Culture,Politics and Group Therapy: Identification and Voyeurism

Abstract

For many months during the summer and fall of 1998, the USA was deluged by information about the sexual exploits of President Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, and their legal battles with Ken Starr Voyeurism was stimulated not only in the USA but around the world. Inevitably, the combination of use and abuse of power combined with sexuality crossed into the treatment room. A clinical example will illustrate the impact of these events on the members of a long-term group. The members assume emotional positions similar to the main political participants, and in the process reexamine their fears of exposure, sexual guilt and fundamental self-doubts. The discussion will offer ideas about the meaning of this replay of previously worked themes in light of transference and countertransference considerations.

Keywords

boundary permeability culture scapegoating transference/countertransference

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References

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