WS and OS abstracts
Friday 5.4.19
OS abstractsOP1
Chair: Dr. Robi Friedman "Terrorists, Terrorism, and Trauma: Some briefre marks from group analysis and psychoanalysis” Dr. Earl Hopper Mr. Dieter Nitzgen Dr. Shulamit Geller & Dr Eran Shadach Abstract- General
In order to understand terrorists and terrorism, it is essential to draw upon the work of psychoanalysis, sociology, and the study of group dynamics, not only theoretically, but also empirically and clinically. Thus, our work is situated in Group Analysis. Although the coloration and expression of terrorism is always local, the data suggests that all forms of terrorism have certain features in common. Dr Earl Hopper: I will summarise some of the data available about the unconscious life of some terrorists, in the context of the theory of the fourth basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification as an expression and manifestation of the internal worlds of people who have suffered the fear of annihilation rooted in the traumatic experience of failed dependency. Whereas some terrorists function on their own, most are attracted to and become involved with terrorist organisations which function as internal and external “gangs”, “reversed families” and “social psychic retreats”, each of which can be considered in terms of their dynamic matrices. These groupings are characterised by fundamentalist structures and ideologies associated with the Law of the Father. I will also consider these processes in the context of communication, instrumental adjustments to suffering, and hope. Mr. Dieter Nitzgen: In my presentation I will apply the group analytical theory of the fourth basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification to historical events of what I call 'failed glory`. Following Norbert Elias' analysis of the (pre-)conditions under which civilised forms of conduct and morality are being replaced by 'barbarization and dehumanization, I will point to the the association between the 'Free Corps` and the atrocities of National Socialism, and to the corruption of individual conscience which we tend to underestimate. The connection between the 'Free Corps`, the disbanding of the Iraqi army in Bagdad 2003 and Al Quaida and ISIS will be discussed too. Dr. Shulamit Geller & Dr. Eran Shadach: We present a conceptualization of a “dynamic terror matrix,” a malevolent matrix which represents defiant non-state violence. Such violence may target out-group as well as in-group members, while renouncing the moral and emotional consequences of that violence. The dynamic terror matrix is a result of a flawed relationship of the dynamic and personal matrices with their foundation matrix. The four interrelated features that characterize the terror dynamic matrix will be described: Chronic regression; Abnormal relations with society; Expropriation of the monopoly on violence from the state; and Heroic aspiration to glory. Earl Hopper PhD is a psychoanalyst, group analyst and organisational consultant in private practice in London. Among his other positions and professional activities, he is a Training Group Analyst at the Institute of Group Analysis (London), and the Editor of the New International Library of Group Analysis for Routledge. Dieter Nitzgen, M.A. Member of the German umbrella organization for analytic group therapy (D3G). Training group analyst, IGA Heidelberg. Member of the Management Committee of the Group Analytic Society International (GASI), editor of group analysis. The International Journal of Group Analytic Psychotherapy.. Shulamit Geller, PhD, a supervising clinical psychologist, on faculty at the clinical psychology Graduate Program, at the Academic College of Tel-Aviv, Yaffo. A member of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis, and in private practice in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Eran Shadach, PhD, a supervising clinical psychologist, on faculty at the clinical psychology Graduate Program at the Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo. A member of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis, and professional manager at the 'Reut' Institute for Psychotherapy in Tel-Aviv, Israel. OP2 Chair: Miriam Berger Group analytic roots and relational wings "Hall of Recognitions": Recognition as mutual mirroring in Group Analysis. Sharon Danay-Arav The analytic group as a stage for ego training via "dramatic dialogue". Sigal Flint In this panel, we will explore the enriching encounter between group analysis and relational psychoanalysis. When we look at group-analysis roots and see that at the basics of group-analyses theories and practice there are concepts that are yet to be called relational. Not only that the relational psychology & concepts and ideas can help Group-analyses sour and give wings to our practices. In the panel, we will demonstrate this through two central terms from each theory: Sharon will combine the concepts of "Hall of Mirrors" (Foulkes) and "recognition" (Benjamin). She will argue that combining these two allows the development of a new wide approach in group analysis. Sigal will seek to compare and combine the concept of "ego training in action"( Foulkes) with the concept of "Dramatic Dialogue" ( Atlas & Aron) and argue that the action that promotes the ego is a combination of the intersubjective experiential encounter and the drama within the dialogue and the discourse that exists in the group. The discussion will include demonstrations and Vignette from the field that will demonstrate the theoretical ideas & quot;Hall of Recognitions": Recognition as mutual mirroring in Group Analysis. Sharon Danay-Arav, MA, Clinical Psychologist, supervisor. Individual, couple and group therapist. Head of group treatment section and in charge of interns in the counseling service, IDC Herzliya. Teaching seminar on " Winnicot and his relational followers", IDC Herzlia. Member in Israeli Institute of Group Analysis. Sigal Flint, MA, authorized individual and group therapist, teacher and supervisor in psychodrama. Expert in the treatment of addictions and eating disorders. An authorized focusing therapist and teacher. Lecturer and facilitator at various institutions, among them the master's program for expressive therapists therapy at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Haifa University, and the program for training social counselors for therapeutic communities in Beit-Berl. Combines in her work the knowledge acquired from the various fields of knowledge: theater, psychodrama, physical psychotherapy, 12 steps and group analysis. Member in the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis. OP3 Chair: Elisabeth Rotschild Loss and redemption amongst doctors Clare Gerada Roots and Wings in the Classroom Joan Fogel and Belinda Moller ---- Loss and redemption amongst doctors Dr Clare Gerada I would like to present my work with bereaved families – bereaved following the death through suicide or sudden accidental death of a doctor or medical school. I am the head of the Practitioner Health Service (PHS), which is a service for doctor and dentists with mental health problems and addiction. To date (2018), around 5000 patients have presented for care within a 10-year period, making it one of the largest, and most comprehensive treatment service of its kind in the world. Despite excellent results, in terms of improvement in health and well-being, return to work and social relationships, nevertheless, sometimes treatment fails. Over the decade about 20 of our patients have died, many of them through their own hand or via sudden accidental death (for example, falling out of window, immolation, drug overdose). Outside our service, we know that doctors have high rates of suicide, with women especially at risk (up to 4 times the rate of other professional groups or members of the general public). This might seem paradoxical given the obvious positive factors which we associate with being a doctor (high status job, relatively high and secure income, interesting and flexible career). Nevertheless, there are obvious risk factors, not least linked the personality factors which are used to choose students for a career in medicine (perfectionism, altruism, obsessionism) which might also predispose doctors to mental illness. As the head of the PHS, and over the years, those bereaved following the death of a doctor relative have got in touch with me. This has been either to obtain help through my service (many of the bereaved are themselves doctors) or for me to put them in touch with others in a similar position. In July 2018 I held the first group of its kind in the UK – a group for those bereaved through this manner. Twenty individuals came to the meeting which was held using group analytical format (three 90-minute groups, facilitated by myself, a mental health nurse and a group analyst). They came from across the country, ranging in age from 10 months (a baby nephew) to their mid-70s. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, wives, and husbands—around 20 individuals in total. Two families shared the same (unusual) surname; two of the deceased had the same first name; two died on the same day; and a further two had chosen to kill themselves in the same way. That unconscious web of communication, which connects doctors’ past, present, and even future, came into play. The group members talked about their guilt and grief, revisiting the unanswerable question, “what if.” They also shared their anger at how they felt “the system” had contributed to the death of their loved one. For many of the deceased, it was the receipt of a complaint (even a trivial one) that had led to rumination, shame, and depression. Often unsupported, young and older doctors alike had to face the impact of a complaint alone. Beginning as strangers, the members of the group left hugging and embracing each other, sharing contact details and wanting to meet again, which they will on 5 October and again in December 2018. I will present the group, how it formed, what was discussed, what the unconscious and conscious themes were and how the group has progressed. Dr. Clare Gerada - Psychiatrist and general practitioner. Currently run the Practitioner Health Programme - a confidential service for doctors and dentists with mental health and addiction problems. Obtained the Diploma of Group Analysis and provide group work to sick doctors and those bereaved following suicide of doctors or dentists. ---- Roots and Wings in the Classroom Joan Fogel and Belinda Moller Teachers are expected to provide knowledge and wellbeing to our children. We hear, however, about teachers overwhelmed by the emotional, social and moral tasks with which they are charged. Technical-rational approaches seem to dislodge the capacity for reflection, resulting in a culture of blame, reputational fragility and relational insecurity. Scapegoats, sub-groups and social defence mechanisms become the norm. Burnout among educators is increasing as are those leaving the profession. Places for teachers to reflect together on their work are rare and often resisted. How can they look after and lead if they cannot take care of themselves, if care is not taken of them? Emerging from our experience as educators and in groups in Dublin and London, we brought together in a regular group some of those supporting teachers in various ways. It is simply called a working group; three years old, it is thriving. In this presentation and panel discussion we will outline the history and formation of the group. We will describe the way the structure of the group has evolved out of our Group Analytic and Balint Group work and present some of the themes which the group has discovered in considering the teacher’s role, the class as a group, education systems and their place in society: exclusion, trans-generational trauma, commodification, power, leadership, competition, envy, safety, trust, community, language…. In the panel discussion, we hope to reflect further and explore the presentation’s title by hearing more from those present about schools, education systems and teacher support, in different countries. Joan Fogel and Belinda Moller Joan Fogel is a group-analytic psychotherapist and accredited Balint leader. She has a private practice for individuals and groups, is a tutor and group conductor on a psychotherapy training and provides reflective practice groups in the medical and education sectors. She is a member of the Group Analytic Society International (GASI); Foundation for Psychotherapy and Counselling; UK Council for Psychotherapy and the Balint Society. Belinda Moller - M.Sc (Group Analytic Psychotherapy),Ph.D., IGAS., ICP M.Sc. (Group Analytic Psychotherapy), Ph.D. Group Psychotherapist and Organisation Consultant. Personal group therapy, Work supervision/discussion groups, Balint group leader, Role consultation. Fully accredited member I.G.A.S. and I.C.P. OP4 Known and unknown roots of an institution: Who are we in our Group Analytic Institute today? Kathrin Albert and Dr. med. Robert Ohlrich We would like to introduce you to the Berlin Institute of Group Analysis (BIG)and discuss the topic of roots and wings in this context. In 2003 eight psychoanalytic institutes in Berlin decided to found one group institute after several years of preparation, seggregation and struggle. After the fall of the Berlin Wall there was a big desire to come together but also there were many fears to lose one's identity with integration in one institute. We would like to raise the question how the last incentive to the foundation was possible. How could the institute grow up and grow to an institution of one hundred members and almost the same number of participants in group analytic training having celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2018? What were the dreams of the founders and what are our dreams inspiring for the future of our institute? Kathrin Albert, psychoanalyst, group analyst, Chair of the board of the Berlin Institute of Group Analysis (BIG). She works in private practice as a conductor in small groups and as a supervisor in psychiatric hospitals. She is also a lecturer and conductor of Social Dreaming and large groups. Dr. med. Robert Ohlrich, psychoanalyst, group analyst, board member of the Berlin Institut of Group Analysis (BIG) and lecturer. He is working in private practice as a conductor of small groups, as conductor of Social Dreaming and lecturer in the BIG. |
WorkshopsWS1
“The Tree of Life” an exploration in images and words Morris Nitsun & Dr. Marcia Honig This 90-minute workshop will use drawing as a source of exploration of the conference theme, helping to personalize the Roots and Wings theme and embed it in an experiential process. It uses the group as a medium of association, reflection and feedback and the linking of personal themes with the collective. The “Tree of Life” is a well-known narrative therapy approach that has been studied and applied in a variety of social and clinical settings and with different age groups. (Denborough 2014). The image of the tree is taken as symbolic of the person’s sense of an existential and historical self, with suggestions for future development. The method consists of the simple task of asking the participant to draw a tree. Materials such as paper, pencils and possibly paints, are provided. It is suggested that the person includes in the drawing the tree’s roots, trunk, branches, leaves and fruit. These parts of the tree are accorded the following significance –
As well as the drawing / painting, people are encouraged to make brief notes on the image, helping to enlarge the narrative of the tree. The workshop consist of several sections –
References: Denborough, D (2014) Retelling the Stories of our Lives, W.W North and Co. Morris Nitsun is a consultant psychologist, a training group analyst, and a founder member of the Fitzrovia Group Analytic Practice in London. He is a well-known author, particularly for his concept of the Anti-group. He is also a practicing artist. Dr. Marcia Honig - PsyD. in Group Therapy, Art Therapist and Integrative Counselor; Group and Individuals Psychotherapist at her private practice. Chair of the Transcultural Section at the IAGP; Lecturer in Master Degree at Seminar HaKibutzim; Coordinator of the Psychotherapy Unit at MELEL Center. WS2 Couple group conducting: Meeting the unwanted other Pieter Huts & Tammy Elad This is a workshop on roots and wings in the development of co-conducting in a conflictual Large Group. As an Israeli and a German group analysts we have now been conducting the Large Groups at the ‘Voices after Auschwitz’-Conference for 4 times. During this period, we could experience, that there is at the same time the knowledge about our different roots of nationality, history, training, the conscious and unconscious believes and anxieties and the not-wanting-to know these differences. So, we had to face anger, unstableness, disappointment, rivalry and closeness while trying to get in touch with the sight, the listening, the understanding of each other - and the group! How can different roots grow and operate together? And what could it mean to develop wings as a group-conducting-couple? In this workshop we will share our experiences in “couple-group-conducting” in the Large Groups that we conducted together. As being a Jewish Israeli and a Christian German, we – as nations, persons and professionals – have a painful history that brings us to contact with the hidden roots among shame and guilt and glory and hope - and its specific defence. We understand our relationship – with Auschwitz in our matrix - as a very difficult and serious example for the particular meaning of the relation of roots and wings. Every one of you, especially (but not only) when you are conducting a group as a couple, has its own specific roots and their meaning for your work. How does the co-growing of our roots influence the possibility to create future relationship that seemed impossible in the past? Tammy Elad, MSW, Works in private practice with individuals, couples and analytic groups as well as a supervisor of variety of groups in different organizations. Co-Conductor of Large Groups in conferences, and conductor of Small and Medium Groups in IGA and IAGP conferences. Member of the IIGA and member of the Israeli Association of Group Psychotherapy; Staff member of the Tel-Aviv University Group Conductors Training Program; Pieter Hutz, M.A. Berlin, For 25 years working as group analyst, group analytic supervisor and organizational consultant in private practice. He is training analyst in several German institutes and was for six years the founding president of the German Group Analytic Society (D3G). WS3
becoming comfortable with uncomfortable feelings Ronnie Levine Description:
Issues concerning identity, cultural diversity and trauma can arouse difficult feelings. In order to be effective with working with feelings generated in the group, we group leaders need to be comfortable with feelings: our own and our group members’. The group leader needs to be sufficiently comfortable with his/her feelings in order to be emotionally available for addressing the group members’ feelings of love, hate, shame and vulnerability and all that surrounds them. And provide what is therapeutically necessary: Curiosity, Exploration, Holding/containing, Surviving/ withstanding - without destructive retaliation, and Being a maturational agent This workshop is designed to help therapists understand and work more comfortably with uncomfortable feelings. We will explore how love, hate, fear and shame can be difficult for the group member and the therapist. The workshop will study how we as a group can become more effective in working with these feelings. We will begin with the leader's and the group member's reluctance to have these feelings, examining what the obstacles communicate from various perspectives. Ronnie Levine, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist, a Diplomate in Group Psychology and a Fellow with AGPA..She has conducted workshops for AGPA, GASI, and IAGP conferences and has been the featured speaker for many group societies in the U.S.A.. She conducts training groups in Austin, Boston, and San Francisco.as well as in her private practice in NYC. Email: [email protected] WS4 "Without Roots the Wings are Crippled" Louren Bar-Shalev The workshop will deal with the individual experiences of the participants related to the surrendering of their "roots". The personal, family and societal reasons for the surrendering of an individual's roots will be considered. The implications with regard to the experience of their being part of a group (or leaving a group) will be discussed. The workshop will be on a practical and not theoretical level. The workshop will involve an examination of: 1) Ethnic Identit 2) Prejudices 3) Rejection 4) Depression 5) Negation of Values 6) Negation of Cultural Traditions/Customs S.H. Foulkes (1898-1976), the "father" of group analysis, was a physician and psychoanalyst. After his emigration to England in the 1930's, he continued specializing in psychoanalysis. He saw his work with groups as a continuation of his psychoanalytical work. Perhaps because of his status as a new immigrant in England, he downplayed his differences with Freud and others in the psychoanalytical community. The idea that immigrants must meet the expectations of the existing social norms in their new location is not something new or special to England. From 1950 to 1970, the first twenty years of Israel's independent existence, the Government of Israel acted to develop the society as a "melting pot". In accordance with this policy, the Government sought to integrate the new immigrants (from various cultures) into one common culture. This was based on the idea of developing a shared Israeli identity in order to strengthen the nation. The melting-pot policy consciously ignored the variety of cultures brought to Israel by the immigrants. Those cultures were viewed as outdated and as tribal Diaspora cultures. The new sought-after Israeli culture was based on: 1) The culture which had been developing in Israel in the pre-state period; and 2) The cultures brought here from Europe by the early initial waves of immigration. With the passage of time, the "melting-pot" policy has been criticized. Its opponents have emphasized that ignoring the culture of the immigrants and the alienation of those immigrants from their cultures is negative- especially with regard to those arriving from Islamic nations. Group Analysis approaches the "disconnect" between the individual and the other members of a community as a source of psychological pathology and the connection between the individuals in the community as a therapeutic experience. Foulkes emphasized the adjustment of the individual but not in terms of the individual conforming with the others in the community. I believe that the "melting-pot" policy put pressure on the immigrants to conform to others and not to adjust . As a result gaps were formed between the new immigrants and their "roots" and their own culture. This damaged their sense of participation in Israel. I will introduce my biographical story, and that of my family, as new immigrants from Morocco. The participants in the workshop are invited to present their stories with regards to the linkages between their family histories and their adjustment to Israeli society. Louren Bar shalev - MSW since 1993. Individual,couple and group therapist and supervisor on the faculty of social work at Haifa University. private practice in BInyamina israel Special WS:
Creature with roots and wings?! Ella Stolper A special space for processing the contents of the International Workshop for Russian-speaking participants. The act of participation in a conference in a foreign country is, without a doubt, an act of "spreading wings". This special space invite you to elaborate what we are going through in all parts of the Workshop and to observe the conditions that we need to get in contact with both our Roots and Wings. The meetings will be held in Russian. Ella Stolper is an individual and group psychotherapist, supervisor. She is a senior faculty member at Tel Aviv University in a group facilitation program and at the College of Society and Arts, as well as a supervisor and coordinator at the Program of Group Leading at the Central School of Social Work.She is a member of the Israeli Institution of Group Analysis. |