Difficult Topics in Group Psychotherapy

Jerome Gans is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Clinical Associate in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been leading, supervising, and teaching about group therapy for forty years. He has published widely on group and individual therapy, psychological aspects of physical rehabilitation, liaison psychiatry and psychotherapy and literature.

'What a refreshing and reassuring book for group psychotherapists! This collection of Jerome Gans' most important papers confirms his unique ability not only to pinpoint the difficulties that beset us all as group therapists but to bring humour, wisdom and compassion to the discussion. Resolutely determined to leave behind the strictures of theory, he confronts the deepest human paradoxes in which our weaknesses are often our strengths and our difficulties are vital signposts of development. The book pulsates with a sense of Yalom's 'universality': we are all in it together, therapists and patients alike. Readers will learn and enjoy, returning to their groups with renewed curiosity and courage.'- Morris Nitsun, PhD, Consultant clinical psychologist Camden and Islington NHS Trust, training analyst (Institute of Group Analysis, London) 'Jerome Gans has written the book that no one else has had the courage to write. He addresses the underbelly of group therapy - both of the therapist and of the member. No education of psychotherapy is complete without this knowledge. Every practitioner and trainee should read this book. No other textbook can substitute.' - Elaine (Lonergan) Cooper, PhD, LCSW, CGP, FAGPA, Clinical Professor, University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco Department of PsychiatryContentsChapter One: ShameThe Detection of Shame in Group Psychotherapy: Uncovering the Hidden EmotionThe Group Therapist's Shame: A Much Undiscussed TopicChapter Two: HostilityHostility in Group PsychotherapyChapter Three:Broaching and Exploring the Question of Combined Group and Individual TherapyChapter Four: MoneyMoney and Psychodynamic Group PsychotherapyChapter Five: Indirect CommunicationThe Leader's Use of Indirect Communication in Group TherapyChapter Six: Difficult PatientsDifficult Patients: Their Construction in Group TherapyChapter Seven: SilenceSilence in group psychotherapy: A powerful communicationChapter Eight: The Missed SessionThe Missed Session in Psychodynamic Group PsychotherapyChapter Nine: CourageA Plea for Greater Recognition and Appreciation of our Group Members' CourageThe Courage of the Group Therapy

• Preface , Introduction , Shame , Hostility , Broaching the subject of group therapy , Money , Indirect communication , Difficult patients , Silence , The missed session , Courage , Epilogue