Group-Analytic Contexts, Issue 80, June 2018
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
8 <strong>Group</strong>-<strong>Analytic</strong> Society International - <strong>Contexts</strong><br />
How Not to Run a Ward <strong>Group</strong><br />
By Harold Behr<br />
The year: 1969<br />
The place: Tara Hospital, a psychotherapeutically-orientated<br />
psychiatric hospital in Johannesburg.<br />
The therapist: Me, a novice psychiatric registrar.<br />
I was inspired by the example of a psychologist whose group<br />
technique consisted mainly of long, empathic silences. When faced<br />
with head-on attempts by group members to draw him in, his sole<br />
intervention, uttered with mind-numbing repetitiveness, was: ‘What<br />
does the group think?’<br />
Thus armed, I decided one day to run my own ward group.<br />
Seventeen patients in all were invited to disport themselves in a large<br />
circle around the lounge. None of the patients had any idea of what to<br />
expect. A mildly interested ward sister and two occupational therapists<br />
joined the circle.<br />
An expectant hush settled over the group. ‘Well,’ I began,<br />
‘the purpose of this group is to raise any problems that might have<br />
arisen recently,’
Change language