Victor Schermer – författare

Violence is a growing problem in American society, and hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear about yet another heart-wrenching episode of mass violence. Such events, unfortunately, are only the most public manifestation of violence in America. The full nature and extent of daily violence, the various and pervasive forms it takes, and the enormous social, emotional, moral, and economic consequences that result, remain largely outside of our awareness. More importantly, our ability to identify the root causes and know how best to effectively intervene remains limited. Most investigations in this field have focused on the individual psychodynamic characteristics of the perpetrators. The underlying group dynamic factors that include consideration of broader social, cultural, socioeconomic, and historical variables have received less attention. This volume brings together for the first time a collection of distinguished group psychotherapists, all of whom have been trained to recognize both individual psychodynamic characteristics and group dynamic factors, to apply the lessons learned through years of clinical practice to arrive at a deeper understanding of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of violence. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy.

The ring of fire stands for the life cycle of both the universe and each individual being: the circular dance of nature in the eternal process of creation and destruction. At the same time, the light radiated by the ring of flames symbolizes eternal wisdom and transcendental illumination. -J.E. Cirlot. A Dictionary of Symbols The circular form in which the group is seated symbolizes its unity, connectedness, and cohesion as well as its microcosmic relation to the larger world of human evolution, culture, and the life cycle. Foulkes, Bion, and others have identified primitive layers of affect and object relations where universal collective themes and early infantile object relations are re-experienced and repeated in the meeting place for healing called the therapy group. In this context, very profound emotions and energies are released which have deep implications for change and growth, provided the therapist can manage and respond to them effectively. This book brings together a collection of new and original contributions to an understanding of primitive object relations and intensely critical emotional states which present the maximum challenge to the group psychotherapist: the ring of fire. An international group of colleagues, based primarily in Great Britain and the United States, address areas of special interest to them and to which they have devoted considerable research and therapeutic effort. They provide insights into the dynamics of these issues and guide the therapist in the management and interpretation of the group events as they unfold. While much has been written on primitive group states, the information is scattered throughout many journals and books and all too often does not address the practical problems faced by the group therapist in Practical terms. Furthermore, there have been significant developments in affect theory and object relations theory which have yet to be assimilated sufficiently into the theory and technique of group psychotherapy. This book attempts to reduce that gap as it concentrates on the relevance of concepts to treatment in accordance with Kurt Lewin's maxim, There is nothing so practical as a good theory. Ring of Fire will be invaluable to group psychotherapy supervisors, beginning and experienced group therapists, students and supervisers of group psychotherapy and group dynamics, and organizational consultants who utilize group dynamics principles in their work. Victor L. Schermer is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Philadelphia. He is Executive Director of the Study Group for Contemporary Psychoanalytic Process and Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Conflict. Malcolm Pines was, until his recent retirement, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Tavistock Clinic, London and is a member of the Group-Analytic Practice.

The ring of fire stands for the life cycle of both the universe and each individual being: the circular dance of nature in the eternal process of creation and destruction. At the same time, the light radiated by the ring of flames symbolizes eternal wisdom and transcendental illumination. -J.E. Cirlot. A Dictionary of Symbols The circular form in which the group is seated symbolizes its unity, connectedness, and cohesion as well as its microcosmic relation to the larger world of human evolution, culture, and the life cycle. Foulkes, Bion, and others have identified primitive layers of affect and object relations where universal collective themes and early infantile object relations are re-experienced and repeated in the meeting place for healing called the therapy group. In this context, very profound emotions and energies are released which have deep implications for change and growth, provided the therapist can manage and respond to them effectively. This book brings together a collection of new and original contributions to an understanding of primitive object relations and intensely critical emotional states which present the maximum challenge to the group psychotherapist: the ring of fire. An international group of colleagues, based primarily in Great Britain and the United States, address areas of special interest to them and to which they have devoted considerable research and therapeutic effort. They provide insights into the dynamics of these issues and guide the therapist in the management and interpretation of the group events as they unfold. While much has been written on primitive group states, the information is scattered throughout many journals and books and all too often does not address the practical problems faced by the group therapist in Practical terms. Furthermore, there have been significant developments in affect theory and object relations theory which have yet to be assimilated sufficiently into the theory and technique of group psychotherapy. This book attempts to reduce that gap as it concentrates on the relevance of concepts to treatment in accordance with Kurt Lewin's maxim, There is nothing so practical as a good theory. Ring of Fire will be invaluable to group psychotherapy supervisors, beginning and experienced group therapists, students and supervisers of group psychotherapy and group dynamics, and organizational consultants who utilize group dynamics principles in their work. Victor L. Schermer is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Philadelphia. He is Executive Director of the Study Group for Contemporary Psychoanalytic Process and Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Conflict. Malcolm Pines was, until his recent retirement, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Tavistock Clinic, London and is a member of the Group-Analytic Practice.

Violence is a growing problem in American society, and hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear about yet another heart-wrenching episode of mass violence. Such events, unfortunately, are only the most public manifestation of violence in America. The full nature and extent of daily violence, the various and pervasive forms it takes, and the enormous social, emotional, moral, and economic consequences that result, remain largely outside of our awareness. More importantly, our ability to identify the root causes and know how best to effectively intervene remains limited. Most investigations in this field have focused on the individual psychodynamic characteristics of the perpetrators. The underlying group dynamic factors that include consideration of broader social, cultural, socioeconomic, and historical variables have received less attention. This volume brings together for the first time a collection of distinguished group psychotherapists, all of whom have been trained to recognize both individual psychodynamic characteristics and group dynamic factors, to apply the lessons learned through years of clinical practice to arrive at a deeper understanding of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of violence. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy.