[Therapeutic factors of inpatient analytic group psychotherapy]

Several change mechanisms, their interrelationship, and their relation to outcome as well as to long-term follow-ups have been investigated in an inpatient group therapy. Eight of initially ten patients finished a long-term group in an inpatient setting for severe neurotics and personality disorders. Successful patients were able to change significant behavior characteristics, to develop a higher cohesiveness towards the group and especially to use aspects of family reenactment in order to change internalized significant object representations. The results indicate that important changes occur early during the treatment. The contributing change mechanisms and their interdependency are described and discussed in detail.