title: Self-structure and self-transformation in group psychotherapy.
abstract: This article first outlines a theory of self-structure as a hierarchically organized multiplicity of versions of self. It then describes self-transformation as a two-part process: (Part 1) the articulation and strengthening of individual self-boundaries, and (Part 2) the reclaiming of split-off, denied, or projected aspects of self. Clinically, both parts are products of the communicative interaction among members, the therapist, and the group as a whole. A parallel conception of group development posits that the group, as an object and as a social system, also needs to: (a) articulate and strengthen its boundaries so that it may (b) contain the sustained interdependent, sometimes conflictual, interactivity among members that is essential to the self-reclaiming process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ettin
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D012649:Self Concept; D019455:Self Psychology