Abstract
Fate, it seems, conjures up all sorts of ways for us to be in a certain place at a certain time. In 1982 as a trainee psychiatrist in the UK, I found myself co-facilitating a group at the Castlewood Day Hospital, then part of the Bexley psychiatric rotation scheme, in the south-east of London. Group psychotherapy was part of our training. Held thrice a week the groups were open-ended and patients ranged from those with interpersonal relationship and personality problems to those with anxiety and substance misuse problems. At the time the experience was somewhat baffling. Not only was I from a different country and culture, my exposure to psychiatry was limited to about 12 months. More often than not I felt lost as I tried to come to terms with ‘group dynamics', ‘reality testing’, ‘transference’, ‘multiple transference’, ‘group cohesion’, ‘group pressure’, etc.
Highlights
Fate, it seems, conjures up all sorts of ways for us to be in a certain place at a certain time
In 1982 as a trainee psychiatrist in the UK, I found myself co-facilitating a group at the Castlewood Day Hospital, part of the Bexley psychiatric rotation scheme, in the south-east of London
More often than not I felt lost as I tried to come to terms with ‘group dynamics’, ‘reality testing’, ‘transference’, ‘multiple transference’, ‘group cohesion’, ‘group pressure’, etc
Summary
When mountains weep: psychological care for those affected by the earthquake in northern Pakistan. I was fortunate to have an extremely skilled and experienced co-facilitator, who guided the group through its various stages but had the patience and tolerance to supervise and teach me as well. It was with a mixed sense of relief and trepidation when I came to the end of the 6-month period, with the experience of group psychotherapy (like learning how to fire a gun) safely tucked away in some remote corner of my mind but hopefully never to be used in real life. It is a human tragedy of unfathomable proportions, compounded by the nature of the terrain, with many areas inaccessible except perhaps by helicopter
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