ABSTRACT
This chapter describes an approach to group that has remained undeveloped in the literature, although, likely, it is as common in practice as it is in mine. The lexical representation of the nuclear idea is often simple in grammatical structure, and straightforward in experiential group reference, but generalizable and complex in symbolic and affective resonance. A nuclear idea may evolve from any mental phenomenon that captures attention in the group, and thus may be felt, fantasized, and thought about, on conscious and nonconscious levels. The developing nuclear ideas provide a way of thinking and working: shifting interest and discussion from "surface" contents to nonconscious or unexplored psychic processes in the individual and whole group, and thus to draw attention to multiple meanings to the metapsychology of their interactions. Nuclear idea provokes the curiosity-drive and extends its reach from the personal, interpersonal, and social, to the metapsychological.
