Athens, Greece
26 - 30 August 2026

ORGANISERS

About GASi

The Group Analytic Society was founded as learned society in 1952 by S.H. Foulkes, Elisabeth Marx, James Anthony, Parick de Maré, W.H.R. Iliffe, M.L.J. Abercrombie and Norbert Elias. In 1955, Foulkes was the president of the society. At the first general meeting of the society held in London, he gave a definition of group analysis as “…in the wider sense… the analytic, scientific study of various groups within the community.” Furthermore “Both aspects, the individual and the social one, are not only integrated in our approach, but their artificial isolation − never found in actual reality − does not arise.”

The symposia are a collaboration of the Group Analytic Society International with the Institute of Group Analysis of the host country. The 19th GASi Symposium is hosted in Athens by the Institute of Group Analysis Athens (IGAA).

Theory, method and application of group dynamic in diverse contexts are discussed in depth during key lectures, sub-plenary sessions and paper presentations. The experiential part of the event refers to small, median and large group. There is also the opportunity to attend online.

The symposium can also be seen as a developing community formed by individuals interesting and working in groups, associations and communities. The participants are invited in a constructive dialogue in a multicultural environment.

About IGA Athens

The Institute of Group Analysis Athens (I.G.A.A.) is a nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1982, in Athens by I. K. Tsegos, Ath. Kakouri, Th. Papadakis, E. Morarou and Z. Voyatzaki. The institute provides seminars, psychotherapy training, supervision and publishing activities in the Mental Health field. The duration of the Psychotherapy Training which is provided by the IGAA lasts for five years and is mainly addressed to professionals of human sciences, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, etc. The entire scheme operates in the form of a Training Community. The Qualified students become full members of the I.G.A. Athens and members of G.A.S.I. The IGAA is a European Accredited Psychotherapy Training Institute-EAPTI, by the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP), which means that its qualified trainees can apply directly to IGAA to obtain the European Certificate of Psychotherapy of the E.A.P. The IGAA is a member of the European Group Analytic Training Institutes Network (E.G.A.T.I.N.), and the National Organization for Psychotherapy of Greece (N.O.P.G.).

The purposes of the Institute are scientific, educational, social and cultural. These purposes include:

  • The active contribution to the improvement of Psychic Health.
  • Prevention-Therapy-Rehabilitation of mental suffering through contemporary and humanitarian procedures.
  • The development and maintenance of high ethical professional standards for those who practice psychotherapy (according to the ethical code of the Institute).
  • The promotion of therapy through methods, approaches and under conditions which exclude any restriction of personal freedom or any offence to human dignity.

For the promotion and accomplishment of the above purposes, the Institute supports the development of Psychotherapy and particularly the specific forms and procedures of Group and Dyadic (Individual) Psychotherapy. Such forms and procedures are:

  • Group Analysis, as it has been developed by S.H. Foulkes and is practiced by several institutions in foreign countries, such as the "Institute of Group Analysis" in London as well as other institutes of similar orientations.
  • The Therapeutic Community and
  • Family Therapy.

To develop, promote and accomplish the above aims, the Institute:

  • organizes lectures, seminars, symposiums and conferences related to its purposes.
  • publishes and assists in the publication of relevant books and journals.
  • organizes seminars for the training of Group Psychoanalysts, which is the main objective of the Institute.
  • organizes seminars for the training of individuals who are interested in Family Therapy, as well as for the training of members for the Therapeutic Communities.
  • provides financial aid, through scholarships and other means, to individuals or organizations of related interests.
  • co-operates with related or affiliated institutions, either Greek or foreign ones.
  • promotes scientific research and exchange of ideas, in general, on the above-mentioned fields.

Finally, the purposes of the Institute include the organization and consolidation of the profession of Group Analysts. The IGAA is in close collaboration with the Open Psychotherapy Centre (O.P.C.), which is an open day psychiatric unit, providing both therapy and training services in the mental health field. Its therapeutic philosophy is based on the principles of Group Analysis, Therapeutic Community, Family Therapy and the so-called Emprosopon Psychotherapy (Tsegos, 2012) which are applied in complement and combination with each other. The Therapy Department of the O.P.C. includes a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic activities for adults, families, children and adolescents. It is addressed to patients who belong to a wide range of severe diagnostic categories (psychoses, personality disorders, affective disorders). The application of the multifactorial communal approach, which is applied according to each case, consists of a combination of Dyadic Therapy, Group Analysis, Therapeutic Community and Family Therapy and was initially applied to therapeutic activities and later incorporated in the training procedures of the four Training Institutes (Group Analysis, Psychodrama-Sociotherapy, Diagnostic Psychology, Family Therapy). The clinical practice of the Institutes’ trainees takes place at OPC’s therapy activities. The basic scopes and principles of the O.P.C. which are referred to in the constitution are:

  • To offer healthy work conditions for both personnel and patients.
  • To demolish the myth of the dangerous psychiatric patient.
  • To demolish the myth of the high cost of psychotherapy, on the contrary the O.P.C. services are accessible to people from any socioeconomic category.
  • Promoting psychotherapy as the main therapeutic approach on daily basis
  • To train psychiatric professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers) in psychotherapy (Group Analysis, Psychodrama-Sociotherapy, Family Therapy, Psychological Assessment)
  • To make the public sensitive to the Communal approach Experience of the organization. In previous European projects 2017 The IGAA and the OPC have accepted for clinical practice German students of psychology who participated for a period of three weeks in the activities of the Summer Psychotherapeutic Community Experience and Expertise of the organization in the project’s subject area. The staff members of IGAA and OPC have experience in dealing with crisis situations as concerns individuals, groups or organizations as these subjects are included every year in our introductory seminars and of course they are part of the teaching theory, methodology and clinical practice of our postgraduate trainings. Furthermore, there are colleagues who work with refugees, with support teams for individuals of mass casualty situations, with solving organizations’ conflicts etc.:
  • Prevention of the professionals’ Burn-out syndrome
  • Bullying and harassment at work
  • Crisis and Conflicts in Organizations
  • Crisis Intervention group
  • Groups with doctors
  • Promoting Awareness: Information, Psychoeducation, Interaction, Concerning Trauma in the Refugees Field.
  • Professional Ιinterventions in crisis situations of individuals, groups and organizations
  • Reflective Practice group in hospital setting
  • Psychodrama and Role playing for professionals in crisis
  • Psychological support and psychoeducation for caregivers (professional, families, friends)
  • Psychological intervention and support in mass casualty situations (fire, earthquake, distress at sea)
  • Summer Psychotherapeutic Community for psychiatric acute disorders
  • Supervision of psychologists in the Greek vocational senior high schools. It also included the professionals’ experience in a team with colleagues, i.e. learning from experience in a peer group.

The president of IGA (Athens) and GAS Greece, Ioannis K. Tsegos is a psychiatrist, group analyst, who was trained and practiced both in Greece and the UK (I.G.A. London). In the UK. He was trained at the Maudsley and Bethlehem Hospitals and contributed to Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, including research as part of the US/UK diagnostic project. Tsegos is one of the other founders of the European Group Analytic Training Institutes Network (EGATIN). Τhe IGAA is also collaborating with other three Training Institutes (Institute of Psychodrama-Sociotherapy, Institute of Family Therapy, Institute of Diagnostic Psychology) which also provide postgraduate trainings to mental health professionals. The clinical experience of the institutes’ trainees is obtained at the OPC’s therapy activities. In addition, more than 100 diploma theses were devised by senior trainees of IGAA, on innovative topics that are related to psychotherapy.


Publications “Contemporary Psychotherapy” (IGAA)

  • Gellner, E. 2015. The Psychoanalytic Movement. The Cunning of Unreason.
  • Motherwell, L. & Shay, J. (eds.) 2004, 2018. Complex Dilemmas in Group Therapy: Pathways to Resolution.
  • Pines, M. 2020. Group Analysis. Essays of Malcolm Pines’ Work.
  • Skynner, A.C.R. 2003. Family Therapy. The Group-analytic Approach as an Open System.
  • Szasz, Th. 2006. Heresies.
  • Tsegos, I.K. 2002. The Disguises of the Psychotherapist.
  • Tsegos, I.K., Karapostoli, N. et al. 2004. The Cost of Therapy Services Provided by a Day Psychotherapy Unit.
  • Tsegos, I.K. et al 2007. Open Psychotherapy Centre. Activities and Peculiarities.
  • Tsegos, I.K. 2012. Psychiatric Communalism.
  • Whyte, L.L. 2009. The Unconscious before Freud.