FOCUS GROUPS
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I work as a moderator in clinical supervision groups with the ‘Weaving Thoughts’ method, which proposes a unique way of working in small clinical groups that join together. Sharing clinical ideas, especially in an international context, is an important and highly productive experience in contemporary psychoanalysis. A research group’s aim is to draw up and define the main parameters that come into play in psychoanalytic treatment as practiced nowadays, by monitoring and recording the standard nuances in theoretical and practical matters. The goal is to create a genuine work of reflection—an associative “fabric” to which each participant brings his or her thinking, ideas and hypotheses. Relying much less on secondary processes, and more on free association, such group work resembles dream-thinking and is more representative of true psychoanalytic functioning. Through elaboration within the clinical group’s interactive space, the patient of one presenter becomes 'the patient of the group'.  As such, the one who is presenting has the opportunity to broaden his or her understanding of the case and, even more importantly, the group participants will be enabled to create—to live—an altered experience that will enhance their clinical work.

I lead groups in Italy (Bologna, Vittorio Veneto, Venice) and I have had invitations to moderate groups also in New York with Marilyn Rifkin LCSW, who is a training and supervising analyst, faculty member and Fellow at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR). I took part also in other groups in New York, Boston and Chicago with Ronnie Shaw, who is one of the moderators for the North America area.

The proposed method derives from Norman and Salomonsson's research. This method includes a presentation followed by participants' comments and free associations. The group is led by a moderator whose task is to allow the participants to speak, but without intervening with his or her own free associations. The basic idea is that the participants' free associations can help to "weave" a network of thoughts, which is helpful in understanding the deeper levels of the operator-patient relationship.

In my experiences, I found it crucial to rearrange the method according to the needs and timings of the structure where the operation was performed. Similarly, it seemed to me that the ‘Weaving Thoughts’ method, created by Norman and Johan Salomonsson Bjorg, also adapted to different contexts, which proved to be the most effective way in allowing the group to grow and learn how to modulate emotions.

This method follows very precise rules whose main aim is discussing the problems associated with both the presentation and the discussion of clinical material, as well as any issues related to the overall context of work. The method was initially inspired by the Bion's formulation "thoughts without a thinker" and Experiences in Groups (1961), in which group participants reflect on material presented in a way that the authors metaphorically describe as ‘the outcome of a tangle of thoughts that emerges from the material itself’. The purpose of the method is to foster an atmosphere of teamwork that allows thoughts to wander, while also veiling group members from the establishment of basic assumptions that would compromise the integrity of the participants.

In an attempt to deal with different demands, I wondered which was the right formula to propose, as well as which was the right method to follow in order to create the work through thought in groups and through the recognition and sharing of emotions.