The young woman said that she did not understand anything, she did not know what was going on in the group, she felt left out, like a child among grown-ups. She had made similar complaints in previous sessions to which the group had not reacted. It seemed that she would again be ignored. However this time I heard something in her voice which I thought was important. She sounded anxious. I remarked that it might be interesting for the group to explore why they wanted this group member to remain a `child'. There was a short silence. Then an older woman said that it suited her - there were more women in the group than men, she did not need another woman. An older man looked at the girl fondly and said that he thought that she was lovely as she was and should stay like this. A woman exclaimed that she was `so cute', always coming out with things which nobody else mentioned. `I like to confide in her, use her as a mother like my mother used me' was another spontaneous reaction. The group then began to associate with problems of their own adolescence, their wishes and fears. Two women who had adolescent daughters became aware of feelings about them which they had not been in touch with before. The talk widened to families and their jealousies and rivalries, incestuous phantasies and wishes. Each communication was responded to with strong feelings and brought new realizations. The young woman who had listened silently through all this then began to speak. She said that she had been the only one of four siblings who had not known that her parents were planning to separate. She was twelve at the time and it had bothered her ever since. She realized that she had become anxious in the group when she did not know what was happening. She was now able to connect her anxiety to her past experience. She was father's favourite of the four girls in the family. She had been anorexic at the time of her parents' separation but was able to stop it. However, she still had trouble with eating from time to time. The theme did not change until the end of the group. I did not say anything; it seemed totally unnecessary, in fact I felt that it would be an intrusion and interruption of the intense group process in action.
Group Process as a Resocialization Intervention: The Family - People Helping People Project