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Chapter Four – The diachronic analysis – who, what and when? – Page 139
Psychoanalytical Society’s impotence in dealing with his misdemeanours (revealed by
his former patient Wynne Godley), we were probably well justified by subsequent
events (Sandler, 2004). However, we wanted to give the group a chance to try out their
capacity to play, and also to address the complaint from this and previous groups that as
tutors we are too reticent to teach. This has, in my view, a number of determinants. One
is the hatred of learning from experience. Another is a reflection of a reality, that (as I
have said, speaking for myself) I am over-cautious. At any rate, it felt like at this point
we could relax a little and give them something to play with, and Paula particularly
implies in Session 15 that this has somehow made a major difference for her. In a way,
we (and I as part of that) finally matched her own commendable openness.
Session 15
Present: Bill, K, Frances, Tom, Paula, Heidi, Mary, Ron, Kelly, Nancy and
Veronica (All present).
Session 15, the final session, merits a chapter of its own, and is indeed discussed in
Chapter 9, ‘Missing Time’, as the last of five episodes for synchronic analysis. In some
ways, it is a set of findings on the outcome of the learning group over the two years of
the course and over this Semester in particular. However, it is also interesting to look
beneath the surface of what is going on. Broadly, we seem to be very avoidant. Each
person gets their turn, nearly all share significant positive experiences, or at least
positive outcomes. However, we struggle to keep time. Collectively, we allow some
people to take more time than is available to them as individuals, and we almost totally
lose the opportunity to look together at the experience as a group.