ENCOUNTER

The word 'encounter' is a term from existentialist philosophy, and simply means a real meeting between people, where each treats the other as a full human being. The aim of an encounter group is to make it possible for people to treat each other in that direct and undefended way. For that reason it has sometimes been called the game of no game. And it explicitly suggests that the encounter with one's own real self is just as important as the encounter with other people.

Historically there have been three quite different versions of the encounter group, and this has made for confusion. The simplest form comes from Carl Rogers, and he calls it "basic encounter". Here people sit in a circle, usually on chairs, and interact almost entirely at a conscious verbal level. The role of the leader is simply to facilitate what is going on, to participate as a full human being, and to encourage people to be more honest and more self-disclosing. The leader sets up the same three conditions we noted earlier - empathy, genuineness and non-possessive warmth.

The main form of encounter which is most frequently used, however, comes from Will Schutz, and he calls it "open encounter". Here people also sit in a circle, but usually on cushions, because furniture gets in the way of physical action. There is much more emphasis on the body, and on energy. The basic rule for the leader is to go where the energy is. If the leader sees that some physical action would enable the person to go deeper into an experience, he or she will suggest such an action. So there is a great deal of movement in an open encounter group. In years gone by, an encounter leader might start off the group by actually suggesting some exercises to raise some issues and get the energy flowing, but this seems to be less common today.

The rules outlined earlier (Figure 2) are essentially the same as for encounter groups, and if you should go to an encounter group, this will provide all the hints you need to start.

Today there is an event called a microlab, also pioneered by Schutz, which consists entirely of a series of experiential exercises, but this should never be confused with an encounter group.

So an encounter group is an intense and unpredictable affair, where the leader is very active in suggesting ways of pursuing a person's problem, using techniques taken from gestalt, psychodrama, primal, psychosynthesis, healing, bioenergetics and anything else which may be useful.

The third form of encounter is much more specialised. It was developed by Chuck Dederich, and called "Synanon encounter". Here the whole group turn on one member and make him or her the target of attack. This can be a very useful approach in its original setting, which was a residential hostel for ex drug-addicts (or substance-abusers, as they are called nowadays). Many of these people are very withdrawn and shut-off and the Synanon approach can winkle them out and get them going. And the residential setting means that any adverse reactions on their part can be taken care of and treated properly, with a lot of care and love. Synanon itself unfortunately degenerated into a cult, but a similar approach was used very successfully at the Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco. When used outside such a setting, however, this method is less effective and may actually be harmful, by leading to a lot of dropouts from the group, who are then not followed up. It can also be quite abusive, and we are more sensitive to this issue than people were in the 1960s and 1970s.

So it is open encounter which is the one you are most likely to come across in practice. And in a way it is very central to the whole humanistic approach. It is very flexible, and can move in many directions, depending on the group's needs. It can work on a conscious level, or can go deeply into unconscious material. Where there are two co-leaders of opposite sex, as often happens, it is very common for Oedipal material to emerge, for example.

As with most other of the humanistic approaches, the encounter group does not focus so much upon the group as a group, but more on individual work within the group. So at one time the focus will be on one person, at another time on another person, and the leader will usually continue to work with the one person until the particular point at issue is resolved in some way. The rest of the group will participate vicariously, following the rule that the deeper a person goes into his or her individual experience, the more universal will be the material which emerges. Members of the group may also be brought in to play roles helpful to the protagonist, or may speak or act spontaneously in ways which express their own response to what is going on.

Encounter groups are very good for working through interpersonal issues such as shyness, talkativeness, inability to express anger, difficulties in handling closeness, not knowing what to say to people and all that kind of thing, because the leader can encourage very direct confrontation on such matters.

It is not possible to have a leaderless encounter group, because of the very central and demanding role of the leader, but it is possible to have an encounter group where the leadership shifts from one person to another, either spontaneously or by design.

Because of its emphasis on directness and openness ("say what you mean and mean what you say") the encounter group quite often leads to experiences of getting in touch with the real self, which we saw before tend to be ecstatic. This is why Schutz's own groups were ofen called "joy groups". Unfortunately, some leaders have occasionally tried to go direct for joy, by emphasising peace and love all the time. This does not work, because the joy has to be real spontaneous joy if it is to be genuinely experienced at all. We are not in the peace and love game, we are in the reality game; and if we do justice to the reality and the real self, joy will come in due course, in its own way.

This also applies to spiritual experience in the group. It is not uncommon for people in encounter groups to have deep spiritual experiences, which show them that the boundaries of time, space and the self which they have taken for granted are questionable. But to aim deliberately at giving people such experiences is not wise. The basic value in an encounter group is truth, truth to one's own experience. Anything which interferes with this is less good in this context and is not real encounter.

BOOKLIST

Elliott, Jim (1976) The theory and practice of encounter group leadership Explorations Institute, Berkeley. Excellent but out of print now.

Haigh, Gerald (1968) 'The residential basic encounter group' in H A Otto & J Mann (eds) Ways of growth Grossman, New York. Case vignette of what can happen in a good encounter group.

Mann, Richard D (1975) 'Winners, losers and the search for equality in groups' in Cary L Cooper (ed) Theories of group processes Wiley, London. Interesting material on the introduction of politics into groups.

Mintz, Elizabeth E (1972) Marathon groups: Reality and symbol Avon, New York. A superb book, very interesting and helpful.

Rogers, Carl (1970) On encounter Penguin, Harmondsworth. Only on basic encounter, does not cover other types.

Rowan, John (1992) 'Integrative encounter' in Windy Dryden (ed) Integrative and eclectic therapy: A handbook Open University Press, Milton Keynes. Tells how encounter can be seen as a paradigm of integrative work.

Schutz, Will (1973) Elements of encounter Joy Press, Big Sur. Succinct and accurate account of what encounter is all about.

Schutz, Wlll (1981) 'Holistic education' in R Corsini (ed) Innovative psychotherapies John Wiley, New York. Good account of what Schutz actually does in his own practice.

Schutz, Will (1989) Joy: 20 years later Ten Speed Press, Berkeley. The basic book, slightly updated. Well worth reading today.

Shaffer, John B P & Galinsky, M David (1989) Models of group therapy Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs. Good chapter on encounter.

Wibberley, Mike (1988) 'Encounter' in J Rowan & W Dryden (eds) Innovative therapy in Britain Open University Press, Milton Keynes. Best easily available account, and up-to-date.

Yablonsky, L (1965) Synanon: The tunnel back Macmillan, London. Good account, but says nothing about the later development into a cult.