Poetry As a Projective Technique and Springboard for Dialogue in Group Therapy

The language of emotion is often manifested in the words of poetry. It can be a natural resource for healing and, historically, its medicinal properties have been effectively used in every country and every language (Leedy, 1973). Poetry can be both a stimulus for eliciting emotion in one’s group, which furthers dialogue, and a projective technique helping the group leader further understand, perhaps, the unspoken meaningful historical events in a client’s life (Fehr, 1999, 2003). This intervention is especially effective for the novice group leader, the seasoned clinician who wishes to include group therapy into his or her practice and is anxious with initially promoting dialogue with group members, and the seasoned clinician who desires further and varied interventions in his or her work.