Group analysis

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · S. H. Foulkes · 1940 · Britain

What it is

Group analysis is a psychoanalytically based form of group psychotherapy founded by S. H. Foulkes (1898-1976), who developed it in Britain from the 1940s; his followers founded the Group Analytic Practice (1959, Skynner among them) and the Institute of Group Analysis. It is a method and a theory,…

Format

• Two formats. Group analysis has no fixed phase protocol in its classic form; phases are those of the group's life and of each member's career within it. The time-limited STGAP/FGAP variant does have a defined frame.
• Phase A. Assessment and selection. Goal: decide whether a group, and which group, suits the person. Individual assessment interview(s); if no place is free the person may wait, with individual sessions offered meanwhile or as preparation. In the Lorentzen variant, several individual pre-therapy…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Core idea of change: the individual is a nodal point in a network of relationships, and disturbance is located between people rather than inside one person. In a small group of strangers meeting over time, members form a shared communicational web, the group matrix. Change happens through "analysis of the group, by the group, including the conductor" (Foulkes 1975, p. 3, cited by Hengstberger): members see…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• 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

• splits between conductors mirroring splits in the group.
• punitive or collusive group responses; your own irritation (4.19).
• the newcomer being frozen out, or the leaver's departure being ignored.
• the conductor becoming so active that the group stops working for itself.
• sub-groups forming outside; boundary tests, which are treated as material (4.17).

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.