Teaching Modern Group Analysis in Spanish in Mallorca

In 2017, the Center for Group Studies (GGS, New York) started a group leadership training program in Mallorca to teach modern group analysis in Spain. Modern Analysis is a technique-based group theory designed to address developmental issues that inhibit emotional maturation.

The personal motivation to start the program was double:

I, Joseph, became interested in Modern Analysis after I joined a training group in 2004. I experienced a dynamic, emotionally engaged way of group process and I became intrigued. There was something about the aliveness that has consistently drawn me to this way of working. In addition, I have seen people that I have worked with change in ways
that have been deeply moving. I smile when they also notice how much I have changed! We can even joke about this … and laugh together.

And I, Joan, became fascinated by the aliveness that modern analysis brought to group work after experiencing it first hand in my training in New York, years after my “classical” group analytic training in Barcelona. Modern analysis gave me the tools to start my psychotherapy practice and my first group in 2012.

I had been lucky enough to be able to travel to New York for nine training weekends, but felt the need to share what I had learnt with my colleagues back home. I invited Joseph to come to Mallorca to impart two workshops on modern analytic technique in 2014 and 2105. 2016 was the year of the APAG (Spanish Association of Group Analytic
Psychotherapy) conference in Palma (with the participation of a significant number of GASi members for the first time). And in 2017 we decided to launch the full CGS Weekend Training Program for the first time in Europe and in Spanish.

We thought Mallorca was an interesting place to attract new students from outside of the Balearic Islands, different from the locations with established training programs in group analytic psychotherapy already going on, particularly Barcelona, Bilbao, and Madrid.

The training program in Mallorca consists of nine modules that cover the following themes: 1) The Essence of Modern Group Process, 2) Forming a Group, 3) Introduction to Group Resistances, 4) Transference and Countertransference Issues in Group, 5) Technical and Special Issues in Group Psychotherapy, 6) Working with Preoedipal Patients in Group, 7) Specialized Topics in Countertransference, 8) Working with Unconscious Material: Dreams, Symbolic and Non-verbal Communications and 9) Resolving the Transference Resistance and Termination Issues.

Each weekend consists of five small group meetings, two workshops, supervision, a training group and reflection about the weekend training experience. Learning to develop ourselves as group leaders and learning how to welcome our own regressive experiences form the cornerstone of this experiential training. Throughout the small group
experiences, participants are invited to speak about their thoughts, feelings and impulses for an in the moment group experience. The training aims to help students become more emotionally skilled during intense emotional group interactions by allowing these experiences to unfold while simultaneously developing the observing ego. With this capacity, clinicians can keep the observing ego functioning while powerful transferences
and group processes in their own groups take place.

Modern Analysis was developed by Hyman Spotnitz, M.D. as a set of techniques to be more effective with people who did not respond well to the classic Freudian technique of interpretation. He found that interpretation seemed counterproductive, even hurtful, with people he called ‘preoedipal patients’. He hypothesized that these people turned the aggressive feelings in their first years of life against their own egos as a way to protect their caregivers from aggressive feelings in order to maintain relationships that were critical for survival. As a result, preoedipal people can be self-contained and self-critical. Making interpretations with them can exacerbate the self-criticism. In some situations, interpretations can lead to sudden endings in group participation.

Modern group theorists like Spotnitz, Meadow, Ormont, Margolis and others, developed techniques to address the developmental issues that inhibit emotional maturation. Instead of making an interpretation early in a group process, a modern group leader would ask an object-oriented question. These questions focus the attention of the group member away from the ego. By asking such questions, the group leader minimizes the risk of stirring up
a self-critical internal process in the group member. Ultimately, modern group leaders want to see group members develop emotionally significant relationships while being emotionally connected and grounded.

Ormont developed the group technique of bridging to facilitate progressive emotional communication between members. Bridging invites members to offer their perspectives of group dynamics as they unfold. For example, a group leader might ask, “Maria, what do you think is happening between John and Jane right now?” When Maria answers the question, the comments may reflect some of the internal experiences of John and/or Jane. Even if the comments don’t reflect parts of their experiences, it gives them the opportunity to further clarify their thoughts and feelings to the group in the moment. When done effectively, participants can feel the emotional engagement and sense the aliveness of the emotional process. Bridging fosters progressive emotional communication, a key process of modern groups.

To date, the CGS Mallorca Training Weekends have been conducted in Spanish. During the first cycle of nine training weekends, three guest faculty participated in the trainings to give the students group experiences with additional modern group analysts. During two of these weekends, the group leaders worked with a Spanish/English interpreter in the small groups and workshops. Giving students a broad range of experiences with different
leaders so they can experience distinct ways of applying the theory is a core tenet of the program.

In order to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic, Modules 7-9 of the first cycle of the program were held online. This enabled students to maintain contact with each other and continue their training as planned. CGS Mallorca students were so happy to see each other during the first online module at the beginning of the pandemic!

In addition to having students from the Balearic Islands, students have come to CGS Mallorca from England, Austria and the Spanish mainland.

The second cycle of training modules starts in May. All students have the flexibility to attend modules as desired, some students sign up for one module and others register for multiple modules. This approach lets students try out the training to see if it might be a good fit.

CGS Mallorca students also have the option of completing the entire Center for Group Studies program. The certificate program at the Center consists of three parts: the nine weekend experiential trainings, as described above, nine blocks of readings and four modules of supervision. Once students have completed all of the requirements for each component of the training, students are granted a Certificate in Modern Group Leadership.

The Center plans to start a series of modules in English in the near future. Given the success of the program in Spanish, the Center hopes to reach a broader range of international students by offering a program in the English language in Mallorca.

Like other group training programs, the students in the CGS Mallorca program learn by experiencing a group process, reading articles about group theory, supervising clinical work and reflecting about oneself as a professional through training group experiences. Solid group analysts have strong academic training accompanied with rigorous emotional and relational skill development. This emotionally intensive training is designed to develop the emotional capacities of its participants while simultaneously teaching the techniques necessary to become effective and resilient group leaders.

Joseph Acosta and Joan Coll
acosta.joseph@gmail.com
joan.angel.coll@gmail.com