Entitlement and counterentitlement in group therapy

Groups may provide fertile ground for observing, understanding, and working through feelings and fantasies of being special or exceptional. Such manifestations of the psychology of entitlement, which traditionally have been referred to as an aspect of narcissism and a problem of the patient, may be studied in the interactional field encompassing therapist, supervisor, and group. Entitlement may represent both normal and pathological processes, the former relating to self-affirmation, the latter, to the expression of omnipotent thinking and controlling behavior. Entitlement may characterize a developmental stage or process, resistance, an interplay between or among members, including the therapist, and a primary unconscious fantasy expressed in symbolism and dreams. Using myself as an example, I illustrate how the clinician may elucidate entitlement in group and supervisory experience and address how his or her entitlements contribute to the relational matrix.