[Experiences with small groups in a psychiatric hospital (author's transl)]

The author reports on her experience collected over a period of almost three years with psychoanalytic groups in an open ward of the Psychiatric (Land Government-financed) Hospital at Düren. The special feature of this study is that the groups remained together for a short period only (10-12 sessions), so that it was necessary to limit the subjects covered. The problems which came up in these groups were partly due to the specific character of groups made up of in-patients, and partly due to the structure of such short-lived groups. An attempt was made to take advantage of the opportunity of the dual function of the head of an in-patient group, namely, to be the object of reference and transference for the small group and a member of the team for the entire ward, to offer a chance to the group members of focusing conflicts based on the Oedipus complex. In this connection, it was found to be very useful to enlist the help of the nurse or male nurse as co-leader of the group. Patients with a subsiding psychosis derived the greatest benefit from participating in such groups, whereas in the case of patients suffering from depression, participation in such a short-lived group should be discouraged.