The subjective experience of the self in the large group: two models for study

Large Group: A Brief Historical and Personal Account

Large Group (LG) developed in a postwar period searching for answers about the effects of group membership on the individual. If individuals perpetrating evil in World War II were "banal," a group effect was suspected of eliciting their extreme brutality. Following Bion's ideas, group psychoanalysis explored this using free association in a public setting. Later generations systematized his ideas out of context. They sought to professionalize and extend his and other psychoanalytic group theories yet they still worried that the group effect was regressive. After the Cold War, faith in democracy increased and likewise optimism about the effect of group on the individual. Sociotherapy and therapeutic community could furnish the social context missing in individual psychotherapy. LG could also examine relationships between inside and outside - individual mind and social structure. More recently, however, concern about negative group effects has returned. LG theorists have drawn from relational psychoanalysis, a model based on the intimacy of the individual session. However, personal encounter with "the other" is ideal in a small group setting where members feel they belong. What LG offers is understanding the experience of being in a crowd. Meanwhile, LG is popular at group therapy conferences, but we do not know what draws attendees. If leaders and members harbor different aspirations, they may not work constructively together. It would be helpful to understand what participants seek and how setting and format interact. This article begins with a naïve account of exposure to a crowd and then LG.

The Large Group Experience: Affiliation in a Learning Community

This article is designed to orient prospective members of a large group convened for educational purposes. The authors frame the experience as one of affiliation within a learning community, emphasizing relational processes to facilitate group-as-a-whole understanding, civic mindedness, and systemic change. They provide an historical overview of large group work, a description of basic learning goals and relevant concepts from social psychology, and an elaboration of their relational team model of consultancy. A summary of the large group convened at the Annual Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, AGPA Connect 2018, includes in-session material and integrative commentary. Reflective questions are offered to help readers consider the relevance of large group learning to their professional development as group therapists.