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Abstract

Aggressive and disruptive behaviour by children is a perennial problem for carers and the child care services. The problem runs deep since it touches on wider questions about human destructiveness. S. H. Foulkes held an optimistic view about the natural capacity of a therapy group to contain and transform destructive impulses. Acute practical problems arise, however, when a children's group gets caught up with anxiety and aggression. Adults under stress will tend to resort to `good/bad' splitting and the scapegoating of individuals can occur. A group is described where these difficulties were developing. When cotherapists supported each other sufficiently the group weathered the storm of an individual's unmet emotional need. Work on the disruption of the group enabled all to reach a better stage of integration of their destructive impulses.

Keywords

child group psychotherapy containment scapegoating violence

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Handling Violence in Child Group Therapy

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