Abstract
There are two paradigms in analysis: an individual paradigm, in orthodox psychoanalytic theory; and a collective paradigm, that of group analysis, which constructs new theories stemming from the group analytic experience.
The group is conceived as a network of multiple relations, and individuals are its nodal points. Individual human beings are contained and shaped by its matrix, and they develop an unconscious object relation with it. Despair is a painful and disrupting experience that ensues when there is a severe fracture in the relations that form the matrix. Group analysis explores the relation between the subjectivity of the parties and the wider contexts of their existence, by means of interpretation and group discussion of the social and political dimension, as well as personal and interpersonal conflicts.
A clinical vignette from a group illustrates the evolution from despair and impotence to active desire and hope, mediated by a free-floating and reflective dialogue, which includes not only argumentation and exchange of information, but also mutual interaction and emotional relations.
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