Empty Spaces in Group-Analytic Psychotherapy Groups

Abstract

Empty spaces resulting from lateness or absence are not uncommon in groups. The meaning of empty spaces needs to be analyzed not only in and by the groups but also with reference to possible theoretical explanations. They may be understood as manifestations of the anti-group and by referring to notions of subjective emptiness described, for example, by Fairbairn, Kernberg, and Balint. Feeling ‘fuller’ may be experienced as threatening to individuals who are ‘empty of themselves’. However, the transitional space potentially provided by a psychotherapeutic group can provide a shared space in which the capacity to relate and feel emotionally nourished may develop. This paper analyzes how a developmental process in empty space groups may be apparent in those sessions in which the group is complete and why it is that the therapist should not collude with the group’s avoidance of its members’ capacity for fullness.