It’s All About ‘Me’: On the Group Leader’s Psychology

Abstract

The therapist’s subjectivity—the complex of personality, character, feelings, thoughts, fantasies, many of which remain out of awareness—affect how we comport ourselves, how we relate to our groups, and how they relate to us. The dynamic factor involving the group leader’s psychology—the ‘me’—is always prominent and influential, and often apparent to group members, although not always articulated consciously or publicly. Using myself as a clinical example, I illustrate how unresolved Oedipal and sibling dynamics were involved in my perceptions, theory, and technique—perhaps in every micro-action and interaction that comprised a group experience.