Abstract
Soldiers personify the defensive or destructive sides in a Matrix coping with existential threats and omnipotent motivations. A soldier's matrix includes the special roles and identifications of a society in war, which unites under a strong authority and splits from an enemy. While disassociating from shame, guilt and empathy soldiers and others in the matrix lose their more individualized self. The culture of a soldier's matrix is characterized by ever more rigid roles in which aggressive and selfless aspects are dominant. In order to cope with the power of exclusion and rejection fantasies, soldiers and other people in the matrix may try to experiment with their separation in their group. This may be best achieved in group-analytic Large Groups.
Translated title of the contribution | The group in the Soldier's Matrix |
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Original language | German |
Pages (from-to) | 191-205 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppendynamik |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Annihilation anxiety
- Exclusion anxiety
- Fear of rejection
- Identification
- Large group
- Matrix
- Role
- Scapegoating
- Soldier
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Clinical Psychology