Leader or Guide? A Response to R.M. Billow’s ‘Relational Group Psychotherapy: An Overview. Part III: Modes of Therapeutic Leadership’, September 2017

Abstract

Richard Billow’s review of relational group psychotherapy has been divided into three parts, on account of its length, but it is really an organic whole. It is a valuable summary of his theoretical and technical position on group psychotherapy, but it differs significantly from that of group analysis, since it is more psychoanalytic than group-analytic. The main difference is that the author conceives the conductor as a leader and advocates the need for his constant presence from a central position. Group analysis, instead, poses that the conductor should strive to leave his initial central position and help the group to become group-centred and take over the functions he initially performed. The conductor in group analysis is not a leader, but a guide, a coach, or a midwife who accompanies and cares for a natural process. These differences in conception and overall strategy are extensively discussed. Nonetheless, Billow’s presentation has many valuable contributions on the technical level.