Routledge The Anti-Group: Destructive Forces in the Group and their Creative Potential (Routledge Mental Health Classic Editions)

The 'anti-group' is a major conceptual addition to the theory and practice of group psychotherapy. It comprises the negative, disruptive elements, which threaten to undermine and even destroy the group, but when contained, have the potential to mobilise the group's creative processes. Understanding the 'anti-group' gives therapists new perspectives on the nature of relationships and alternative strategies for managing destructive behaviour. Review 'Nitsun has written a superb, at times, brilliant book that is lodged in the group analytic perspective but which integrates in an extremely sophisticated manner, individual psychoanalytic theory from a variety of perspectives, as well as other approaches like systems theory and social psychology.' - Psychoanalytic Books 'This scholarly and highly intelligible volume integrates history, theory, dynamics, and clinical material ... If Dr. Nitsun's masterful effort can encourage more writing and dialogue of failed experiences with and in groups, we will be closer to a coherent theoretical template for our field. The Anti-Group has made a stunning leap in this direction.' - Group Vol 20 No 4 1996 'Anyone who reads this book will find a way of looking at micro-social processes that makes the standard interactionist accounts look shallow and poverty-stricken.' - Sociology 'I would highly recommend the book to anyone interested n groups, especially therapeutic ones, and particularly their nature, evolution and process.' - Therapeutic Communities About the Author Morris Nitsun is a consultant psychologist for the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, a psychotherapist at the Fitzrovia Group Analytic Practice, a training analyst at the Institute of Group Analysis and the convenor of the Diploma in Innovative Group Interventions at the Anna Freud Clinic. His books include The Group as an Object of Desire (Routledge, 2006) and Beyond the Anti-Group: Survival and transformation (Routledge, 2015).