Online Group Therapy: Which Processes for Which Results? Challenges and Opportunities

ABSTRACT

The group as a unit of work allows the circle of affects and feelings not yet conceivable which, thanks to the experience of more-thananother- subject, can speak to each other and find a place for sharing and acceptance (Kaes, 1994). The therapy room can be thought of as a transitional play space in which to give life to new thinkability and to discover more authentic parts of the Self (Winnicott, 1971). In this Symposium we ask ourselves what happens when the therapy room is located online, considering that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous researches have shown its effectiveness (Hilty et al., 2013;Carlbring et al., 2018, Norwood et al., 2018). We aim to compare online group therapy experiences carried out according to different theoretical orientations and aimed at patients with different psychopathological pictures. The goal is to understand the action factors of the process and identify the limits and resources of this type of setting. Studying the complexity of the group, in relation to the processes that occur in online mode, requires a multicentre comparison also in relation to its contraindications.