Balint group work was implemented as a component of continuing medical education in 1987 with the aim of highlighting the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in a holistic understanding of medicine and supporting the development of professional relationship skills. To date, training to become a Balint group leader has been based solely on standards and recommendations issued by the national and international professional associations that represent the method. This article provides an overview of the specific challenges of a typical Balint group process and the requirements for competent group leadership. A distinction is made between the development of medical and specialty-specific skills and the development of the competence to represent a method in continuing medical education.
This article traces a developmental line from Michael Balint's concept of the Flash to Peter Fonagy's theory of Mentalization. It illustrates how the understanding of the therapeutic relationship has evolved and deepened through the contributions of Daniel N. Stern, Beatrice Beebe, Michael B. Buchholz, as well as Jeremy D. Safran and J. Christopher Muran. At the core lies the question of how immediate affective resonance transforms into a dialogical and mentalizing stance. In this process, the concept of Epistemic trust is highlighted as the crucial link between early relational experiences and therapeutic practice.
Musical principles - particularly the structural principle of polyphony, that is, multi-voicedness, as well as the formal and compositional principle of the fugue - can serve as analogies for understanding psycho-dynamic processes in Balint group work. The & raquo;music of the group & laquo; emerging during Balint group work and leadership, with its movements of tension, resonance, and meaning, is linked, among other things, to the concept of & raquo;diagonal listening & laquo; as described by Mahnkopf (2023). This perspective is further complemented by theoretical considerations of Balint group work and psychodynamic concepts such as Stern's (2019) & raquo;dynamic vitality forms & laquo; and Foulke's concept of the & raquo;group-matrix & laquo; (1986, 1990). The article furthermore discusses the possibility of musical analogies and & raquo;musical listening & laquo; to relationships in Balint group work and how, in doing so, the professional attitude, identity, and intervention practices of Balint group leaders may be expanded.
The medical profession is a profession based on trust, because where there is no trust, there can be no real consultation and therefore no real therapy. Trust is the basis of everything in medicine. Without trust, contact would not even be possible. This raises the question of what trust is all about, how can be distinguished from mere reliability, and why the basis of trust in medical practice is increasingly threatened today by excessive bureaucratization and economization of the medical profession. First, basic elements of trust will be identified, and then, in a second part, the implications of the insights gained for modern medicine will be examined.
Aus einer biographisch-systemischen Perspektive werden die familiären Entwicklungen von Michael und Enid Balint mit Fokus auf den Entstehungsmodus der Balintgruppen beschrieben.
