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Chapter One – An introduction to the study - Page 2
I’ve had a broad and long-standing interest in groups 2 as part of my work. As well as
studying psychology and training in psychotherapy, on the way I also trained as a social
worker. From all these disciplines I became highly aware of the importance of the social
context of behaviour and experience alongside the more personal aspects. Looking more
personally at my own life, I experienced very early loss when my father died before my
second birthday. I’ve always found intimacy difficult, although I have been more able to
attach to groups, 3 and I think that’s partly because I can trust them more than dyadic and
other relationships with few members (such as trios and quartets). I was at boarding
school from when I was 8 until I was 18, and learned to survive and even thrive in a
group environment.
My own basic training in psychotherapy both took place in a small group of eight
students (which represents an almost ideal group size for a small group), with an
experiential group throughout the course, and the curriculum including work with more
than one person (that is, couples, families and groups) in addition to the more traditional
focus on psychotherapy with individuals. Because of the experiential group with my
fellow students in which I was required to engage as part of the training, I had the
chance to experience again how much groups can offer in times of difficulty.
I’ve trained, practised and taught in group analysis, an approach to group psychotherapy
developed by the psychoanalyst S H Foulkes (1971, 1975). I will say more about group
analysis in Chapter Two Part Two, but this approach particularly privileges the network
or matrix of connection between people, the ‘meeting of minds’ (Behr & Hearst, 2005),
2 By groups, in relation to my work, I mean groups of people who are associated in some way, including
as members of couples, families, extended family or whanau (the Maori term for extended kinship); as
members of social and work groups and organizations; as members of clinical or developmental groups,
and as members of educational groups.
3 Here I’m using Foulkes’ notion that a group consists of five or more people.