Death of a Group Therapist and the Survival of the Group

Children of a Mortal God: A Therapy Group's Journey in the Wake of Their Therapist's Unexpected Death

“…The bridging therapist has to exert the vital ‘sea‐wall’ function of receiving and metabolizing grief and anger about the missing therapist, before the group can continue exploring new waters. Rice et al . (in press) and Steiner (2007) provide in their papers useful clues on how transition can be facilitated through relevant networks.…”

“…Although group therapy patients are considered to have an advantage over individual patients when the therapist dies because of the support that groups can provide (Rice et al ., in press), grief can be painfully intense and may lead to members dropping out instead of making the transition or even whole groups being destroyed in the process (Rutan et al ., 2007). It seems that individual analysis, even after the sudden death of the therapist, may evolve in a linear pattern where most aftershocks can at least be recognized and hopefully worked through within the dyadic relationship to a new therapist and where the analysand is more or less autonomous in her/his decision to continue or discontinue therapy.…”

“…In the literature, different models are proposed on how transition can be smoothly accomplished: there are accounts where the bridging therapist was the one to lead the group into its new era (Lesnik, 2003). There are more structured models as in Rice et al . (in press), where the bridging therapist, after summing up the group's mourning process, led on to the ‘audition’ of two possible therapists, one of whom was finally chosen by the members to continue the work.…”

“…Then again I thought that this attempt would be absolutely artificial, ending up in something alien to me and perceived as incongruent by the group members. Rice et al . (in press), in their account of conducting the group of a recently deceased therapist, describe the transient depersonalizing experience of ‘struggling with what to say in a very atypical, not‐me way’ (p. 16) and later on with the ‘difficult task of re‐finding one's professional voice’ (p. 20).…”