ABSTRACT
Building upon the principle of interconnectedness, S. H. Foulkes elaborates several core concepts to describe group-analytic theory. Grappling with processes of immense complexity, these descriptions are sometimes more 'metaphoric' than precise. Foulkes suggests three core aspects of psychoanalysis – the unconscious, free association, transference – are equally valid in group analysis. The classic group-analytic group is a slow open group. The classic group-analytic group, unstructured in its approach, meeting once or twice-weekly for 90 minutes, is a stranger group. In closed and/or time-limited groups especially, linear developmental patterns are observable. Group members may also unconsciously co-create situations belonging to present and/or past wider social, cultural and political contexts. Thus feelings of helplessness and loss – perhaps residues from socio-cultural conflicts and traumas transmitted across generations – can forcefully re-emerge within a group. When there is group transference to individuals, a group member may be seen by the group as personifying certain characteristics – the result of collective projections.
