| Abstract: | Cognitive‐Analytic Therapy (CAT) (Ryle & Kerr, 2002 ) is a brief, integrative psychological therapy developed by Dr Anthony Ryle and others over the last 25 years. CAT is often used as an individual therapy for clients with personality disorder and is widespread within the NHS and private sectors in the UK and several countries abroad. CAT is being increasingly applied in group settings in the NHS. CAT, being at its heart a psychotherapy based on a relational understanding of human development, would seem to have much to offer in a group setting. This paper briefly reviews previous ways that the CAT model has been used in groups and then goes on to describe the author's experience of a one‐year group carried out in South‐West England. The therapeutic approach used adapts the CAT tools to a group setting, draws on CAT's dialogic underpinnings and shares some broader concepts with psychodynamic approaches. |
