Group Analysis and the Affective Disorders

Abstract

In 1988, a Special Section on Group Therapy with Affective Disorders was published in the March issue of Group Analysis. An authoritative review supported the optimism of group therapies for depression. In general, group treatments compare favourably to individual psychotherapy, though the conclusion was that no one form or model of group therapy has great advantage over others. In this article, I shall discuss the nature of depression, the therapeutic aims of the group-analytic approach and attempt a group-analytic typology of depression. I shall then present some observations based on patients with bipolar affective disorders with whom I have worked in group-analytic and couples therapy.