Free Associations, Free Flowing Discussions and Group Thought

The author makes two basic points, ones that have not been elucidated in the literature. The first is that when group associations coalesce, in some sort of unified way, they form in two levels. One level is the manifest theme that the therapist perceives and, in traditional group-as-a-whole approaches, interprets. The second level, the deeper one, is an emerging fantasy, that is, one that has yet to be defined. The existence of these two levels has clinical significance. The classic group-as-a-whole approaches dealt only with the first level. Notably, such approaches often proved ineffective. The reason, according to my thesis, is that they failed to address the second, deeper level.