Broaching and exploring the question of combined group and individual therapy.
Combined therapy is defined as concurrent dyadic and group therapy with the same therapist. This paper focuses on a neglected aspect of combined therapy: broaching and exploring this question with one's individual patient. The author shows how raising this question: (1) alters the therapeutic field whether or not the patient joins; (2) can sharpen the therapist's understanding of the indications and contraindications for group membership; (3) offers untapped therapeutic approaches and opportunities to classify issues in the individual treatment; and (4) stirs up countertransference issues related to issues of profitability, the transference of the patient in individual treatment, and the transference of the group-as-a-whole. Several case examples are provided.
Massachusetts General Hospital.
J S
JS
Gans
D003379:Countertransference; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D012752:Shame; D014167:Transference, Psychology