67th Annual Conference

Saturday, February 27

Morning Open Sessions

Session 313

Scapegoating in Group Therapy: Integrating Girard's Mimetic Theory and Agazarian's Systems-Centered Approach

Chair:

Alexis D. Abernethy, Ph.D., CGP, Professor, Graduate School of Psychology/Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California

Presenters:

Alvin C. Dueck, Ph.D., Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California

Lisa Danner Finlay, M.A., Doctoral Student, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Pasadena, California

Scott R. Garrels, Ph.D., Private Practice, Pasadena, California

Christopher Waters, M.A., Doctoral Student, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California

We will review Rene Girard’s Scapegoat Mechanism as a cultural phenomenon and assert that it also commonly occurs within a much smaller society: the psychotherapy group. We will describe the process of scapegoating in psychotherapy groups and proffer techniques which leaders can utilize to identify and work through the scapegoat mechanism.   

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Define scapegoating from three theoretical perspectives: psychodynamic, systems-centered, and Girardian.
2. Identify Girardian, systems-centered, and psychodynamic themes in a vignette.
3. Practice techniques for managing scapegoating as it occurs in group therapy.

Course References:

Girard, R. (1972). Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Agazarian, Y., & Gantt, S. (2005). The Systems-Centered approach to group-as-a-whole. Group, 29(1), 163-185.

Malcus, L. (1995). Indirect scapegoating via projective identification and the mother group. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 45(1), 55-71.