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Self psychology and group therapy

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Abstract

This paper illustrates how the theories of Heinz Kohut elucidate the curative aspects of group treatment. Group therapy is an ideal milieu in which mirroring, idealizing and alterego transferences can be experienced and worked through. Transmuting internalizations, or psychic structure building, occur when optimal frustration of these needs can be provided by available selfobjects. In group therapy a patient can use the group-as-a-whole, the individual members as well as the leader as potential selfobjects. With the help of individual sessions to reflect on group encounters, a patient can gain a more fully integrated therapeutic experience.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1939 Divisadero Street, 94115, San Francisco, CA

    Deborah Weinstein M.A., M.F.C.C.

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  1. Deborah Weinstein M.A., M.F.C.C.
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The author wishes to acknowledge Susan Sands, Ph.D., Jane Jordan, M.S.W., and Ruth White, Ph.D., for their help.

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Weinstein, D. Self psychology and group therapy. Group 11, 144–154 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01456617

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01456617

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