Gruppenpsychotherapie in der Individualpsychologie: Geschichte, Konzepte und Systematik

Abstract

Summary This article gives a survey of historical and conceptual aspects of Adlerian group psychotherapy. Alfred Adler worked with groups from 1919 onwards, Rudolf Dreikurs and Erwin Wexberg wrote about »collective therapy« in 1930 and Rudolf Dreikurs, Raymond Corsini and others continued to develop these concepts in the U.S.A. This led to the so-called »classical method«, developed in the nineteen-sixties. At the same time, Friedrich Liebling and Josef Rattner developed the concept of the large group, which also had its origin in Adlerian psychology. Later, variations and further developments appeared on the scene and integrated different approaches like psychoanalysis or non-verbal tchniques. In this article these developments are presented systematically and summarized. Finally, some of the basic characteristics of Adlerian group therapy are discussed. A specific Adlerian method does not exist, much more it is the Adlerian attitude, which can be seen as the crucial healing factor in group therapy. Thus, an Adlerian group therapist can work in a specifically Adlerian way with any type of group technique.