One group analysis and many. Response to Farhad Dalal’s ‘One group analysis or many?’

Abstract

Responding to Farhad Dalal’s question ‘one group analysis or many?’ the author looks at contextual factors of working with groups, claiming that group therapists are different in different groups and adjusting to setting variables. He describes aspects of the ‘Goettingen Model of Group Psychotherapy’. This model offers variability in conducting groups within one theoretical concept. Different scientific approaches are integrated in order to adjust to different patients and settings. Many aspects (e.g. a marked intersubjective approach and working with an ‘responsive’ mode (‘antwortender modus’) are close to Dalal’s thinking. In contrast to Dalal, however, empirical evidence and evidence based therapies are seen as valuable parts of group psychotherapies and group analysis. Within this conceptual frame, working in and with groups is both—one group analysis and many.