The management of resistance in the application of object relations concepts in children's and adolescents' group psychotherapy

Object relations concepts are applicable to child and adolescent group therapy. The author attempts to delineate areas in which developmental conflicts in object relations, emotional deprivations, traumas, and family pathologies are recapitulated in the group. To better understand the dynamics of the group and the interaction of its members, symbolic representations of the group are identified. The manifestation of pathologies is ameliorated during the process of the specific phase, and stages of the symbolic representation of the group. The role of the therapist as a new object in the management of individual and group resistances is illustrated.Private practice, Tenafly, New Jersey.