• Forty-two randomly selected patients were interviewed 2 to 14 years after termination of psychoanalytic group therapy. Comparison of psychodynamic changes in patients who stayed less than six months with those in patients who stayed more than two years gave a null result. The majority of patients were highly dissatisfied with their group experiences. However, there was a very strong positive correlation between favorable outcome and previous individual psychotherapy . Thirteen patients were then studied who were selected by their group therapists as having done well. These patients gave strong evidence of beneficial therapeutic effects, but such patients appear to be rare. These results (1) suggest how this form of treatment might be improved, and (2) raise questions about the appropriateness of transferring to group treatment the strictly psychoanalytic approach as used with individuals.

Group Psychotherapy: A Long-term Follow-up Study

Evaluation studies of group psychotherapy.

(1981). The Group-as-a-Whole Approach: An Appraisal. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy: Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 409-427.

The group-as-a-whole approach: an appraisal.

This paper describes a thirteen-year follow-up study of three separate psychoanalytic outpatient groups with a total of eighteen group participants. The study formed part of an outcome research project carried out over a period of sixteen years and based on a before-and-after survey and follow-ups after one-and-a-half and thirteen years. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and quantify the long-term effectiveness of the group therapy experience.

Imre Hermann

Papers

On the dynamics of repression, and ego-subordination.