Developing partnership promotes peace: Group psychotherapy experiences

Partnerships are often optimal processes for interpersonal growth. The ability to have and keep a partner in mind should, therefore, be thought about and learnt. Although reciprocity, some symmetry, and mutual "give and take" are important aspects of partnerships, this article emphasizes a partner's ability to process difficulties for the other as an aid to growth. The containment and elaboration of distress in partnerships is discussed using three examples of such potential relationships. The emotional beginning of a partnership, whether starting from love, working relationship or from hate, is the focus of the article. Individual, dyadic, and group aspects as separation-individuation and containment processes are described as contributing to partnership-building. The ability of a therapy group to process splitting and projecting phenomena are discussed. Co-therapists seem to have to work through painful conflicts between themselves to develop the therapist's containment abilities inside a functional partnership. Supervision may help process these emotional hardships. Within families, mothers could contribute to a better processing of their sons' violence shared through infant dreams, which represent an effort to cope with inner and outer aggression. Growth-promoting aspects of dream telling as potential partnerships in families and groups are discussed. Finally, partnership building between hating foes is exemplified by the efforts made by participants in Israeli and Palestinian peace dialogues. In groups, interpersonal development may be furthered by helping participants mutually contain and be contained, enabling partnership opportunities to grow after love and sympathy are over.