Sailing to Ithaca: The “Group Turn” in Psychoanalysis and in the Quadripartite Model at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California

In discussing Stavros Charalambides paper, I observe a parallel between Charalambides and his fellow countryman, Odysseus—both on journeys defined by leadership and vision. Charalambides paper furthers his attempt to evolve psychoanalytic education. Charalambides details the innovations he has made in his institute in Athens toward a more democratic organization founded on relational ideas. I argue that the “group turn” he advocates for signals a wider transformation: a shift toward a sociologically attuned psychoanalysis. Attention broadens from the individual and the dyad to collectives (groups), as understanding of the unconscious expands to include its social dimensions. The group turn positions psychoanalysts to bring the world into the consulting room, while also emerging from that private space (situated in economic privilege) into the world, making psychoanalysis especially relevant in such troubled times as these. This change begins in psychoanalytic institutes. Alongside Charalambides example, I offer my own: the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC), where group dynamics have long shaped training.