Psychoanalysis Journals

Malcolm Pines’ seminal article, ‘Reflections on Mirroring’ (1982) is discussed in a special journal edition honouring and expanding upon his life work. In ‘Reflections’, Pines elaborates on the mirror as metaphor for human experience using clinical material as well as references to mythology, literature, and natural science. The present author reviews Pines’ commentary on ‘mirroring’ as it bears upon both personal growth and human destructiveness. He then considers the advantages and limitations of the mirroring concept in understanding social and group development. The mirror has become a metaphor for contemporary concepts in psychoanalysis such as empathy, attunement, attachment, and intersubjectivity, where emphasis is placed on ongoing interactions, rather than memories and representations as such. Since neuroscience increasingly supports the related concept of the ‘social brain’, the author discusses recently discovered ‘mirror neurons’ and the notion of the ‘ego tunnel’ as they relate to Pines’ ‘Reflections on Mirroring’, especially regarding group-as-a-whole dynamics and the ‘group illusion’.

The author tells the history of his relationship with Malcolm Pines, and uses it in order to describe the latter’s personality and thinking, as well as to trace the influence that he has had on his thinking and practice. The focus of the discussion is on Malcolm’s understanding of the socio-political context of mental processes, including the creation of psychoanalysis by Freud, and the inner politics of psychoanalytical and group-analytical institutions. Malcolm is described as a revolutionary character, in Fromm’s terms. The article is a celebration of Pines’ life and contributions, as he reaches the age of 85.

Group-analytic training is based on the triadic model of personal therapy, supervision and theory. All of these fields, especially the last, involve an element of teaching and learning, and it is this somewhat neglected aspect of group analysis that I would like to consider, in a personal memoir which places in the foreground my recollections of one of our most distinguished teachers, Malcolm Pines, whose 85th birthday is celebrated in this issue of the journal.

Using material from previous European Symposia in Group Analysis this article pays homage to Malcolm Pines 85th birthday by discussing dynamics of, and how to arrange group-analytic large groups. It is suggested that large group dynamics are strongly influenced by a stratum of group members who have voices favoured by the large group. This stratum act as culture brokers during years between and during events, and the conductors are often recruited from this stratum. The difficulties of reality testing in the large groups, due to increasing participation numbers and to the neglect of physical arrangements and acoustics, are exposed as reasons for ambivalence towards the large group from new-comers and experienced participants. Inspiration for future discussion of these matters is offered—discussion also acts as a tribute to Malcolm Pines, who, throughout his professional life, has strongly encouraged the development of the group-analytic frame of reference.

This article is an expression of gratitude to Malcolm Pines who has been both a personal mentor and a robust supporter of the Israeli Institute for Group Analysis. The firm friendship which we developed, as well as his strong links with Israel and his wish to see us well, secure and developing are a source of great comfort. I would not have started to write at all if he had not provided encouragement over a decade ago. Thus this article is not only an effort to use the group clinically and an attempt to overcome difficulties politically by group work, but is itself an outcome of Malcolm’s influence. Beyond many other possible citations, I use two of the most relevant:

‘My belief is that the therapist has always to earn the right to make any interpretation. Truths are always personal. There is no objective, impersonal truth given by a therapist pronouncing objective truth about the patient. To speak out what you believe to be true about another person’s life is to engage with them in a shared encounter . . .’ (Pines, 1993: 101); and,

‘A new group has a limited range of communication, as its capacity to contain, to hold and ultimately to understand what people are expressing in their illnesses is limited. Over the time the range of responsiveness and understanding greatly widens . . . ’ (Pines, 1993: 102).

This article is about the difficulties of painfully working through our own truths and the advantages and limitations of group development.

Malcolm Pines was instrumental to the establishment of group analytic training in Norway. My personal relation to Malcolm was coined by our shared interest in self-psychology and group analysis. In this article I take the opportunity to rethink the foundation of narcissism. Heinz Kohut regarded the ultimate source of narcissism to be an innate striving for perfection, which had to be modified and mourned with the help of reliable and good enough selfobjects. An alternative evolutionary perspective leads us to group dynamics. Alfamale behaviour among primates satisfies all criteria for DSM-IV narcissistic personality disorder, except for the overall requirement of being maladaptive. What we label narcissism seems thus to be behavioural tendencies that are linked to our genetic heritage of being primates. If so, narcissism is not the heir of each individual’s striving for perfection, but predominantly a group phenomenon. The case of narcissism indicates, paradoxically, that we possibly harbour an inborn tendency to take a group perspective with respect to own and other’s strivings.

Establishing group analytic psychotherapy as part of the academic offering in a clinical psychology-training programme requires revisiting the models and basic stance on training. This article outlines the significant shifts adopted when changing a traditional lecturer-centred approach to a relational model. Some of the arresting dilemmas created by social and academic isolation are highlighted. The significance of a personal validating participatory experience in bridging the divides is then discussed. The important role of Malcolm Pines is reviewed: in liaising and encouraging links and forging theoretical refinement and expansion, and his affirming contribution of scholarly works and professional discourse to widen group analytic practice.

The author gives particular emphasis to the work of Malcolm Pines. Above all, he stresses his contribution in studying in-depth specific non-transference factors in group analysis with special attention to mirroring phenomena and coherence, fundamental to ego-self training in action. Attention is given to the recent in-depth study and correlation between neurobiology, mirror neurons and group analysis. Malcolm Pines’ work is considered as being key to the creation of a bridge between S.H. Foulkes and Patrick de Maré.

The phenomena of silence and quietness have been omnipresent in human life since its beginning. Nevertheless, they are rarely explored in their comprehensive and particular meanings. The author explores the meanings of silence and quietness in psychotherapy and in everyday life through theoretical considerations, clinical and social life examples, bearing in mind the psychodynamic/group analytic frame of reference. The dynamics of the transformation of non-verbal communication into verbal, the many meanings of an apparent lack of communication, and its understanding and differentiation from the culture of keeping silent are discussed, as well as the roles of internal and external group influences. In conclusion, the author refers to the phenomena of silence and quietness as regressive, repressive, transitional, transferential and countertransferential, as well as progressive phenomena spectrum.

This article is dedicated to Malcolm Pines for the pleasant and thought provoking encounters, both personally and through his works, and for his sharp eye in perceiving messages and nuances of verbal and silent communications in depth and width, that inspired me to examine the contents of silences.

Apart from being himself a creative and prolific writer, Malcolm Pines has also been an important editor of group analytic writings. In that role, he has generously encouraged, furthered and tutored a good many group analysts in their own efforts to write (including myself). As an editor, a particular focus and concern of Malcolm’s have been the writings of S.H. Foulkes, which he tirelessly sought to make public and to promote— and which, after all, was never an easy task from the beginning. The following article has been written to honour this huge editorial effort, its intellectual rigour and underlying eros. In it, I shall (re)approach Foulkes’ early review of Kurt Goldstein’s The Organism (1934), one of his lesser known articles which was to appear in English only after Foulkes’ death. Translated and abridged by E. Foulkes and introduced by M. Pines, it missed some of the nuances of the German original, and thus important traces regarding the scientific background of Foulkes’ work, especially the legacy of Goldstein’s cousin, the philosopher E. Cassirer.