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Chapter Four – The diachronic analysis – who, what and when? – Page 128
a sense in this session of the group beginning to work, arriving at a picture of the patient
that seems quite a good fit, and which includes her avoidance and competitiveness, and
her struggles in middle age with the adolescent issues of appearance and identity. There
is a thread in the session about the patient’s anxiety about the therapist and their
intactness, suggesting a sadomasochistic relationship, and primitive anxieties in the
patient as to whether they will be cared for. The group that is here seems to be working
well, at least at this stage of the proceedings.
Session 5
Present: Bill, Judi, Tom, Heidi, Mary, Kelly and Veronica.
Absent: Frances, Paula, Ron, and Nancy.
Session 5 is Tom’s turn. There are some interesting peripheral phenomena. There is
terrible coughing and spluttering in the tape recording, which I think is Kelly being
unwell. Kelly and Heidi were absent the previous week, and we seem to have had
difficulty getting their messages. Four people are absent this week, Frances, Nancy,
Paula and Ron. In fact, Veronica, Mary and Tom are the only people who have been
here for both of the last two weeks. Because of that, it becomes really difficult to
discuss Freud’s paper Mourning and Melancholia, since Kelly and Heidi do not seem to
have received the copy that was sent. Tom wants to discuss the paper, but also to get rid
of the empty chairs. 7 It is as if the group are still not settled down.
Tom brings his work with a man in his mid-thirties, with very limited relationship or
sexual experience. There is a difficult feel in this session, and in the break, Judi and I
wonder whether there is some influence of the taping in the clinical work, with the
patient seeming to experience the therapist as different and self-conscious. There are
7 In group-analytic therapy, the chairs of absent members would typically be left in the group, to
symbolize both the presence of the absent members in the mind of the conductor (and probably some
other group members), and also their absence.