The document provides details of an existential group training program taking place in June 2010. It includes the daily schedule, with sessions on theory, exercises, skills training, and feedback. Some discussion topics are noted at the end, including questions about absent participants, the future of the program, and how the skills training sessions will be structured. The training aims to provide experiential learning about existential group theory and practice through a combination of instruction and interactive exercises.

1. EXISTENTIAL GROUP TRAINING
Digby Tantam
Deputy Director, former NSPC
Clinical Professor of Psychotherapy,
University of Sheffield
Jackie Lewis
www.existentialacademy.com 1

2. 10-10.45 Theory
10.45-11.30 Exercise
12-12.45 Skills training
12.45-1 Feedback
14-14.45 Theory
14.45-15.30 Exercise
16-16.45 Skills training
16.45-17 Feedback
Existential group training, June 2010

3. Why isn’t Emmy here?
Where has NSPC gone?
What will happen next term/ year?
.
Existential group training, June 2010
www.existentialacademy.com 3

4. Why isn’t Emmy here?
Where has NSPC gone?
What will happen next term/ year?
There are 10 skills training sessions, and 16 of
us: how do these fit together.
The skills training will be to co-conduct a group
experience
I will conduct the first, Jackie Lewis, the last.
Existential group training, June 2010
www.existentialacademy.com 4

5. UMWELT: THE WORLD,
THE ENVIRONMENT
Experienced differently as a
result of different perceptions
(von Uexkull) or ‘Erschlossenheit
or disclosure
Experience via knowing
‘Verklärung”’ of Dilthey: present-
at-hand or Vorhandenheit
Afforded experience (J J
Gibson): the ready-to-hand
(Zuhandenheit)
5
22/9/2007

6. Existential group training, June 2010
www.existentialacademy.com 6

7. In section 26 of Being and Time
Heidegger states: "By reason of
this with-like being-in-the-world,
the world is always the one that I
share with others. The world of
Dasein is a with-world [Mitwelt].
Being-in is being-with [Mitsein]
others. Their being-in-themselves
within-the-world is Dasein-with
[Mitdasein]" (Macquarrie and
Robinson, New York: Harper and
Row, 1962. p. 155,
MITSEIN
7
22/9/2007

8. BOTH FACT
Sulphur bacteria taken from the sea bed Aarhus

9. Slime mould Physarum polycephalum metamorphosing in response to starvation to from plasmodium to
sporangiophore in response to starvation

11. Hunyuan hanging temple, Mt. Hengshan, Shanxi

13. Avatar, 2010, dir. James Cameron
Existential group training, June 2010
www.existentialacademy.com 13

14. Thrown into Mitsein, finding
there ‘Befindlichkeit’ a
kind of Stimmung or
attunement (more like
resonance), a ‘mood’
RESONANCE
14
22/9/2007

15. Existential group training, June 2010
Tallinn Dimensions of personal world view in existential individual and group therapy 15

16. Derived from the three dimensions of R. Freed Bales
Where is therapeutic group?
(Outside)
threat
vs. security
6/24/10 Modum Bad 16

17. Structural dimensions and the three dimensions of R. Freed
Bales
Open vs cl
leader-cen
permissive
osed,
tered vs.
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18. EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE
Consciousness
Individual (pour soi) or role (pour
autrui)?
Intersubjectivity
Fusion or aloneness
Absurdity
Meaning taken from others or
created anew with others
Inescapable social emotions
(nausea)
Lust, belongingness, shame,
disgust, anxiety
18
22/9/2007

19. SARTRE:
ETRE POUR-SOI
Hegel Fürsich
www.existentialacademy.com 19

20. Focussing on groups today
So we leave out the
‘intrapersonal’ and focus on
the ‘interpersonal’
EN-SOI
Hegel: Ansich
20

21. THE LOOK
“…let us imagine that moved by
jealousy, curiosity, or vice I have just
glued my ear to the door and looked
through the keyhole”, somewhat
unrealistically given the difficulties of
both putting one’s eye and one’s ear
to a door, “….But all of a sudden I
hear footsteps in the hall. Someone
is looking at me… I shudder as a
wave of shame sweeps over me” (B
& N pp260-277).
Inaugural existential conference Doing to Being, Sydney

22. THE LOOK
Feeling the look on one’s back
Caught in a moment of private excitement
– Jealousy, curiosity, vice
The look is not returned
The other is not a person with a particular
reaction e.g. a facial expression, but the
Other, a totalization
The name of the father, the Master, the
State, authority, grandfather Schweitzer
Inaugural existential conference Doing to Being, Sydney

23. ETRE POUR AUTRUI: BEING FOR
OTHERS
“..I persevere in it [in looking through the key-hole],
I shall feel my heart beat fast, at the slightest
creaking of the stairs. Far from disappearing
with my first alarm, the Other is present
everywhere, below me, above me, in the
neighbouring rooms, and I continue to feel
profoundly my being- for-others” (B & Np.277).
Inaugural existential conference Doing to Being, Sydney

24. POUR-AUTRUI
Hegel: Für-Andere
Master-slave
Dominance-submission
Relations of power
Sadism or masochism
Seriality
24

25. FORMATIVE SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Are we at the moment in question orientating
ourselves to:
– A small or a large group?
– A consensus or a conflicted group?
– A secure or a threatened group?
Where did this experience come from?
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26. Think about your first group. Your family
perhaps
What were its formative conditions, and how has
it influenced you since?
Be prepared to discuss this with the group for a
few minutes
Existential group training, June 2010
26

27. Security Threat
Small Freedom to explore, Enmeshment
confidence in external
relations
Large Porous boundaries, Rigid boundaries,
fluid culture emphasis on
suppression of
deviance, and on
cultural and other
identity
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28. LARGE GROUPS,
SERIALITY
Could be quite a small number of people who are
merely associated, for example in a waiting room
or, to use Sartre’s example, at a bus stop
They are a group because they share some
identifying feature which might simply be that there
are co-located
People in this kind of group are identified by some
extrinsic characteristic: their job, their ‘role’ or part,
a number
6/24/10 Modum Bad 28

29. ‘I live alone, entirely alone. I never speak to
anyone, never; I receive nothing, I give
nothing… When you live alone you no
longer know what it is to tell something:
the plausible disappears at the same
time as the fiends. You let events flow
past; suddenly you see people pop up
who speak and who go away, you plungeSerial seducers: Simone de
into stories without beginning or end: youand lover Jean-Paul
Beauvoir
make a terrible witness. But in Sartre, whose writing paved
compensation, one misses nothing, no for our Godless
the way
permissive times, lived private
improbability or, story too tall to be
lives of utter depravity
believed in cafes’. Read more Daily Mail,
(Sartre, 1964, The Critique of Dialectical Reason, which has the subtitle (in the English
translation): the theory of practical groups). October 2008
6/24/10 Modum Bad 29

30. LARGE VS. SMALL
CITIZENSHIP VS. INTIMACY
PRAXIS VS. PRACTICO-
INERT
SERIALITY VS.
RECIPROCITY
The eternal struggle:
I-THOU VS. I-ITand interbrain
Bernard Mandeville, 1705. Consciousness
Born in Rotterdam, died of ‘flu
in Hackney, London. Society (God vs. animal/ ontological vs.
prospers from vice and not
virtue i.e from individualism
ontic/ selfish vs. altruistic/
and not mergence resistance vs. transference/
Reflexive processing vs. explicit
processing/ Ego vs. Id)
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31. Small
– Reciprocity
– Negativity counteracted by
intimacy
– Emotional loneliness
– Shared emotions
– Aggression and conflict
resolved, if they are, by Large
forgiveness Justice: Sartre’s examples of
seriality
Negativity contained by power or
authority
Social loneliness
Shared tasks
Aggression and conflict resolved by
negotiation, avoidance or war
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32. SARTRE’S CRITERIA OF RECIPROCITY
that the Other be a means to the exact degree that
I am a means myself
that I recognize the Other as praxis
that I recognize his movement toward his own
ends in the very movement by which I project
myself toward mine
that I discover myself as an object and instrument
of his ends by the same act which makes him an
object and instrument of mine
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33. THE THIRD PARTY/ Linking individual and
MEDIATING OTHER group praxis
33

34. SARTRE ON SMALL GROUPS
The fused group
– When each becomes the third party for the
other
What creates the small group?
– Cooperative action
– Terror management
– The fear of death or annihilation
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35. KEY IDEAS OF GROUP THERAPY HISTORY ARE
the other is a mirror…
one can discover oneself through group
participation..
Based on the social relations school of psychology,
and the notion of interpersonal learning.
Adherents of this position include Cooley and the
Chicago school of social relations, Jung,
Sullivan, Lewin, encounter groups, and
humanistic psychology.
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36. What is the connection between the ball and the square?
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37. KEY IDEAS OF GROUP THERAPY HISTORY ARE
the other is a mirror…
one can discover oneself through group
participation..
Based on the social relations school of psychology,
and the notion of interpersonal learning.
Adherents of this position include Cooley and the
Chicago school of social relations, Jung,
Sullivan, Lewin, encounter groups, and
humanistic psychology.
6/24/10 Modum Bad 37

38. LINKS BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND
THE GROUP
Identification
Tallinn Dimensions of personal world view in existential individual and group therapy 38

39. LINKS BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND
THE GROUP
Networks (of exchange)
39

40. LINKS BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND
THE GROUP
Narrative
40

41. Jacob Levy Moreno (born Iacob Levy)
Born May 18, 1889
Bucharest, Romania
Sephardic family: Spain, Istanbul, Bulgaria, Romania,
Vienna, New York
Died May 14, 1974 (aged 84)
Residence New York, USA
Fields Theory, education, psychiatry, psychology,
psychotherapy, psychoanalysis
Institutions University of Vienna
Known for Sociometry, Psychodrama, social
network theory
Tallinn Dimensions of personal world view in existential individual and group therapy 41

42. "I attended one of Freud’s lectures. He had just finished an
analysis of a telepathic dream. As the students filed out, he singled
me out from the crowd and asked me what I was doing. I
responded, 'Well, Dr. Freud, I start where you leave off. You meet
people in the artificial setting of your office. I meet them on the
street and in their homes, in their natural surroundings. You
analyze their dreams. I give them the courage to dream again. You
analyze and tear them apart. I let them act out their conflicting roles
and help them to put the parts back together again.’
Jacob Moreno, Autobiography
Tallinn Dimensions of personal world view in existential individual and group therapy 42

43. SOCIOGRAM
Tallinn Dimensions of personal world view in existential individual and group therapy 43

44. ‘There is a view of life which conceives that
where the crowd is, there is also the truth,
and that in truth itself there is need of
having the crowd on its side. There is
another view of life which conceives that
wherever there is a crowd there is untruth,
so that (to consider for a moment the
extreme case), even if every individual,
each for himself in private, were to be in
possession of the truth, yet in case they
were all to get together in a crowd - a
crowd to which any decisive significance
is attributed, a voting, noisy, audible
crowd - untruth would at once be in
evidence’ (Kierkegaard, 1846; Dedication).
6/24/10 Modum Bad 44

45. ‘We still do not know where the urge for truth
comes from; for as yet we have heard only of the
obligation imposed by society that it should exist:
to be truthful means using the customary
metaphors - in moral terms, the obligation to lie
according to fixed convention, to lie herd-like in a
style obligatory for all.’
On truth and lie in an extra-moral sense. Nietzsche, 1873,
Nachlass, trans. W. Kaufman
6/24/10 Modum Bad 45

46. INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVES
Large and conflicted group:
– Tribal loyalty, stereotyping, identification (cf.
Sherif and Sherif)
Small and secure group
– Identification vs. identity

47. THEORIES OF THE INTERACTION OF INDIVIDUALS AND SMALL GROUPS
Moreno:
-- network
S H Foulkes:
– plexus and nexus (relationships outside the group, relationships
in the group)
– vertical vs. horizontal dimension (internal vs. external object)
– for conductor, analysing the individual in the group, or analysis
the group
– matrix
Lewin
--- field theory
6/24/10 Modum Bad 47

48. Theory of conflict and threat
KURT LEWIN Protagonist of field theory
Founder of of research center
on Group Dynamics at MIT
Developer of Bethel Institute
from which T groups
developed
Applied social psychological
methods to study of groups
6/24/10
Modum Bad
48

49. 6/24/10 Modum Bad 49

50. LEWIN’S RESEARCH PRIORITIES AT RESEARCH
CENTRE ON GROUP DYNAMICS AT MIT
 "The conditions which improve the effectiveness of
community leaders who are attempting to better
intergroup relations”
 "The effect of the conditions under which contact
between persons from different groups takes place”
 "The influences which are most effective in producing in
minority-group members and increased sense of
belongingness, and improved personal adjustment, and
better relations with individuals of other groups" (Marrow, 1969,
p.192)
6/24/10 Modum Bad 50

51. FIELD THEORY
human behaviour should be seen as part of a continuum
individual variations from the norm being a function of
tensions between perceptions of the self and of the
environment
the whole psychological field, or "lifespace," within which
the person acted had to be viewed
the totality of events in this lifespace determined behaviour
at any one time. used topological systems (maplike
representations) to graphically depict psychological
forces
6/24/10 Modum Bad 51

52. LEWIN’S CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR DIAGNOSIS
clients (individuals, groups, and organizations) become
"frozen" or stuck in their current, metastable or quasi-
equilibrium state.
Change requires"unfreezing" or create movement in the
client system moving it towards the desired state and
then
"re-freezing" the system in the new state.
The new state may be determined by identification with a
person or a group, or by an individual’s response to the
driving and restraining forces in the social field.
6/24/10 Modum Bad 52

53. UNFREEZING METHODS
 Burning platform: Expose or create a crisis.
 Challenge: Inspire them to achieve remarkable things.
 Command: Just tell them to move!
 Evidence: Cold, hard data is difficult to ignore.
 Destabilizing: Shaking people of their comfort zone.
 Education: Learn them to change.
 Management by Objectives (MBO): Tell people what to do, but not
how.
 Restructuring: Redesign the organization to force behaviour
change.
 Rites of passage: Hold a wake to help let go of the past.
 Setting goals: Give them a formal objective.
 Visioning: Done well, visions work to create change.
 Whole-system Planning: Everyone planning together.
6/24/10 Modum Bad 53

54. AGAZARIAN AND SYSTEMS CENTERED
THEORY
Influence of general systems theory and Durkins
Traceable back to Lewin
Bit simplistic but one good idea:
Siding with the sub-group
54

55. S H (‘MICHAEL’) FOULKES
Born Fuchs in Germany
Studied with Goldstein, trained
as psycho-analyst
Captain in charge at Northfield
during WW2
Co-founder, Institute of Group
Analysis, London
Consultant Psychotherapist,
Maudsley Hospital
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Died conducting a group
Modum Bad
55

56. KEY CONCEPTS OF FOULKES
Plexus and nexus
Matrix
Location of a problem in the group
Resonance of a group theme
Condenser phenomenon
Dynamic administration of the conductor
Interpretation by the group
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57. A SIMPLIFYING HYPOTHESIS:!
 1. anxiety, depression, and dissatisfaction stem from a
failure to make or maintain satisfactory social
relationships"
 2. the failure to make or maintain social relationships is
due to:"
 a. use of abnormal defences (Freud)"
 b. projective identification and splitting (Klein)"
 c. parataxic distortion (Sullivan)"
 3. distorted social relationships and normal group (e.g.
family development) are antithetical"
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58. “To man the world is twofold in
accordance with his twofold attitude.
The attitude of man is twofold in
accordance with the twofold nature of
the primary words which he speaks.
The primary words are not isolated
words, but combined words. The one
primary word is the combination I-
Thou. The other primary word is the
combination I-It wherein, without a
change in the primary word, one of
the words He and She can replace
it” (Buber, 2003: 53)
6/24/10 Modum Bad 58

59. UNADDRESSED PROBLEMS
A group may not be a
microcosm of society
Society may turn on the
deviant
Morality and the problem of
evil
Inherent qualities of the
individual, esp. shame
The fundamental opposition
6/24/10
of individual and group
59

60. BION’S BASIC
ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT
GROUP
TRANSFERENCE
 Groups deviate from
their tasks when they
become preoccupied
with their own survival."
 Groups make one of
three basic assumptions
about surviving:"
 1. To Pair"
 2. To fight or flee
(flight)"
 3. To submit
(dependence)
6/24/10 Modum Bad 60

61. Missing members
portfolioJackie
Feedback
exercise
61

62. FOCAL CONFLICT THEORY (AFTER
WHITAKER AND EZRIEL)!
DISTURBING ! !REACTIVE !
MOTIVE ! ! !MOTIVE!
(Avoided ! ! !(Calamitous !
relationship) ! ! !relationship)!
Desire, wish, or " "Fear, guilt, or "
impulse " " " "shame"
!!
!DISPLACEMENT!
!(Required relationship)!
"Symptom, ambivalence, double-bind"
6/24/10 Modum Bad 62

63. KEY IDEAS OF GROUP THERAPY HISTORY ARE
we are, either individuals who discover the social
world (Freud), or social beings who have to learn
to be individual (Jung, Foulkes)
So either being an individual or losing oneself in a
group are problematized
May be a cultural dimension to this
6/24/10 Modum Bad 63

64. KEY IDEAS OF GROUP THERAPY HISTORY ARE
Resistance to change is a sine qua non of being a person
Resistance to change is therefore reinforced by social
factors
Cf. cognitive dissonance
resistance may be differently attributed to:
– an irrational distrust of the kindliness of groups. or
– a realistic appraisal of the negative and anti-individual
forces in groups, such as shaming, jealousy, and
hatred of the other.
6/24/10 Modum Bad 64

65. CONDUCTOR'S ROLE UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES: TO THE GROUP ITSELF!
Selection and composition"
Dynamic administration"
Boundary management"
Be reliable "
– Personally"
– Time, day, place of group"
Ensure privacy and lack of distraction"
Respect values of group"
– autonomy, confidentiality"
Have a palatable flavour"
6/24/10 Modum Bad 65

66. CONDUCTOR'S ROLE UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES!
Use sub-groups effectively"
– Agazarian’s ‘system-centered therapy’ and exploratory rather
than rigid subgrouping "
Be a culture bearer"
Translate (into language and cultural symbols)"
Locate and alter focus from individual to group, or vice
versa: the advantage rule"
Attempt to regulate anxiety via structure/ attend to the
primary task"
Attempt to regulate social involvement by switching group/
individual focus (www.ormont.org)"
6/24/10 Modum Bad 66

67. LOOKING OUTSIDE GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY: TRANSFORMATIONAL (VS.
TRANSACTIONAL) LEADERSHIP
BASS, B. M. AND STEIDLMEIER, P. (1998). ETHICS, CHARACTER AND AUTHENTIC TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP, AT:
HTTP://CLS.BINGHAMTON.EDU/BASSSTEID.HTML
Increasing their awareness of task importance and
value.
Getting them to focus first on team or
organizational goals, rather than their own
interests.
Activating their higher-order needs.
Charisma necessary, but not sufficient, for example
6/24/10 Modum Bad 67

68. WHAT IS CHARISMA?
Evoking strong emotions
Promoting identification of others with them
6/24/10 Modum Bad 68

69. INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF ‘AUTHENTIC’ TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Individualized Consideration – the degree to which the leader attends to each follower's needs, acts
as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and needs. The leader gives empathy and
support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers. This also encompasses the need for
respect and celebrates the individual contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a will and
aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks.
Intellectual Stimulation – the degree to which the leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits
followers' ideas. Leaders with this style stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers. They nurture and develop
people who think independently. For such a leader, learning is a value and unexpected situations are seen as opportunities
to learn. The followers ask questions, think deeply about things and figure out better ways to execute their tasks.
Inspirational Motivation –have a strong sense of purpose if they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and
meaning provide the energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by
communication skills that make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to invest
more effort in their tasks, they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in the degree to which the leader
articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge followers with
high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to
believe in their abilities.
Idealized Influence – Provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains respect and trust.
6/24/10 Modum Bad 69

70. MORAL FOUNDATIONS OF ‘AUTHENTIC’ TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
The moral character of the leader.
The ethical values embedded in the leader’s vision,
articulation, and program (which followers either
embrace or reject).
The morality of the processes of social ethical choice and
action that leaders and followers engage in and
collectively pursue.
This is in contrast with pseudo-transformational leadership,
where, for example, in-group/out-group 'us and them'
games are used to bond followers to the leader.
6/24/10 Modum Bad 70

71. What are the implications for psychotherapy?
Work with a companion for 5 minute on this.
WHAT WILL YOU REMEMBER?
6/24/10 Modum Bad 71

72. SARTRE’S CRITERIA OF RECIPROCITY
that the Other be a means to the exact degree that
I am a means myself
that I recognize the Other as praxis
that I recognize his movement toward his own
ends in the very movement by which I project
myself toward mine
that I discover myself as an object and instrument
of his ends by the same act which makes him an
object and instrument of mine
6/24/10 Modum Bad 72

73. CONDUCTOR'S ROLE IN A CRISIS!
Consider transference and counter-transference:
falling into unreality"
Interpret"
6/24/10 Modum Bad 73

74. LEADERSHIP TOWARDS THE DEFINED TASK
What it’s not
– Not fallenness
• Not therefore, idle talk
• Curiosity
• Ambiguity/ equivocation
An increase in freedom, in the free fling of the soul: may mean an
increased awareness of particular being in the world
—’resoluteness’
Some relation to ethical reflection, to transcendental or spiritual
concerns, to well-being, to acceptance
Something that’s good to do but nice to stop, like listening to Bruckner
6/24/10 Modum Bad 74