Abstract
Patients suffering from chronic physical disease or facing recurrence of disease within the foreseeable future usually experience in their conscious ego an intense desire to rid themselves of the disease. This desire is not a very helpful motivation for trying out something new in a group not directly orientated to the somatic disease but a group does give the prospect of not having to deal with everything on their own. In analytic group psychotherapy it can also mean re-finding connections in a supportive environment, creating links between somatic and mental processes, and the choice between staying as they are (which is familiar, and gives security) and being different.
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