Rupture and Repair in Individual and Group Therapy

Rupture and Repair in Individual and Group Therapy

By Haim Weinberg, Ph.D.

Empathic ruptures in therapy are inevitable. Ruptures also occur in groups between group members, between leaders and members, and in the group-as-a-whole. They are also prominent nowadays in organizations and social settings, and without repair, they cause polarization and divisiveness. In the relational approach, rather than striving to be perfect, the therapist acknowledges that there will inevitably be mis-attunements and injuries and focuses on recognizing and repairing such issues. The emphasis is on acknowledging empathic failures and discussing them with the group, thus attempting to repair the hurt; creating powerful experiences that members wished to have with their significant others. Repairing empathic failures and mistakes in therapy can be more powerful in the therapeutic process than intellectual interpretations. Repair leads to a feeling of trust and security and is internalized as the belief that “I can overcome problems.”

In this presentation, Dr. Weinberg will summarize the literature about rupture and repair and bring vignettes from individual, group, and online group therapy.

Speaker information: Haim Weinberg, Ph.D, is a licensed psychologist, group analyst and Certified Group Psychotherapist in private practice in Sacramento, California. He is the past President of the Israeli Association of Group Psychotherapy and of the Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society (NCGPS). Dr. Weinberg is the list-owner of the group psychotherapy professional online discussion forum. He served as the Director of International Programsat the Professional School of Psychology in which he created and coordinates an online doctoral program in group psychotherapy.  He co-edits a series of books about the social unconscious, wrote a book on Internet groups and co-authored a book on Fairy Tales and the social unconscious. His latest co-edited book is “Theory and Practice of Online Therapy.”