Working with Disability in Groups

Abstract

I link the experience of disability to some psychoanalytic theories of early development and recent studies into the effect of early attachment experiences on the development of the brain. I will show that the group regresses to the earliest stages of development in order to work with body-mind experiences, and to find a language in which to make sense of their current experience. I will then discuss how this can be worked with in an analytic group. I also link this to working with chronically psychologically disabled patients. The group is a space to enable members to increasingly own and tolerate their disability.