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The disintegrative factor in therapeutic groups as illuminated by kibbutz life

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Abstract

This article deals with the way individuals cope with the threat they experience in the framework of psychodynamic group psychotherapy. This threat, which is understood to be a disintegrative threat, is intensified in the therapeutic group. We see the therapeutic group as possessing attributes of a potential space, in which the participants are enabled to process the defense and coping mechanisms intended to preserve the sense of integration. This will be illustrated by the experiences of individuals who grew up in a kibbutz (an Israeli society in which infants were raised with their peer group) and participated in psychodynamic groups.

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Benyakar, M., Kretsch, R.A. & Gurevitch, M. The disintegrative factor in therapeutic groups as illuminated by kibbutz life. Group 21, 47–59 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02872754

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