As Chairperson and on behalf of the Local Organising Committee I welcome you to the 2014 Lisbon Symposium in Group Analysis. It is the second time that the Triennial European Symposium of the Group Analytic Society International has taken place in Portugal, since the 1st European Symposium was held in Lisboa (Estoril) in 1970.
How much Art do we need in our daily practice? How much Science is necessary to make Group Analysis a coherent, credible and convincing way to treat mental suffering? These complex issues will be addressed and discussed in the Keynote Lectures of the invited 6 Keynote Speakers as well as during the Academic and Experiential Programme.
You can find the abstracrs here.
We look forward to welcoming a wide range of interested persons to attend the Symposium, either practitioners, contributors or just those who enjoy being and working with groups. Never let us forget that we have all lived in groups since we were born and that society is ultimately a large group, so it is natural to be interested in gaining a deeper knowledge of and greater experience of groups. Therefore this Symposium may be a challenge not only for those who work in analytical therapeutic settings like group analysts or psychotherapists (individual/group/family) but also for those who engage in other therapies like art therapy or psychodrama. Furthermore there are many other applications of group analysis: either in medical settings (for medical doctors, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers in inpatient or outpatient departments, day hospitals of institutions of public or private health), in educational settings (for teachers, educators, educational psychologists and other professionals in child care, schools or other educational facilities), in organisational settings (coaching, team building for managers, workers in business organisations) or in research about group processes and therapeutic outcomes.
English will be the official language but in case of linguistic difficulties, we will try to facilitate the communication and comprehension as much as possible.
The basic outline of the Symposium will be given here, always having in mind that the Symposium will be enriched by your contribution to the Academic and Experiential Programme.
In this Symposium we can launch the challenge to discover how Art and Science interact with each other while working with groups within a group analytic framework. The experience and learning in the Symposium will be exciting and may open possibilities for important changes. We look forward to seeing you at the Symposium in Lisboa.
You can combine the attendance to the GASI Lisbon Symposium to some extended days in Lisboa or other beautiful places in Portugal, where your family can join you for holiday.
Isaura Manso Neto
(Chairperson)