Scapegoating in Group Therapy: Insights from Girard's Mimetic Theory

Scapegoating in group psychotherapy is a pervasive, complex, and challenging phenomenon for many group leaders. How scapegoating is worked through by the group can have a profound impact on whole-group dynamics and functioning. Although some key aspects of scapegoating have been identified in the psychoanalytic literature, the authors urge group leaders to consider systemic and group-level perspectives in depth. This article draws heavily from Yvonne Agazarian's Systems-Centered Therapy, which provides a practical foundation for anticipating and preventing scapegoating in group therapy. The authors also explore scapegoating through the framework of René Girard's Mimetic Theory, which offers a compelling anthropological explanation for why human beings scapegoat as well as a description of how scapegoat dynamics evolve in groups. Insights based on Mimetic Theory are integrated with existing interventions to suggest new ways of working through this critical group phenomenon.