Observations on the use of the synallactic group image technique in an after care group

ONE of the consequences of the recent develop ments in the field of psychiatry is that the hospitalization of the psychotic patient has become brief, and the main emphasis of his treatment is placed on his after-care in the community. As a result, one of the main problems of psychiatry is to find new effective ways to help the patient in his effort to reenter and readjust to society. In order to facilitate this transition, a number of tools are available: chemotherapy, milieu therapy. individual, group, family therapy, vocational counseling. Group therapy has a prominent place among these tools as it provides the patient with the group which is a therapeutic micro-society and a laboratory for growth, corrective emotional experience and development and new skills for his transactions. J. Koseff (1975) wrote on the concept of the group as a transitional object, similar to the transitional object the infant finds as a representation of the mother in his effort to master his anxiety in the process of separation (Winnicott, 1971). In this way. the group may help the psychiatric ‘patient just discharged from the hospital to master his anxiety in the process of transition from the hospital to the community. Following is the author’s description of his experience with an after-care group where art was used in the form of punting. The introduction of the non-verbal communication channel through art in this type of group presents certain advantages over other techniques that rely solely on verbal communication. The technique that was used is called Synallactic Group Image Technique; it was developed during the past 15 years by G. Vassiliou (1968). The technique is used in small groups, (up to eight persons) who meet once or twice a week for 60-90 minutes. Each patient paints spontaneously. The group votes at the beginning of the meeting for the painting they will discuss. This procedure gives the therapist a clue as to the direction the group wishes to take. If, for example, the majority votes for the painting of the most resistant member, the therapist will know that the group will try to break the resistance, or that they will join to form a group resistance, by being involved in artistic or philosophical discussions. After the vote for a painting, the painter is invited to teil the group how he felt before, during and after he did the painting, under what circumstances he did it, what it reminds him of, what it means to him, what title he wants to give it. The other members of the group then are invited to express their own associations, projections, feelings. The overlapping of the projections of the group members on one painting per session is called Collective Image. The Collective Image primarily represents the central theme of the session and has a manifest and a latent content. It is utilized in the same way as a dream is. When the therapist is dealing with patients with severe ego defects, he is dealing more with the manifest content of the painting. To the extent of the resulting overlap, channels of communication open. In the beginning the group communicates through the painting in an impersonal, non-threatening way; instead of saying, “You make me nervous,” a member