Abstract

Re-examination of the therapeutic factors in group treatment is not a rhetorical exercise. Developments in our understanding of the group psychic apparatus suggest that this unconscious dimension structures the subject’s psyche from birth onward. Moreover, given the current socio-cultural context’s increasing inability to anchor subjectivity to shared unconscious alliances, community therapy offers valuable tools for the treatment of narcissistic, psychotic and borderline pathologies. Illustrated, in particular, are the stimulus shield, the narcissistic contract and transitional and creative processes.

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