This article explores multiple meanings of ‘looking’ in group therapy. The way you look someone in the eye, close your eyes to something, look out for or look forward to something, reveals on a physical and symbolic level how you relate to the other, the world and - through the other - to yourself. This is also reflected in how people look in a psychotherapeutic setting, and - given "the group has many eyes" - perhaps par excellence in group therapy. The rich range of looks and exchange of glances in a group provide the group therapist with valuable clues about experiential, interactional and existential processes in and between group members. In this text I refer to some concrete examples, drawing on my experiences both as a group therapist and as a member of a group therapy training group.
group therapy, looking, experiential, existential, interactional
The tPeP (Journal Person-centered experiential Psychotherapy) is the scientific journal for Dutch and Flemish psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, that work from, or are interested in a client-centered perspective.
