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Group Analysis in the New Millenium - The millennium
has begun in a way few of us will have expected. The exuberant aspirations of
the late nineties have given way to dumbfounded shock, as the community known
as the industrialised West, particularly those within its core economies, are
forced to come to terms with the discrepancy between their benevolent self-view
and the malice borne towards them by others in the wider world. In this context,
Ben Davidson, invited by Malcolm Pines to guest edit this special issue of the
journal group analysis, asks what does group analysis have to offer?
Buddhism
and Group Analysis (Ben Davidson and Alyss Thomas) - the
two disciplines of Buddhism and Group Analysis share some important common ground.
The writers, two group analysts who have also been involved in extensive Buddhist
training and practice, believe that the rich and diverse resources from Buddhist
theory and practice are directly applicable to the theory and practice of Group
Analysis. This article is the fruit of a dialogue between them, and represents
an initial attempt to chart some simple comparisons and contrasts between Buddhism
and Group Analysis.
Authenticity
and Belonging: The Experience of Being Known in the Group (Diana Menzies
and Ben Davidson) - a clinical paper exploring the causes
of inauthenticity. Developing the notion that assimilation into an alien culture
can lead to a sense of unbelonging and identity confusion, we look at the way
a child's true self may not be attuned to within his family, so that the child's
authentic experience is replaced by that of the dominant family culture. The claim
is made that a good enough environmental response, on the other hand, such as
may be found in therapeutic groups, can allow a move towards authenticity, through
being known, thus enabling more genuine connections with others.
The
Narcissistic State and the Death Instinct - a
psycho-analytic/group-analytic view of our encounter with death, from cradle to
grave, and its impact on our response to the world, as individuals and groups.
The
Internet and the Large Group -
an account of how an Internet forum functions just like any large group - the
paper features as a case study a discussion on an international online forum for
psychiatric nurses, discussing user involvement in services.
Malice,
Community and The Love Bug - an
interview with Ben on SkyNews (21/6/00), about the phenomena of computer viruses
and what their development says about the Internet, about the individuals who
create and spread them and about the society they live in.
The
Role of the Psychiatric Nurse -
a vision of what mental health care might be at its best, and an argument as to
why psychiatric nurses are in the best position to offer it.
Experience
of Transition in Community Mental Health Care (or 'Lambeth... and Goodbye to all
that') - an account of the move,
during the mid - late 1990's, as the last of the U.K. left-wing local authorities
were forced to reduce their spending budgets, from preventative mental health
care to the more targetted Care Programme Approach, and its impact on staff and
clients in an inner-city community mental health day centre.
Jumpers
- a story about a student mental health nurse
working with someone who self-harms
The
Student Psychiatric Nurse on Placement in a General Hospital: What am I Doing
Here? - an account of the experience of
the general nursing component of a modular mental health nursing training, exploring
skills acquisition models and the encounter with sickness and death.
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