Dynamic group psychotherapy and rank dynamics

Domain I · Psychodynamic & depth psychology · Raoul Schindler · 1957 · Vienna

What it is

Dynamische Gruppenpsychotherapie (DG) is the Austrian statutory psychotherapy method that grew out of the Vienna group work of Raoul Schindler (1923–2014). Schindler co-founded the ÖAGG in 1959 with Hans Strotzka, Traugott Lindner and others. The ÖAGG describes DG as "therapy with and through the…

Format

• No fixed phase protocol exists. DG structures treatment around (a) setting and indication, (b) the state of collectivity the group is in, and (c) the rank-dynamic configuration at any moment.
• A. Settings and format

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Important framing. DG is not a manualised therapy. The primary sources are a theory of group structure, a set of principles about the leader's position and the effects of interpretations, and a training tradition of year groups, T-groups and seminars. No session-by-session protocol was found. The techniques below are the ones Schindler and the ÖAGG actually describe. Clinical operationalisations of them are marked.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• these are not substitutes for clinical treatment. Use them as training or adjunct formats.
• subgroup splitting in larger groups. It is working when the group can hold one shared focus.
• the group breaking apart if the shift is too abrupt. It is working when the group re-forms around a clear G and positions start to rotate.
• the session turning into a dialogue between two experts. It is working when Beta's knowledge becomes a group resource rather than a rival centre.
• escalation into acting out against the real outside counterpart. It is working when the group becomes more cohesive and the shared affect can be talked about.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.