The first ‘hybrid’ Foulkes Lecture Study Day in the history of group analysis—‘From the couch to the circle to the streets and to the screens’

Abstract

We were part of this year’s Foulkes Lecture and Study Day (GASi, 2022) and we were left with strong feelings and much to process. I, Maria, reached out to Marci to try to make sense of it all, and we became curious of what might emerge from sharing Marci’s experience in the group in London and Maria’s experience in the online group.

Commentary on Dick Blackwell’s paper on ‘The dialectics of Chat in online large groups’

“…When Chat was not allowed—e.g. during the last Foulkes Lecture Study Day of the Group Analytic Society international (GASi) in May 2022 (see Puschbeck-Raetzell and López Levy, 2022) —I wondered about the level of anxiety, desire to control, and feelings of discomfort of the large group conductors. What Dick Blackwell wrote about ‘personal feelings’ and ‘narcissistic reasons’ as to why Chat is not wanted and/or liked are worth reflecting upon.…”

“…In response, some members said they thought about leaving the group. Others reacted with, ‘permission is not needed but it is hard to speak here when you do not belong to “the club”, please try to acknowledge that’ (Puschbeck-Raetzell and López Levy, 2022: 536)…”

Editor’s Introduction

“…After last year’s online only event, and the previous year’s cancellation, the Foulkes weekend returned to us in a new hybrid form, whereby some of us were able to meet in person for the first time in a long time, whilst others who may not otherwise been able to take part in it at all, joined us from afar. This, as Marcela López Levy and Maria Puschbeck-Raetzell (Puschbeck-Raetzell and López Levy, 2022) point out in their response from the audience’s point of view—another first—held frustration as well as a sense of possibility. However, it is important to acknowledge again here the efforts and dedication of GASi president David Glyn, and scientific committee chair Linde Wotton for enabling these technology-mediated exchanges for members of our Society and others.…”