Group Analytic Psychotherapy in Brazil

Group analytic practice in Brazil began quite early. Highly influenced by the Argentinean Pichon-Rivière, it enjoyed a major development from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Beginning in the 1970s, different factors undermined its development and eventually led to its steep decline. From the mid 1980s on, the number of people looking for either group analytic psychotherapy or group analytic training decreased considerably. Group analytic psychotherapy societies struggled to survive and most of them had to close their doors in the 1990s and the following decade. Psychiatric reform and the new public health system have stimulated a new demand for groups in Brazil. Developments in the public and not-for-profit sectors, combined with theoretical and practical research in universities, present promising new perspectives for group analytic psychotherapy in Brazil nowadays.