt at this time, to bring to the attention of Contexts’ readers, the term translation. The Group Analytic Society International has recently announced that the 18th GASI Symposium that was to take place in Barcelona has been cancelled. This cancellation, an inevitable consequence of the Corona virus pandemic, is forcing the GA community to reconsider how we work and with it our theory and how we might be able to continue applying it.
Translation, used as a Group Analytic term is not often used, as Svein points out, perhaps because Foulkes engaged in the process of developing and clarifying his thinking did not make clear the difference between interpretation and translation in his writings. In this carefully researched article Svein examines the roots of the word and gives a description of how the term is understood in the writings of a number of authors on GA, as well as his own nuanced understanding of its meaning. He clarifies the definition of the concept, opening the door for further questioning and debate.
As the practice of GA’s adapts itself to the requirements of our time, in light of the changing situation, of the cultural and socio-economic conditions of the various countries where it is now used as a therapeutic tool, GA theory will be reconsidered and the understanding and use of the terms first thought and described by Foulkes will be tested and perhaps transformed. It is for this reason that the publication in Contexts of the terms compiled in the Group Analytic Dictionary project is so important. I thank Svein for his excellent work in accomplishing this task.
Carmen O’Leary
carmenoleary@hotmail.co.uk