Title: The Fates of Guilt in Group Psychotherapy: The Group as an Arena for Exploring, Understanding, and Transforming Persecutory Guilt
Presenter Name: K. Brynolf Lyon, PhD., LMHC, CGP, C-MBT
Short Description: This presentation addresses the psychodynamics of guilt in group psychotherapy. We will discuss the nature of both persecutory and reparative guilt, its expressions in group dynamics, defenses and enactments regarding guilt, and clinical decision points regarding how to respond to its expressions in ways that move toward healthier emotional and relational development.
Objectives:
1. Name three defenses against guilt in group psychotherapy|
2. Describe two differences between persecutory and reparative guilt.
3. Identify two ways group dynamics evoke primitive expressions of guilt.
Short Bio: Bernie Lyon received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He is currently a therapist in private practice and serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Post Graduate Program in Group Psychotherapy in the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University. He previously taught at Christian Theological Seminary. He is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Indiana and Board Certified by the National Board for Certified Counselors. He is also a Certified Group Psychotherapist , a Psychotherapist Member of the American Psychoanalytic Association and an Accredited Practitioner in Mentalization Based Therapy for Personality Disorders by the British Psychoanalytic Council.
Resources:
Ackerman, S. (2023). Freud’s red thread: Explorations of the unconscious sense of guilt. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71:189-214.
Akhtar, S. (Ed.). (2013). Guilt: Origins, manifestation, and management. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
Barnett, B. (2007). “You ought to!”: A psychoanalytic study of the superego and conscience. London: Routledge.
Becker, E. (1971). The birth and death of meaning. Second Edition. New York: Free Press.
Britton, R. (2021). Sex, death, and the superego: Updating psychoanalytic experience and developments in neuroscience. London: Routledge.
Caflisch, J. (2020). “When reparation is felt to be impossible”: Persecutory guilt and breakdowns in thinking and dialogue about race. Psychoanalytic dialogues (30) (5):578-594.
Carveth, D. L. (2013). The still small voice: Psychoanalytic reflections on guilt and conscience. London: Routledge.
Carveth, D. L. (2024). Guilt: A contemporary introduction. London: Routledge.
Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. S.E. (trans. James Strachey). Norton: New York.
Freud, S. (1961). Civilization and its discontents. S.E. (trans. James Strachey). Norton: New York.
Kavaler-Adler, S. (2013). The anatomy of regret: From death instinct to reparation and symbolization through vivid case studies. London: Routledge.
Klein, M. (1975). Love, guilt, and reparation and other works 1921-1945. New York: Free Press.
Klein, M. (1975). Envy and gratitude and other works 1946-1963. New York: Free Press.
Levine, D. P. and Bowker, M. H. (2019). The destroyed world and the guilty self. Oxford: Phoenix Publishing. Maroda, K. (2021). The analyst’s vulnerability: Impact on theory and practice. London: Routledge.
Ogden, T. (2025). What alive means: Psychoanalytic explorations. London: Routledge. Piers, G. and Singer, M. B. (1971). Shame and guilt: A psychoanalytic and a cultural study. New York: Norton.
Raufman, R. (2019). Taking the sting out: manifesting aggression and containing difficult states in a relational group psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Dialogues (29) (2):197-215.
Steiner, J. (2011). The struggle for dominance in the oedipal situation. In Seeing and being seen: Emerging from a psychic retreat. London: Routledge.
Weiss, H. (2020). Trauma, guilt, and reparation. London: Routledge.
