An Introduction

Is there Transference in Group Analysis? Who are the Tansference objects?

In their work, the authors outline the development of the central concept of transference in group analysis, starting from Freud (1911) through Foulkes (1975) and Anthony, Hopper (2009) and Pat de Maré (1972).

This short paper is a revision of a definition of the concept of transference already described in 2014 and can thus only briefly reflect the great progress of the conceptualisation that has been developed in these years, especially by Robi Friedman, and has found expression in a variety of publications. Only the following may be mentioned here: Friedman R. :” Dreamtelling , Relations , and Large Group: New Developments in Group Analysis 2019. ”

A nice introduction is provided by the detailed book review by Thomas Mies in “Group Analysis”, Vol. 53 December 2020.

Hidden on the last page of the paper is the authors’ central statement:

“Our personal opinion is that the classic terms of transference and countertransference are fundamentally incompatible with the group analytic understanding. They need to get a completely new connotation, or even better, should not be used any more.”

With the concept of “relational disorders”, Friedman goes far beyond Foulkes’ attempts to understand psychopathology as a disorder in a network of relationships. The dyadic relationship concept is replaced by a relationship concept between multiple individuals: “In groups, disorders heal each other.” (Quoted from Thomas Mies)

In this sense, transference processes, dreamtelling and individual symptoms in the group are seen as part of an interactive development process in their potentials and deficits. Group analysis is therefore “Relations Training in action” described by Schlapobersky (2016) with the three dimensions: Relational, Reflective and Reparative.

Kurt Husemann
hu.psy@t-online.de