Free Association,Group Association and Group Dialogue

Abstract

Based on a talk given in Bozen 2010, the following article was written to give an account of the concepts of free association, group association and group dialogue. According to Foulkes, the advance from psychoanalysis to small group psychotherapy was a step from free association to group association. Pat de Maré conceived the subsequent advance from small group therapy to the group analytic work with median and large groups as a step from group association to group dialogue. The article attempts to elucidate the inherent logic of this development. Special attention is paid to the vicissitudes of interpretation in groups, which are compared to the logic of interpretation as advocated by J. Lacan. The subject of meaning is approached as a crucial issue of group analytic theory and practice. In a final paragraph, the relation between group dialogue and collective consciousness will be explored and the contrasted to Lacan’s notion of the Other.