ABSTRACT
Human beings are group animals, but our relationship with the groups of which we are part is ambivalent and paradoxical. Groups provide us with the containing relationships needed to support our development and yet may threaten to suffocate that development in an attempt to maintain the stability of the collective. Analytical psychology has tended to focus on the negative influence of groups on the development of the individual, and this chapter presents an alternative perspective. We will consider the developmental interplay of the individual and the group, and some possible implications for group coaching and consultancy. We will explore both the possibility of individuation within the group, and also the possibility that the group itself may be able to individuate, to support both the individual and beyond to society itself.
