Contexts June 2005. Issue 28 - Group Analytic Society

Of the Winter Workshop 2005
The Winter Workshop of the Group-Analytic Society, January
2005, was held in Budapest, organised by Tom Ormay, who lives
there. There were forty participants, more than enough to cover the
administrative costs. Many of us stayed in the City Hotel, which is
just beside the Elizabeth Bridge, in the heart of the city. The hotel
has a conference centre a few minutes’ walk away, with nice rooms
and attentive staff who provided drinks and snacks between
sessions. As the theme of the workshop was Neuroscience and
psychoanalysis, it was appropriate that papers on neuroscience were
given by Malcolm Pines (London), Maria Silveira (Lisbon), and
Ana Nava (Athens). Malcolm spoke about the information that he
has been gathering about the neuroscience of sympathy, empathy
and cooperation: on the mirror neurone and what has been
discovered recently from scientific identification only a few years
ago. Maria Silveira has written a book on neuroscience in
Portuguese and gave a comprehensive, clear outline of the structure
of the higher centres of the central nervous system and what is
becoming known of their functional anatomy. Ana Nava, who is a
neurologist, as well as a group analyst, gave a more detailed account
of the pathways whereby psychological factors affect the immune
system and showed us the pathways, which are involved in
psychological and psychosomatic disorders.
The experiential aspect of the workshop took place in small
groups, median groups and social dreaming groups. The combination
of these three produced a sense of a deep connection between
the members of the workshop. Social dreaming was used for the
first time in a Winter Workshop and in my opinion contributed
considerably to the sense of connection and interconnection,
structuring and strengthening the institutional matrix.
The nine nationalities represented in the workshop were: Australia,
England, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Norway,
Portugal. Holding the Workshop in Budapest was an indication of
the presence of group analysis and the Group-Analytic Society in
Eastern Europe and hopefully will have strengthened its presence
14