66th Annual Conference

Friday, February 20

Morning Open Sessions

10:00 A.M.-12:30 P.M.

Session 307

Open Session: You Say Tomaytoes and I Say Tomahtoes! - A Trans-Atlantic Dialogue

Presented in cooperation with The Institute of Group Analysis, London, & The Group Analytic Society

Chair:                

John Schlapobersky, M.S.W., Consultant Psychotherapist, Traumatic Stress Clinic, University College Hospital, London

Panelists:           

Phyllis F. Cohen Ph.D., Psy.D., CGP, DFAGPA, Chairperson, Advisory Council and Psychoanalytic Department, Blanton-Peale Institute, New York, New York

Howard D. Kibel M.D., CGP, DLFAGPA, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York

Molyn Leszcz, M.D., FRCPC, CGP, Psychiatrist in Chief, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Head of Group Psychotherapy, Mount Sinai Hospital & University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Two leading clinicians representing influential models of group psychotherapy in North America and Europe – the Interpersonal and Group Analytic - demonstrate their methods with volunteers from the audience. This dialogue was opened at the AGPA meeting in San Francisco 2006 and extended in Austin 2007.  With contributions from the Chair and Discussant and active participation of the audience they forge a basis for comparison on key matters of technique including group management and leadership; transference and counter-transference; interpretation; relational dynamics; symbolic meaning; and theories about growth and change.

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Evaluate how the Interpersonal model of group therapy in North America compares with the Group Analytic Model in Europe on key points of technique.

2. Address leadership issues in group therapy when applying the Group Analytic Model, by using the dual principle of the conductor as both therapist & group member.

3. Attune their interventions appropriately by focusing on relational dynamics in group therapy when applying the Interpersonal Model.

4. Integrate these differences in the framing of a personal working method, especially in the understanding and use of transference and counter-transference.

Course References:

1. Schlapobersky, J. & Pines, M. (2008) Group Methods in Adult Psychiatry.  In: The New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry.  M. Gelder et. al. (Eds.) Oxford: OUP.

2. Stein, A. and Kibel, H.D. (1984) A group dynamic - peer interaction approach to group psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 34:315-333.

3. Yalom, ID, Leszcz, M. (2005) Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, 5th ed., Basic Books NY.