Traditions of group psychotherapy in Britain and the USA. A sociocultural historical study with special reference to S. H. Foulkes

Britain and the U.S.A. are very different cultures and over the past fifty years have evolved different traditions of group psychotherapy. The U.S.A.'s strong individual ethos, the emphasis on self-improvement, its optimistic zeal and pragmatism reflected in a faith in science have all influenced its pluralistic tradition of group psychotherapy.; The U.S. tradition of group psychotherapy predates British innovations and is traced to the early religious revivalist, mental hygiene and psychoeducational movements. This influence remains evident in the widespread inspirational-psychoeducational approach exemplified by self-help groups.; The strong tradition of social sciences in the U.S. impacted upon European psychoanalytic theory resulting in a broad revision of classical psychoanalysis. Ego psychology placed a strong emphasis on individual adaptation to the environment. I suggest that certain aspects of contemporary U.S. group theory may be located in the historical context of this revisionist trend.; Britain has a feudal history with a longstanding monarchical and aristocratic class system. In this conservative culture psychoanalysis developed within the narrow confines of the upper-middleclass intellectual elite. It was not readily popularized for mass consumption as in the U.S.; I discuss the prominent ethos of individualism in U.S. culture and illustrate how this emerges in certain aspects of contemporary group therapy. The view of an autonomous individual is critically discussed, in particular how this gives rise to the individual being abstracted from the social realm. The tension between individualism and conformism is related to certain group theories.; It is also suggested that an idealistic hope for eclectic harmony in human affairs is evident. This is elaborated in a discussion of the merging of science and humanism shown to be operating in certain group theories.; Group psychotherapy evolved in Britain during World War II and the post war era, and is generally less eclectic than the U.S. tradition. Bion and S. H. Foulkes were the two major figures. Bion's approach reflects post-war attempts at creating a social alliance between the working-class and professional middle-classes.; Foulkes emerges from the German tradition of critical theorists and was strongly influenced by the gestalt biologist Kurt Goldstein. He gives primacy to the social context and considers the individual emerging from a network of social relationships. In Foulkes' group analysis the group as a whole is the basic unit of observation and the meaning of communication in the group depends upon this total situation.; Foulkes realized the significance of the dialectical relationship between individual and group involving interaction, exchange and transformation in both. The group and individual do not become reified entities and dualism of group versus individual is obviated.