Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice

This book explores the interpersonal world of sibling relationships, explaining how these relationships are central to the development of the psyche of the individual, of the group, of society and of the organisation. Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice considers four key areas: sibling relations, sibling trauma, the law of the mother and the horizontal axis. The contributors journey through examples from the psychological, philosophical, organisational, social and cultural realms, giving a new perspective on the psychic world and the importance of sibling relationships as an empowering and therapeutic component for building relationships. While we are used to looking at the individual, the group and at society through the vertical, hierarchical relationship that results from parent-child relationships, this book discusses and reveals the impact of the horizontal axis. Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice will be important reading for psychoanalysts, group analysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in practice and in training.

Smadar Ashuach is a clinical psychologist, supervisor, training psychoanalyst and group analyst based in Israel. Avi Berman is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, training psychoanalyst and group analyst. He is the founder of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis.

Forward Earl Hopper Preface. Juliet Mitchell Introduction. Smadar Ashuach and Avi Berman Sibling relations 1.1 Group Encounters at the Boundaries of Developmental Epochs Richard M. Billow 1.2 Siblings and groups. Groups of siblings? Maria-Jose Blanco 1.3 Far away from home: A study of sibling relationships in Thomas Ogden's novels Shoshi Breiner 1.4 A new take on Joseph and his brothers: siblings as a potential rescue from parental destructiveness Robi Friedman 1.5 Transferences in Groups and Organizations. Definitions and clinical value Einar Gudmundsson 1.6 Otherness in groups: The nursing couple and Oedipal relations R.D. Hinshelwood 1.7 "What happens when you cut a worm?" - Group members as Peers Joanna Skowronska 1.8 Mature Adult Siblinghood Suzi Shoshani and Pnina Rappoport 1.9 Kinship and Sibling Dynamics in Organizational Consultancy Gerhard Wilke Sibling trauma 2.1 Exclusion on the horizontal axis Smadar Ashuach 2.2 The horizontal axis from differen perspectives: The Social Significance of Siblings Prophecy Coles 2.3 Processes of Scapegoating and Sibling Rivalry in the Context of the Basic Assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification Earl Hopper 2.4 Sibling witnessing in analytic group therapy Ella Stolper 2.5 Healing traumatic scars: New sibling relationships in therapeutic settings Ivan Urlic The law of the mother 3.1 The Law of the Mother and its expression in group relations conferences and organizations Smadar Ashuach and Simi Talmi 3.2 Discrimination: The dark side of the Law Avi Berman 3.3 Snitches-a rupture in "siblings" relationships Martin Mahler and Liat Warhaftig-Aran 3.4 "Law of the Mother" - its impact on love and hate between siblings and in society Gila Ofer The Horizontal axis 4.1 The Tree and the Rhizome and the Horizontal Axes - Reflections on Individual and Group Therapy following Deleuze and Guattari Avi Berman and Limor Avrahami 4.2 Traversing the Axes: The intersection of parental and sibling relations in the film The Return, by Andrey Zvyagintsev Rina Dudai 4.3 Power relations in psychoanalysis as conditioned by capitalist structures: Felix Guttari's critique and new horizons Ester Rapoport and Gita Kiper