Psychoanalytic group therapy in clinic and private practice

The author reviews the process of psychoanalytic group psychotherapy in private practice and in the clinic setting. He describes the patients who are most likely to be referred for such therapy, most of whom have "failed" in other types of therapy. The group therapist begins with an empathic diagnostic evaluation of the patient's difficulty. As the patient engages in the group, he or she can compensate his or her ego; at the same time the patient develops a transference that is the main source of future work. In time, ego analysis and analysis of the infantile neurosis can be done. Finally, all the analytic work is consolidated during the process of termination.