This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hummelen, J. W. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Psychotic Decompensation During Group Psychotherapy: Early Recognition and Treatment

Department of Clinical Psychotherapy, `De Venne', PO Box 9028, 7300 El Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.

This article describes how psychotic decompensation can develop in group psychotherapy. In the early stages of decompensation fusion-anxiety (expressed by self-imposed isolation) is replaced by fusion-need (expressed by boundless interaction). When fusion-anxiety is dominant, there is a splitting between libidinous and aggressive object relations. The group-as-a-whole is then experienced positively, while aggression is directed towards individual group members. In later stages of decompensation, the splitting lies within the group itself: some group members are experienced positively, while others are strongly criticized. Psychotic symptomatology is often denied by the group members. In such cases, the therapist should intervene actively, giving the group structure and direction; he or she should not wait for correction to come out of the group itself.

Key Words: anxiety • interaction • object-representations • psychosis • splitting

Group Analysis, Vol. 27, No. 4, 433-440 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/0533316494274008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. F.A. Milders Kernberg's Object-Relations Theory and the Group Psychotherapy of Psychosis Group Analysis, December 1, 1994; 27(4): 419 - 432. [Abstract]