Nicolás Caparrós (1941–2021): A larger-than-life group analyst

Abstract

This is a homage to Nicolás Caparrós, in memoriam. He was an unusual, and universal, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and group analyst, who developed an analytic and bonding model which was closely related to Bowlby’s conception of group attachment. In his therapeutic group technique, Dr Caparrós was decidedly idiosyncratic, integrative and inclusive. He was a Bionian, intellectually, when it came to defining unconscious defence mechanisms. However, his interventions within the group had a more distinct Foulkesian essence, as he put the emphasis on communication. Foulkes had sought to keep communication alive in his groups, to the point of considering it identical to the process of therapy itself. For Dr Caparrós, communication generates the group, defines it and maintains it.