Abstract
At first, Elias' approach to psychoanalysis and group analysis was emphatically thought out and scientific, even when he submitted to experiencing it personally. In this article, a number of hitherto unknown documents will be discussed which reveal Elias as being in the triangle between psychoanalysis, group analysis and sociological research, but above all in a bipolar tension field which he describes in numerous variations and which can be characterized as moving between an intellectually distanced, scientifically disciplined procedure appealing to the conscious ego on the one hand, and a more strongly emotionally involved technique such as free group association, which takes the unconscious into account, on the other. The second part of this article will focus on the development and dynamics of the first Congress Group (the `C-Group') of the Group-Analytic Society, focusing on the relationship between Foulkes and Elias.
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