Online Video Groups - Impressions and Reflexions During the Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The article is a revised version of the author's online talk at the Institut fur Gruppenanalyse Heidelberg e. V. in April, 2021 as part of the Theorie+ series of lectures. He describes his impressions and experiences as a participant and observer of online video groups during the first year oft he Covid-19 pandemic. He presents his observations with passages taken from the group sessions and links them to theoretical considerations of his own and of the current literature. He takes a detailed look on conscious and unconscious phantasies in online groups, in particular those addressing the missing physical presence and relates them to Covid-19 as the social background. He discusses the potential long term impact on our self-images and our personal relations. He advocates an analytical attitude that neither idealizes nor denigrates online video groups but appreciates them as an opportunity for group analysis in disturbing times.