Psychoanalytic Group Therapy

Karl König and Wulf-Volker Lindner have distilled their many years of research, rich clinical experience, and extensive theoretical knowledge of analytic group psychotherapy. Now, for the first time in English, they present their Gottingen model of group therapy, a welcome addition to the literature that greatly extends our understanding of the complex processes of groups and their ability to promote growth and healing. Informed by Freudian, Foulkesian, and object relations approaches to individual and group analytic therapy, Konig and Lindner’s extensive theoretical understanding of groups and individuals is saturated with a flexible common sense that moves comfortably between theory and practical application. They are at their best in explaining the transition between the therapist’s essential human experience and his role in the group when they discuss such matters as the understanding of neutrality as a dynamic concept, the situations that trigger transference, and the functioning of the therapist as a model of openness. It is the transitional areas and forces that are the most in focus for the authors: those between individual and group, between group and therapist, between inside and outside, and between the learning of the therapist and the growth of group members. It is a testament to the authors’ skill that they are able to explore these areas at the same time as they outline practical approaches to a full range of topics that need to be considered in the conduct of group therapy.

Karl König, M.D., is professor of clinical group psychotherapy on the medical staff of Göttingen University, where he also chairs the department. Wulf-Volker Lindner is a professor of pastoral psychology at Hamburg University, president of the Hamburg Institute for Psychoanalytis and Psychotherapy, and chairman of the training committee of the German Psychoanalytic Society.