Group-Analytic Contexts, Issue 80, June 2018

Newsletter – Summer 2018 59
another way for the expression of her negative transference. She made
me into an object that only tolerated her, almost believing that I could
hardly stand her. Before the summer break we decided to stop
individual treatment. She felt safe and didn’t want to wait any longer
to see if a depression would occur. She felt that she would miss an
opportunity in her therapy if she didn’t experience only group
treatment. She no longer needed individual sessions as a safety bell.
Reduction of anxiety and decrease of resistance
When added to individual treatment being in group therapy may
reduce the feeling of dependency on the psychoanalyst. Some patients
can’t bear that feeling of dependency because of their former bad
experiences. The more severe the structural deficiencies are, the more
often the ability to bond is disturbed. When these patients feel save
and protected by their fellow group members they become able to
attack the group leader and to work on their negative transference. On
the other hand, the group leader may help a group member in the
individual sessions to get along with the sometimes, complicated
feelings that can be triggered by the group. Often anxiety and
resistance are means to avoid development of close relations. For
example, here are two frequently appearing fears: On the one hand the
fear to be overwhelmed by the group, “being destroyed “; on the other
hand, to be overwhelmed by own regressive feelings, to lose identity
and melt together with the group.
Some patients have problems in creating close and tender
relations. It is very important in life to be able to have close
relationships. I am a great Harry Potter fan and I think J.K.Rowling’s
books are a real treasure of intelligent psychological images. To be
able to develop really good relationships that can protect oneself
against depression I want to present Harry Potter as an image: He has
to learn to create a Patronus. A Patronus is a charm. The Patronus
helps to protect oneself against the dementors – they are personified
depressions. You need an emotionally strong memory of a good
relationship to create a Patronus. It means to be aware that you are
alone at this moment but that you are at the same time also in a
relationship. It is what we call a good inner object. An only narcissistic
memory like riding happily for the first time on a broomstick isn’t
enough!
Case report 1: This case report demonstrates treatment combining
one individual session and one group session per week. It is another
example of combined therapy.