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Chapter Seven
A Discussion
The Fishhook
The title of this piece
comes from a moment in
the session when one
member of the group
compares getting patients
to come more frequently to
therapy to putting bait on a
fishhook.
(‘More frequently’ in this
context means twice or
more each week).
The comparison, at face
value, refers to the way
that one has to witness and
experience something like
baiting a hook, rather than
being told (or reading) how
to do it. However, there are
many layers of meaning
condensed into this
metaphor.
Condensation
predominates in the session
(as a key characteristic of
the unconscious).
Chapter Seven – A Discussion – Page 236
Description Analysis Interpretation
This is the penultimate
session of the semester
and of the whole
course. There is a
different structure
(discussion followed by
a case presentation).
The group is now more
able than at the start of
the semester to work in
an associative way.
People bring back
strong feelings from the
week before. There are
reflections on the
course, and the
semester, and different
preferences expressed.
The image of the
fishhook emerges in
discussion. There are
more differences
named up to the break.
In the break, the staff
direct their attention
away from the group to
repairing the mistakes
of others.
The second half of the
session involves a case
presentation by one of
the tutors.
There is an impact of
the case from last
week.
There are dynamics
around ending,
generated by the
timing of this session,
which contribute to
avoidance.
There is an
intertwining of Task,
Group and Clinical
foci, and a Reference
Locator is elaborated.
Associative capacity
has grown, as has
ability to go to and
fro between sites and
levels. There is more
room than usual in
this session for these
capacities to be used.
Two examples are
given.
There are:
Developmental Issues
and Group Issues.
The impossibility of
the primary task is
considered.
Because interpretation
is relatively missing
from the session, there
is enactment.
There is an increasing
fullness of portrayals.
Underlying stories
include: The playwithin-a-play,
The
teaching couple,
Developmental roles,
Condensed roles,
Punctuation of a
developmental shift,
Ron’s question, Cueing
and eruption.
All the issues and
dynamics contained in
these stories are
managed.
The students are
hooked, and leaving is
going to be painful, and
there is anxiety that it
may be destructive.
Avoidance is
overwhelming and the
staff do not address it,
leading to the outcome
in Session Fifteen
(discussed in Chapter
Nine).
Table 7.3
A summary of description, analysis and interpretation of data in Chapter Seven.