65th Annual Conference

Saturday, February 23

Afternoon Open Session

2:15 - 5:30 P.M.

Session 315
The Large Group

This session is also being held on Thursday (7:15-8:15 am) and Friday (1:30-2:30 pm).

Leader:              

Felix de Mendelssohn, M.S.W., Head of Department of Psychoanalytic Studies, Sigmund-Freud University, Vienna, Austria

The psychoanalytic large group examines transference reactions, regressions and defensive mechanisms arising from the "foundation matrix" (historical, cultural, political etc.) and the "relational matrix" of unconscious processes in the group and its immediate environment. This setting is optimal for gaining awareness of mass psychology within a social context and of individual subjective reactions to such pressures and seductions.

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Question his/her own and the whole group's attitudes towards authority and leadership in a mass situation.
2. Detect his/her own specific drives and defenses in such a mass situation.
3. Express his/her own spontaneous free associations, dreams, thoughts, feelings and perceptions within the context of this Annual Meeting.
 

Course References:

1. Bion, W. (1961) Experiences in Groups, Tavistock, London.
2. Kreeger, L. (1975)(Ed.), The Large Group: Dynamics and Therapy, Constable, London.
3. de Mendelssohn, F. (2000)The Aesthetics of the Political in Group Analytic Process, in: group analysis, Vol.33, No.4, Sage, London.