ABSTRACT
Although psychodynamic group psychotherapies are widely used, they have been less subjected to high-quality research than some other group therapies. This is probably due to challenges in research methodology, for example, problems in conceptualizing and measuring variables affected by reverberations of unconscious conflicts and motivations. In order to demonstrate the state of the art, a selection of studies from a review of analytic/psychodynamic group therapies, plus samples of the author’s studies of group-analytic psychotherapy are presented; one observational study of outpatients in long-term group (LTG) analysis and one clinical trial, randomizing patients to short-term group and LTG analytic psychotherapies. The studies demonstrate that group-analytic therapies work and that quality research on psychodynamic group therapies is feasible, applying randomization, use of treatment manuals, and check of treatment adherence and competence. Focused Group-Analytic Psychotherapy, a research-based new therapy, is presented, illustrating that a theoretical coherence between patient factors (structural aspects of personality) assessed at pre-therapy, treatment guidelines, and measures of process and outcome can be achieved. Still, more high-quality research on group-analytic therapy is urgently needed.
