PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE ANALYSIS AND KULTURARBEIT

Abstract

Abstract. This paper was originally published in English in the journal Group Analysis (Sage) in 2012, Volume 45, Issue 2. It was republished due to the consent of the first author, Georges Gaillard, and the reprint rights purchased from Sage by the National Psychological Association. The paper discusses the psychoanalytically based psychological work needed by professionals working in the field of care and social work. The authors use Freud’s notion of “Kulturarbeit” (work of culture), further developed by the French psychoanalyst Nathalie Zaltzman, to describe the processes necessary to confront the radical negativity and deadly violence that characterize human beings. The article convincingly demonstrates that the failure of societal institutions to symbolize certain manifestations of humans creates a threat to the identification of some individuals with these manifestations. To be able to devote themselves to the different patients they work with daily, it is important for professionals to lend themselves to the patient’s transference, on the one hand, but on the other hand, not to be trapped in the enjoyment of this connection or contaminated by deadly processes. The authors propose that the restoration of Kulturarbeit in work with a patient’s suffering provided by the staff of a care facility can be based on a transformational group process using the method of professional practice analysis (PPA). The authors assume that the process of Kulturarbeit takes place in self-reflective spaces, for which PPA can serve as a paradigm. The clinical illustration provided in the article reveals the theoretical basis and the process of using the PPA method and sheds light on the challenges faced by professionals and the possible solutions that group work can offer. In general, the work of a PPA group allows a professional to withstand inevitable setbacks and maintain the transformational purpose of their practice.