Introducing

At the EGATIN Study Days in Berlin, we are looking for the roots of dialogue in group analytic processes. With you, we want to explore the potentials and the risks of both cohesion and difference. Against the background of current, escalating social developments and in continuation of the EGATIN Study Days 2024 in Aarhus, we are placing »Working with polarization« at the center of this year’s conference.

Polarization is an inherent part of group analytical processes in any context. Translating this dynamic into something meaningful is a central task of group analysts. Currently, divisive tendencies are increasing in our social environments as well as in our groups and in group analytic training. They appear coarser and more insurmountable in their expression. Tolerating differences is becoming more difficult. Spaces in between, in which plurality and heterogeneity can be endured, discovered and shared, are decreasing or being attacked.

In the presentations, group analytical colleagues will talk about their struggles and experiences with polarizing group processes. The speakers will contribute reflections from different institutional and social contexts. In the discussion groups, all participants are invited to delve deeper into the topics and to think further together. The large groups will open up the space to express collective experiences and to find words for what becomes perceptible and comprehensible with-in the space of the dynamic process.

We wish all of us to find the courage to be different, without which it is impossible to encounter one another.