Group-Analytic Family Psychotherapy: A Transcultural Perspective

Abstract

Group-analytic family psychotherapy is a methodology based on a development of Group-analytic theory. The family is defined as a mental field formed by the symbolic plot of `us' in a double relationship: with the cultural history of the family group on one side, and with external groups on the other. The symbolic plot thus has a tribal characteristic which connects the genealogical trees to the ancestral foundation of the group. In cases of psychotic and borderline patients, Group-analytic family psychotherapy has indicated two types of family: those that are embedded in the past, or families that are cut off from the past. After outlining the circumstances of Italian families, this article presents two clinical cases which exemplify the theoretical concepts previously set forth. The final thesis of the article relates the current international situation to such family psychopathology: the global village contrasted with a planet fragmented into ethnic groups.