Difficult Days: On the Use of Theory in Group Psychotherapy Reply to Grossmark and Weinberg

Abstract

My response to Grossmark’s and Weinberg’s commentaries consists of four parts: The first relates to the use of theory in the analytic endeavor, emphasizing its relational quality, suggesting that our ability to reflect on how we unconsciously use theory is part of the therapeutic process. In the second part I discuss the relations between theory and metatheory, suggesting a possible parallelism between aggression in group therapy, and the existing debate about theorizing aggression. The third part briefly presents the affinity between relational psychoanalysis and the concept of The Social Unconscious. Finally, the fourth part notes the different languages of theory and poetry.