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Observing groups as seen from both sides of the looking glass

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This paper attempts to make a contribution to an area of the literature on group therapy about which very little has been published—the effects of the therapy group upon the observing group and the dynamics of the observing group as an entity in itself. Although work on which this paper is based took place in training institutions where education is the primary function, it is important to emphasize that education and personal change are interrelated. Psychotherapeutic activity takes place spontaneously with the observers and needs to be constructively utilized. This wealth of process and reaction is an untapped training opportunity for the observing group. The challenge of method, personal reactions, and group process responses are all opportunities for its members to both learn more as therapists and mature as individuals. At this juncture, we are trying to establish ways of

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Author notes

  1. James F. McGloin Jr. ACSW (the former Executive Director of the Marital and Family Therapy Clinic in the University of Michigan, is a doctoral student)

    Present address: the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wayne, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wayne State University Medical Schools, Michigan, USA

    Peter A. Martin MD (Clinical Professor of Psychiatry)

  2. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Steven Boles MA (is a social worker in private practice)

  3. Toledo, Ohio, USA

    Steven Boles MA (is a social worker in private practice)

  4. Psychiatry Outpatient Department, Uiversity of Michigan, Riverview Building, 48104, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Peter A. Martin MD (Clinical Professor of Psychiatry), Muriel Tornga ACSW (Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School and Executive Director of the Marital and Family Therapy Clinic, Outpatient Department of Psychiatry) & James F. McGloin Jr. ACSW (the former Executive Director of the Marital and Family Therapy Clinic in the University of Michigan, is a doctoral student)

Authors
  1. Peter A. Martin MD
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  2. Muriel Tornga ACSW
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  3. James F. McGloin Jr. ACSW
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  4. Steven Boles MA
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Martin, P.A., Tornga, M., McGloin, J.F. et al. Observing groups as seen from both sides of the looking glass. Group 1, 147–161 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02383079

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02383079

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