Schismatic Groups

Abstract

The common problem in the life of working small groups of division into opposed camps that are unable to cooperate [schism] is considered here in theory and in practice. The first aim of the paper is to integrate previous theoretical contributions into a single coherent model, which will provide intelligibility and lines of intervention to the group leader or consultant. The second aim is to show this conceptualization in practice, in work with a seminar in a Group Relations Conference and in work with a small group of medical students studying "The Doctor-Patient Relationship. " What is em-phasized is the ease with which subgrouping is made more defensive and in-transigent by the leader's articulation of it and the necessity for getting back to the task in common and the resistance to this task.

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