title: Eroticism in group psychotherapy: psychoanalytic reflections on desire, agony, and ecstasy.
abstract: To fully understand the complexities of eroticism in groups, it may be necessary to review a conceptual differentiation of desire and its allies: agony and ecstasy. This article suggests that psychoanalytic group psychotherapy is made for neither agony nor ecstasy. Sexual excitement maybe; eroticism and desire, yes; agony and ecstasy, no. While agony or ecstasy imply a threat to the survival of the group, eroticism and desire reaffirm its existence. In this manner the group may be converted into a theater where desire may be celebrated, while the threat of being dissolved in the depths or exaltation of agony and ecstasy is elaborated and worked through: "Desire is desire only if it succeeds in postponing something".
authors.affiliation: Downstate Medical Center, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tylim
mesh_terms: D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007989:Libido; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D012725:Sexual Behavior