Case report, case study
https://doi.org/10.24869/psihei.2026.127
ADAPTING THE TECHNIQUE TO ENSURE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GROUP-ANALYTIC PROCESS IN A SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT
Dolores Veledar Perić
orcid.org/0009-0008-6685-0901
; nurse, Professor of Fine Arts-Graduate Painter-Master’s studies-Dzemal Bijedic University in Mostar, Institute of Group Analysis (Zagreb, Croatia) Group Analyst, advisor for queer persons of migrant origin at the City of Stuttgart program “Cultural and Gender Diversity-Professional Consulting”.
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* Corresponding author.
Abstract
This study presents the experience of forming and leading a group-analytic therapy group in the specific religious-cultural and institutional context of an immigrant community of Muslim women from the former Yugoslavia in Germany. Starting from the theoretical assumptions about the necessity of modifying the group-analytic technique under special conditions, a series of adjustments are described that were necessary to enable the creation and maintenance of the group process.
The group was held at the premises of a religious center, with significant limitations to the physical and organizational setting, including interruptions due to prayer, variable session times, and gender restrictions to the group composition. Despite these aggravating circumstances, fundamental group-analytic principles, especially the safety, continuity, and development of the group matrix, were preserved through a flexible yet consistent redefinition of the framework. During the two years of work, the group went through phases of distrust, projections, and paranoid anxiety, up to the gradual development of emotional openness, reflexivity, and mutual support.
Dominant themes related to questioning gender and social roles, the tension between belonging to a religious community and the need for autonomy, migration experiences, family relationships, suppressed anger, and personal choices. The role of the setting as a symbolic “other skin” of the group and the gradual assumption of some leadership functions by the group itself are particularly emphasized.
Thus, it can be argued that a flexible yet structured modification of the group-analytic technique enables the preservation of the therapeutic process in culturally and organizationally demanding conditions, thereby encouraging the development of autonomy, emotional maturity, and identity integration among members.
Keywords
affiliation; migration; religion; security; autonomy; identity; emotional maturity
Hrčak ID:
348206
URI
Publication date:
11.6.2026.
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