62nd Annual Conference

Friday, March 11
Afternoon Workshops
3:00 – 6:15 P.M.

Workshop 65

Object Relations, Spiral Groups, and Other Strange Happenings

Chair:

Cecil Rice, Ph.D., CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Needham, Massachusetts

Object relations theories with their emphasis on interpersonal relations are a useful set of ideas for group therapists.  After reviewing some ideas from object relations, we will participate in a spiral group that will help us understand some of those ideas experientially as well as intellectually.  The spiral group with its incomplete boundaries will illustrate trust and mistrust, belonging and not belonging, and networks of projections among other things.

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Cite the major tenants of objection relations theories including the work of Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott & Hopper

2. Summarize how object relations ideas can be used in group therapy

3. Explain object relations ideas in relation to the therapist's role

4. Describe how object relations ideas may be applied to difficult and strange behaviors in group

References:

1.  Rice, C.A., (1992) Contributions from object relations theory, In Handbook of Contemporary Group Psychotherapy: Contributions From Object Relations, Self-Psychology, and Social Systems Theory. (edited by R.H. Klein, H.S. Bernard, and D. Singer) Madison, CT.:  Bernard, H.S. & Signer, D.L., Eds. (1992) Introduction, In Handbook of Contemporary Group Psychotherapy: Contributions From Object Relations, Self-Psychology, and Social Systems Theory. New York: International University Press.

3.  Summers, F.K., (1994) Object Relations Theories and Psychopathology: A Comprehensive Text, Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.