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A Response to Richard Billow’s ‘Relational Psychotherapy: An Overview: Part III: Modes of Therapeutic Leadership’, September 2017

In his three-part article, Richard Billow offers a profound, bold and instructive account of his credo regarding the essence of relational group therapy. The responses by the various commentators open a dialogue aiming to explore the field of meaning of analytic and relational group therapy, and to outline principles concerning technique which stem from the theories of group analysis and the relational approach. My response focuses on the third part of the trilogy, in which Billow discusses the relational modalities of leading the group. Billow defines himself as a relational leader in the therapeutic group, elaborating on the various meanings he associates with this kind of leadership and the kind of clinical presence he wishes to offer his patients in the group. In my response to his article, I will attempt to examine the precise meaning of relationality, as it is a broad and multi-faceted theoretical approach. I will examine where Billow positions himself in the relational sphere and how I, as a group analyst, am positioned in relation to him. Finally, I will illustrate this point with a clinical vignette. Referring to many psychoanalytic authors, Billow expands on the way in which the leader/therapist uses his subjectivity and the various aspects of his self, which include conflicts, defences and paranoid–schizoid alongside depressive parts of his personality. He notes that the therapist’s subjectivity is present in both its strengths and its vulnerability and weaknesses. In addition, Billow also views the 716691 GAQ0010.1177/0533316417716691Group Analysis 50(3)Ofer: Response to Billow Part III research-article2017