Abstract
In group therapy, terminations that are neither planned nor anticipated are sometimes referred to as difficult. This complex issue of difficult terminations is used as a vehicle to challenge the prevailing, though often unspoken, assumption that the goal of the group therapist is to keep the members in the group. The author presents the notion that the leader needs to maintain a balance between the group as a treatment context, and the goal of that context. The goal of group-as-treatment context is to provide for the therapeutic needs of each individual patient in the group. Self psychology provides a basis for redefining the therapy group as a treatment context. A specific rationale, goal, and process of that redefinition is presented along with illustrative case material. With this understanding, unanticipated terminations can be as readily accepted and understood as ones that are planned. All terminations are viewed as further opportunities to understand how a patient defines his or her sense of self, sense of other, and sense of self with other.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Agazarian, Y., & Peters, R. (1981). The theory of the invisible group: Two perspectives on group psychotherapy and group process. London: Routledge & Kagan Paul.
Aronson, M. L. (1978). The unique advantages of analytic group therapy in the middle and later phases of the therapeutic process. In: L. R. Wolberg, M. L. Aronson, & A. R. Wolberg (Eds.), Group therapy: An overview. NewYork: Stratton International Medical Book Corporation, pp. 35–45.
Beebe, B., & Lachmann, F. M. (1994). Representations and internalizations in infants: Three principles of salience. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 11, 127–165.
Bernard, H. S. (1989). Guidelines to minimize premature termination. International Journal of Group Therapy, 39(4): 523–529.
Caligor, J., Fieldsteel, N. D., & Brok, A. J. (1984). Individual and group therapy: Combining psycho-analytic treatments. New York: Basic Books.
Durkin, H. (1964). The group in depth. New York: International University Press.
Durkin, H., & Glatzer, H. T. (1973). Transference neurosis in group psychotherapy: The concept and the reality. In: L. R. Wolberg & E. Schwartz (Eds.), Group Therapy. NY: Intercontinental Medical Book Corp (pp. 129–143).
Foulkes, S. H. (1975). Group analytic psychotherapy: Methods and principles. London: Gordon & Breach
Freud, S. (1921). Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. Standard Edition, 18: 67–145. London: Hogarth Press, 1955.
Glatzer, H. T. (1959). Notes on the preoedipal phantasy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 24: 383–390.
Goldberg, A. (1995). The problem of perversion: The view from self psychology. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Gray, A. A. (1992). Book Review. International Forum of Psychoanalysis. 1(2): 119–120.
Harwood, I. H. (1983). The Application of self-psychology concepts to group psychotherapy. Interna-tional Journal of Group Therapy, 33(4): 469–487.
Kleinberg, J. (1990). Working with the fragile patient in the initial phase of group therapy. Psycho-analysis and Psychotherapy, 7(1): 31–40.
Kleinberg, J. (1991). Teaching beginning group therapists to incorporate a patient's empathic capacity in treatment planning. Group, 14: 141–155.
Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Kohut, H. (1977). The restoration of the self. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Kohut, H. (1978). Creativeness, charisma, group psychology. In: P. Ornstein, (Ed.) The search for the self, vol. 2. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Kohut, H. (1982). Introspection, empathy, and semicircle of mental health. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 63: 395–408.
Kohut, H. (1984). How does analysis cure? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lachmann, F. M., & Beebe, B. (1992). Reformulations of early development and transference: Im-plications for psychic structure formation. In: J. W. Barron, M. N. Eagle, & D. Wolitsky, (Eds.) The interface of psychoanalysis and psychology, Washington, DC: The American Psychological Association, pp. 133–153.
Lachmann, F. M., & Beebe, B. (1998). Optimal responsiveness in a systems approach to representational and selfobject transferences. In: H. H. Bacal (Ed.) Optimal responsiveness. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, pp. 305–326.
Lichtenberg, J. D. (1988). A theory of motivational-functional systems as psychic structures. Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association, (supplement) 36: 57–72.
Lichtenberg, J. D., Lachmann, F. R., & Fosshage, J. L. (1992). Self and motivational systems: Toward a theory of psychoanalytic technique. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
Ormont, L. R. (1993). Resolving resistance to immediacy in the group setting. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 43(4), 399–418.
Rutan, J. S., & Stone, W. N. (1993). Psychodynamic group psychotherapy (2 nd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.
Shapiro, E. (1990). Self psychology, intersubjectivity, and group psychotherapy. Group, 14(3), 177–182.
Slavson, S. R. (1964). A textbook in analytic group psychotherapy. Madison, CT: International Uni-versities Press.
Stern, D. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant. NY: Basic Books.
Stolorow, R., & Atwood, G. (1992). Contexts of being: The intersubjective foundations of psychological life. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
Stolorow, R., & Lachmann, F. M. (1984/85). Transference: The future of an illusion. The Annual of Psychoanalysis, 12/13: 19–38. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Stolorow, R., Brandchaft, B., & Atwood, G. (1987). Psychoanalytic treatment: An intersubjective approach. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
Wender, L. (1936). The dynamics of group psychotherapy and its application. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disorders, 84: 54–60.
Wolf, A., Kutash, I. L., & Nattland, C. (1993). The primacy of the individual in psychoanalysis in groups. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Yalom, I. D. (1985). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (3rd ed.). NY: Basic Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gray, A.A. Difficult Terminations in Group Therapy: A Self Psychologically Informed Perspective. Group 25, 27–39 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011016606565
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011016606565