Between actionality and meaning: Group therapy as a site of liberation madness

Abstract

This article explores the integration of Viktor Frankl’s (1988) concept of logos, the existential pursuit of meaning, with Frantz Fanon’s (1963) theory of actionality to propose a new framework for group therapy under conditions of colonial violence. Drawing on Palestinian therapeutic praxis, the article critiques the limitations of western psychiatric models that pathologize trauma responses in colonized contexts. Instead, it introduces Liberation Madness as a psychopolitical construct that reframes rupture as a necessary, meaning-driven refusal of subjugation. Using a clinical vignette from a women’s therapy group in a West Bank refugee camp, the paper illustrates how group work can support the emergence of decolonial consciousness through collective witnessing, meaning-making, and the cultivation of an insurgent stance. By aligning interior freedom (Frankl) with historically grounded resistance (Fanon), the article positions group therapy not as a space of adjustment, but as a crucible for re-humanization and collective becoming in contexts of protracted occupation and systemic violence.