Does focus on emotion and intimacy lead to better outcomes in group therapy?
A presentation at Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists (AAGP) Sydney meeting, “Hate and Love in Groups and Groupwork”, 25 March 2017, North Sydney Community Centre, North Sydney
Henry Luiker
An edited version of the first half of this presentation has been accepted for publication by group analysis under the title “The persistence of magic and religion in contemporary medicine and psychotherapy”.
Propaganda
3 hour experiential group learning workshop, 30 July 2015, International Transactional Analysis Conference, Sydney
Henry Luiker, Lorraine Rose, Mandy Lacy, Servaas van Beekum
This workshop consists of two parts, (a) the presentation of stimulus material pertaining to propaganda, and (b) group reflections on our cognitive and emotional responses to this stimulus material.
The stimulus material will be a screening of an episode of the BBC documentary series The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis (2002) which focuses on Edward Bernays, the “father of public relations”. Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, enjoyed a long and successful career in the USA applying, and purporting to apply, the psychological insights of Gustave Le Bon (1896), Wilfred Trotter (1916) and his famous uncle, among others, to sell products and ideas to the public on behalf of corporations and governments. He was the pioneer of product placement, improving the popularity of politicians through association in mass media with celebrities, and selling products through creating demand. In his autobiography, Bernays (1965) writes of learning that a copy of his 1923 book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, was found in Goebbels library, and recognising in the systematic Nazi campaign against German Jews the principals laid out in that book.
In the second part of the workshop, members are invited to participate in a large group reflection on our cognitive and emotional responses to this stimulus material. The large group is designed along the “double task” principle of Harold Bridger (1990), to (a) study, reflect on, and share our thoughts and feelings following the viewing of the documentary, and (b) to study, reflect on and share our thoughts and feelings on the process taking place in the group as we attempt to do so. Members are invited to apply and to explore concepts and theories from transactional analysis, or any other paradigm, but not be limited by them in understanding or articulating the phenomena of propaganda, or the processes occurring in the large group.
The first part will be of 70 minutes duration. After a 20 minute break, members will return to take their place in a large circle for the second part, which will be of approximately 90 minutes duration, including a plenary (total = three hours).
The introduction, presentation and plenary will be conducted by Henry Luiker and Lorraine Rose. The large group reflection will be conducted by Servaas Van Beekum and Mandy Lacy.
References
Adam Curtis (2002) The Century of the Self, BBC
Wilfred Trotter (1916) Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War
Gustave Le Bon (1896) The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
Edward Bernays (1923) Crystallizing Public Opinion
Edward Bernays (1928) Propaganda
Edward Bernays (1965) Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations Counsel
Harold Bridger (1990) Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institutions, in Trist & Murray (eds) The Social Engagement of Social Science: A Tavistock Anthology, Volume 1
Understanding individual and group experiences: an introduction
Two one-day workshops, Saturday 17th August & Saturday 24th August 2013
The global financial crisis, global warming and other such issues bring home to us the reality of our interdependence and interconnectedness. Working together, from one community to another, from one country to the next, will be the only way that such issues can be successfully tackled. In this context it would seem to be an important time to better understand who we are as individuals and how we operate in the world. The skills required for the future will include understanding the way in which we impact on one another.
These workshops offer an introduction to ways of reflecting on experiences in groups and organisations. The theoretical basis for the workshops will draw on the work of systems analysis and relevant psychoanalytic concepts to gain a greater understanding of our role, the experience of being in a group, and the unconscious processes that are occurring.
While a didactic presentation will be offered at the beginning of the day, the learning process will largely be experiential, and individual experience will be used to assist in developing an understanding of what is happening in both small group and large group settings.
No previous experience or understanding of groups is necessary or assumed. The workshops are for all individuals who wish to further their understanding of group and organisational behaviour. While the workshops are open to participants attending either or both days, participation is encouraged at both workshops which form two parts of a whole.
It is hoped that we will be able to bring people together from a range of backgrounds, professions and organisational settings who want to develop new ways of thinking and working which promote growth for the individual, group, organisation and society.
Staff
Lorraine Rose (director), Tim Johnson-Newell, Alison Turner, Henry Luiker (administrator)
Fees
single workshop $180, both workshops $300.
Fees include light lunch, refreshments & GST
Location
Clontarf Cottage, 4 Wallace Street, Balmain
Time
8:30 – 9:00AM registration.
Workshops commence at 9:00AM and close at 4:30PM.
about the staff
Lorraine Rose B.Psych, MPsychol, MAPS is a psychologist and analytic psychotherapist working in private practice in Sydney. After training in group work at the Institute of Counselling, Lorraine joined the first national group body in Australia which finally became known as the Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis. For the past three decades Lorraine has acted as a consultant in a variety of settings to health professional teams and organisations, providing group consultation to trainees of various programmes and supervising group leaders. Her area of interest is in understanding the primitive processes that can arise in groups and the factors that interfere with groups working together and the factors that promote cooperative functioning.
Alison Turner PhD, MAPS (Counselling) is a counselling psychologist. She has a private practice in Sydney called “Room For Thought”, which encompasses individual, couple and family therapy as well as clinical supervision. Her areas of interest include mutual influence in the therapeutic relationship, emotional development and attachment throughout the lifespan and systemic group work. Alison has worked for many years in the university sector both as an administrator and lecturer in counselling education and is a Director with the Institute of Counselling.
Tim Johnson-Newell M.A. (Cantab), M.App.Sci.(Social Ecology), Post. Grad. Cert. Ed., Workplace Trainer and Assessor, Member of ASPA, PACFA registered, Member of IOGAP. Tim has been working in this field since 1984, running groups, most recently for the Institute of Counselling at ACU, the Benevolent Society as well as privately, and as an individual psychotherapist, trainer and consultant to organizations. Tim is the Immediate Past President of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia where he has had to deal with the complexity of our profession with its many modalities and perceived hierarchies. He has had a varied work and training history in his early life, in Economics, Corporate Finance, TAFE Teaching and Heavy Goods Vehicle construction and repair and research interests in the experience of military combat and masculinity and the training and regulation of this profession. It has all left him with a curiosity about the qualities that make a good psychotherapist and what it is that engenders those.
Henry Luiker MClinPsy, PhD, MAPS (clinical) is a clinical psychologist with an interest in the relationship between intra-psychic and inter-psychic processes. He is co-director of Parks Clinic and administrator of general dynamics Sydney.