The Symposium Theme

From Negative Mirroring to Tradition, Creativity, and Innovation: Group as Pharmakós

In ancient Greek mythology, Pharmakós suggests both remedy and poison. Pharmakós is both the instrument of change, the remedy, and at the same time the entity destroyed or poisoned by that change. Pharmakós has the power to transform. Negative mirroring is a characteristic of Pharmakós and could be seen as one of the sources of difficulties the world is embroiled in. In this sense, Pharmakós reflects the current social crisis. How can the symbolic meaning of Pharmakós be elevated into a creative spark, from a negative mirror into a messenger of positive change?

Pharmakós stands at the boundary between margin and centre, between exclusion and integration. Group participation can be both harmful and beneficial. Relationships can nourish and/or injure. Words can constrain and/or enhance understanding. Binary distinctions between, among other polarities, good and evil, positive and negative, constructive and destructive, collapse under the paradox-embracing grasp of Pharmakós.

Delegates are invited to explore the idea that the group can shift from being a passive observer to becoming an active site of tradition, creativity, and innovation. The same forces that isolate or stigmatize the group can become the very ground for transformation and renewal, personally, socially, and culturally.

The Symposium offers us an opportunity to consider the contradictions, paradoxes and inherent duality in many aspects of our lives in general, and of our Group Analytic endeavors in particular. How can these dualities be negotiated? In this symposium, we are invited to transcend linear thinking and explore the idea that the group is often simultaneously the site of psychic injury and the space of potential healing.

Daily themes:

Thursday - Sociopolitical

The Pharmakόs myth reflects and reveals the sociopolitical crises of the contemporary world, given its connection to ritual expulsion and communal catharsis.
The ritual finds contemporary expression in large-scale exclusion, polarization, stigmatization and social injustices. How can groups take an active role as agents of creative social renewal, rather than perpetuating divisiveness? How can Pharmakós be integrated into collective narratives? How can societal destructiveness be reconfigured into pathways to healing and hope? For the study of group phenomena in diverse social and anthropological contexts, and for exploring groupness in different cultures, Field Theory could be helpful.

Friday - Theoretical and Research

The theme for this day invites participants to explore theoretically and through research how Pharmakós is both a symbol of healing as well as a metaphor of negation. Pharmakós is an archetype of transformation and paradox, as well as a metaphor for negative mirroring.
It embodies healer and poisoner, mirroring the dualities of group processes and center-margin conflicts. The concept of Pharmakós offers a theoretical framework for studying the Tripartite Matrix. The dual functions of the group as a mirror of collective trauma and as the location of reparation can enhance the exploration of current dilemmas in theory and research.

Saturday - Clinical and Training

How does Pharmakós illuminate therapeutic processes and group dynamics? Clinical practice reveals how the conductor and group members experience embody the "remedy" and the "poison" roles. Through negative mirroring and the experience of exclusion, the possibility for understanding and change can emerge. This can take place against the background of ambiguity and paradox, key dimensions of Pharmakós.
The complexity of these phenomena requires flexible, multidisciplinary treatment strategies. Clinical examples, empirical and reflective practice illustrate how the group becomes the site of therapeutic innovation and collective transformation. This echoes the foundational role of Pharmakós in reconciling opposites and nurturing balance and harmony

Keywords related to the theme of the Symposium

Ambiguity in Pharmakós - Archaic myths - Cultural diversity - Eros and Thanatos - Group vs mob - Paradox - Purification - Rituality - Scapegoating - Self-sacrifice - Simultaneity - Spirituality

Other Keywords

Acting out - Aggression - Cultural diversity - Democracy and Cohesion - Destructive and Constructive Forces - Field theory - False foundation myth - Group boundaries - Group vs mob - Leadership - Negative mirroring - Propaganda and Ideology - Scapegoating - Simultaneity - Therapeutic Community - Tripartite matrix - Trust - Social trauma - Social Unconscious