Symbolic Representation and the Components of a Group-as-a-Whole Model

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Abstract
As participants engage in the group psychotherapy process, they often generate figurative forms (i.e., metaphoric images) representative of their experiences together. Metaphors function as symbols when they depict important information about the group-as-a-whole, as well as about the individuals that comprise it. Symbols are cultural phenomena that express, contain, and transform the group process. This article presents a model of how metaphoric and symbolic images arise spontaneously as organizational phenomena and how they might be elaborated therapeutically. A bridge is made between individualistic and group-as-a-whole perspectives on the group process by demonstrating how members come together through the evolution of shaping circumstances, bipolar themes, talking points, particularizations of experience, and organizing images.

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