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This article is a response to Miriam Berger's Foulkes lecture on the importance of facts and the healing potential of group therapy. The author reflects on their own experiences working with war veterans and the impact of traumatic events on their lives. They discuss the difficulty of facing the fact that one has killed another human being and the long-lasting effects of such experiences. The author also emphasizes the importance of creating a safe and supportive environment in group therapy to facilitate the sharing of traumatic facts and promote healing. [Extracted from the article]

In the seventh chapter, Shihui Han discusses a sociocultural neuroscientific perspective on how ingroup bias can lead to differences in empathy and the relationship to social behaviour. He states ... the ingroup bias in empathy reflects a pivotal social demand of ingroup help and intergroup competition that are critical for individuals' survival during human development. [Extracted from the article]

This paper describes the implementation of psychodynamic treatments in Croatia, and the development of training programmes and professional bodies to facilitate this approach. The article is written in three parts, commencing with a historical overview. This is followed by a detailed description of the development of Group Analysis in Croatia. The paper concludes with a comprehensive report of the RIPEPP programme, a psychodynamic intervention for people experiencing psychosis and members of their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author focuses on teh use of expressions demanding forgiveness. It mentions the significance and possibilities of forgiving attitude in the professional psychological spheres. It also mentions the working of the writer Farhad Dalal regarding teh phenomenon of forgiveness and possibility of completing the forgiving process.

Group psychotherapy is widely accepted for treatment of patients suffering from psychosis. Nevertheless, some uncertainties remain regarding efficacy of insight-oriented group psychotherapy in these cases. Embracing the thinking of those authors that consider corrective symbiotic experience as essential in psychotherapeutic treatment for patients with psychosis, we explore the possibilities of group psychotherapy in enabling corrective emotional experience in our group therapeutic activity. Through some clinical examples from long-term outpatient group psychodynamic psychotherapy, which was insight oriented, we demonstrate how this method works with patients suffering from psychosis in a carefully selected group. Our experiences are positive, showing that the group analytically informed approach can offer a corrective symbiotic experience to patients with psychosis. However, patients with very deep symbiotic needs, who exclusively demand gratification of their symbiotic transferences, are not recommended for inclusion in group analytic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's view on the soldier's matrix. The author states that it intends to designate constructive, positive direction of engaging activities, and having in mind that the existence of cultural achievement is guaranteed unless the usefulness and importance of achievement has been understand. The author mentions that the soldier matrix can unfold up to a certain level.

Victims with traumatic histories and hatred may suspect that forgiveness is an impossible illusion and resign themselves to an existence in a harsh, hostile world in which one is destined to live chronically by one’s sword; such a stance undermines constructive vision, hinders learning from experience, and obstructs healing and renewal. It is therefore crucial to enable the unfolding of a culture of forgiveness as an essential element woven into the process of reconciliation with oneself and others. In the framework of this dynamic the process of mourning all losses is of crucial importance, in order to restore the capacity to believe and to enable a dialogue to unfold. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The rapid development of new technologies has led to significant changes in the work environment in general, as well as in seafaring, namely on board. Moreover, the daily life of the modern man is inextricably intertwined with technology. Its impact on personal and professional life leads to a series of changes that are reflected not only in the mode of business performance but also in the influence of private events during professional work. The significant and rapid progress of technology presents a challenge to our consciousness and conscience that has to be discussed over and over again, as both categories are exposed to the influence of personal experiences and environment. Originating from the interaction of one's personality and his environment, our consciousness and conscience potentiate us to act in accordance with socially established rules and values. In addition, the lack of training after the official education, except by inertia with respect to the requirements of the work position, certainly increases the percentage of errors, ultimately leading to difficulties in performing vocation and even to disaster. The tragedy aboard Costa Concordia and other maritime accidents, involving passenger and cargo vessels with increasing harm to humans and the environment, point to the growing importance of the categories of human consciousness and conscience in performing the profession of seafarer's profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's view on an article that represents an attempt to systematize the different approaches to the knowledge on empathy. He mentions that the motherly channel of communication is the most appropriate primal to connect with regressed patients. He also proposes that the most appropriate attunement for severely regressed patients is the offer and establishment of corrective symbiotic experience in the framework of corrective emotional experience.

The authors served as psychiatrists during the recent war in Croatia, 1991-1995. From the onset of this armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, their group provided mental health and psychiatric care to waves of refugees, displaced persons, soldiers and former prisoners of war. Such care was also provided to civilians living under the threat of warfare. In this endeavor, the Croatian health service received considerable assistance from international non-governmental organizations. Since the war, professionals in the mental health field have continued to provide help, support and various kinds of treatment to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, coping difficulties and personality changes. Four regional psychotrauma centers (RPCs) have been established in Croatia, together with a network of counseling centers set up as governmental agencies. The Regional Psychotrauma Center of Split (southern Croatia) that serves war veterans and their families will be described herein. Research data will be presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomena of silence and quietness have been omnipresent in human life since its beginning. Nevertheless, they are rarely explored in their comprehensive and particular meanings. The author explores the meanings of silence and quietness in psychotherapy and in everyday life through theoretical considerations, clinical and social life examples, bearing in mind the psychodynamic/group analytic frame of reference. The dynamics of the transformation of non-verbal communication into verbal, the many meanings of an apparent lack of communication, and its understanding and differentiation from the culture of keeping silent are discussed, as well as the roles of internal and external group influences. In conclusion, the author refers to the phenomena of silence and quietness as regressive, repressive, transitional, transferential and countertransferential, as well as progressive phenomena spectrum. This article is dedicated to Malcolm Pines for the pleasant and thought provoking encounters, both personally and through his works, and for his sharp eye in perceiving messages and nuances of verbal and silent communications in depth and width, that inspired me to examine the contents of silences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors document their experiences in small and median groups of supervision of conductors and therapeutic teams who are engaged in group psychotherapy with psychotic patients within different institutional frameworks, and discuss dynamics, as well as the enlarging of therapeutic possibilities of group psychotherapy of group-analytic orientation for application in these settings. They propose the possibility that at times the group itself can become the supervisor, i.e. that the supervision might be effectuated by the group, under guidance of an experienced conductor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Rudolf Gregurek on the internal and external boundaries of supervision and another one by Ljiljana Moro on the role of supervision in training psychotherapists.

The article presents the author's view on the paper about the psychodynamics of the relationship between staff and difficult patients in the nephrology department. According to the author, the researcher has presented the paper comprehensively, in such a way that it allows the readers to understand every aspect of the issue presented. The paper talks about the two subgroups in the nephrology department, the subgroup of patients and the subgroup of nursing staff. The researcher points out the emotions elicited by each subgroup and offers ways on how to deal with them.

This article highlights specific and unique challenges which confront the therapist when dealing with patients suffering from the effects of trauma within a war situation - refugees, displaced persons and relatives of those who have `disappeared' in war. In presenting clinical vignettes, the author focuses on war in Croatia, whilst also demonstrating how many problems are common to all those in war situations, including the therapist as well as patients, particularly problems and dilemmas in countertransference and empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the psychotherapeutic model of treatment of war veterans in Croatia with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The symptoms of PTSD are analysed and evaluated, together with associated neurotic symptoms, ways of coping with stress, and indicators of quality of life and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To assess the effectiveness of the long-term group psychotherapy in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in war veterans on the basis of clinical picture of PTSD, associated neurotic symptoms, and adopted models of psychological defense mechanisms. Methods Prospective cohort study involved 59 war veterans who participated in dynamic-oriented supportive group psychotherapy for five years. The groups met once a week for 90 minutes. Forty-two veterans finished the program. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale structured interview was used to assess the intensity of PTSD. Crown-Crisp Index was used to evaluate other neurotic symptoms, and Life Style Questionnaire was used to assess the defense mechanisms. The assessments were done at the beginning of psychotherapy, after the second, and after the fifth year of treatment. Comorbid diagnoses, hospitalizations, and outpatient clinic treatments were also recorded. Results Long-term group psychotherapy reduced the intensity of PTSD symptoms in our patients (the difference between Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale score at the beginning and the end of treatment, F = 9.103, P = 0.001). Other neurotic symptoms and the characteristic profile of defense mechanisms did not change significantly during the course of treatment. Predominant defense mechanisms were projection (M = 82.0 ± 14.4) and displacement (M = 69.0 ± 16.8). None of the symptoms or defense mechanisms present at the beginning of the treatment changed significantly after two or five years of treatment. The number of diagnosed major depressive episodes, which increased after the second year of psychotherapy, decreased by the end of treatment. Conclusion Psychotherapy can reduce the intensity of PTSD symptoms, but the changes in the personality of veterans with PTSD are deeply rooted. Traumatic experiences lead to the formation of rigid defense mechanisms, which cannot be significantly changed by long-term group psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about 16th European Group Analytic Society Symposium held in Lisbon, Portugal on July 30, 2014. Topics discussed include developments and internationalization of Group Analysis Society and its name change to Group Analysis Society International (GASI), initiatives of the International Association for Group Analysis, and practical applications of psychodynamics and therapeutic use of group analysis with Croatian experiences to treat psychosis and trauma.