Louis Ormont
Encyclopedia
Dr. Louis Ormont, one of the earliest practitioners of group psychotherapy
based on a psychoanalytic
model, died on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008. During his long career, Dr. Ormont was passionate about developing, practicing, teaching, and speaking and writing about Group Therapy
. The context of his passion was always that of relieving suffering and fostering hope
, creativity
, resourcefulness and joy
in his patients, students and audiences. He was actively engaged in all of these areas with inimitable energy, intelligence and humor until he entered the hospital for open heart surgery
in July 2008. He was 90 years old.
You may read his obituary at: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/11/26/dr_louis_ormont_pioneer_in_group_psychotherapy_90/
The theoretical cornerstone of the Ormont Method of Group Psychotherapy and Leadership is that the Group is the Agent of Change. To the extent the group leader can effectively engage group members to interact directly and responsibly with each other in very specific ways, a transformative and generative power emerges in the group that is many, many times greater than any group leader could ever hope to engender through his or her direct intervention.
How effective can group members really be? The capacity of the power of the group-To heal group members,to meet maturation
al needs,to deepen the capacity for rewarding human relationships,and to make rewarding and productive life commitments -is potentially limitless.
Are Dr. Ormont's techniques useful only in therapy groups? Dr. Ormont's techniques are based on psychoanalytic and developmental theories and clinical experience. They were developed primarily for psychotherapeutic
groups.
These principals of group theory
and group interaction continue to be developed and are being effectively applied in all settings where groups of people convene. They can enhance and increase personal and interpersonal meaning, satisfaction
, communication
, creativity, and productivity
, and promote group cohesion.
Where does the transformative and generative power of the group come from? Dr. Ormont has developed and refined skills and techniques with which group leaders may cultivate healthy channels of expression and interaction between and among group members. As these channels grow stronger, human relationship between and among group members becomes the cradle that nurtures unprecedented human growth. The creative power comes from the rich diversity of group members' own experience, personalities, perspectives, strengths, and talents.
1. The Observing Ego
The observing ego is that part of the self that has no affects, engages in no actions, and makes no decisions. It functions in conflict-free states to merely witness what it sees. It is like a camera
that records without judgment. It is never weighing any thought, gesture or action on the scale of right and wrong, sane or insane, good or bad. It is a psychic entity that is intact and separate from what is taking place before it.
Dr. Ormont's concept of the observing ego extends familiar concepts in ego psychology
and incorporates thinking from eastern philosophy
. He has developed group leadership techniques to use the collective and individual observing egos within a group as a source of strength and potentiation for all group members.
2. The Insulation Barrier
The insulation barrier is a psychic structure that supports and protects ego boundaries. A healthy insulation barrier allows a person to withstand toxic stimuli
but to take in nutrient experiences. The individual with a healthy insulation barrier generally enjoys feelings of ease and wholeness within ego boundaries that are flexible and adaptive. The insulation barrier is a developmental concept that has roots in psychoanalytic theories of defense, and in humanistic psychology
's respect for the self-directing capacities of human beings, as well as the developmental need for genuine I-Thou encounters.
Dr. Ormont's theory and methodology enables the group leader to empower group members to sustain a group environment in which interactions among and between members support the development of insulation barriers that maximize one's inherent capacity for ease, generosity
and contentment
, in all aspects of human relationship.
3. Generative Communication
Progressive Emotional Interactive: Generative Communication is the verbalization of the feeling, thought, notion or idea in mature adult language
. It has three qualities: it is progressive, emotional and interactive. Progressive refers to the irresistible forward movement of the group's maturation. Emotional refers to the affect laden aspects of human communication
. Interactive refers to the dynamic energy that takes place between people as they meaningfully connect with each other.
Generative Communication describes the entire spectrum of meaningful connection in the group's intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamic-from the most general to the most specific, the most personal to the most collective. It has the important characteristic that it is of the moment yet it carries the individual and group forward.
Function: Generative communication is the dynamic that functions as the transformative power of the group. In E.M. Forster's words, "The important thing is to connect." Generative communication is a construct that includes theoretical understanding, and provides specific techniques and interventions group leaders can use to facilitate healthful, generative connections in groups.
Theoretical Underpinnings: The theory of generative communication is rooted in Dr. Ormont's own clinical work, and in an impulse in group therapy that is traceable to the salubrious effects of the spontaneous interactions physician Joseph Pratt noted in his tubercular
treatment groups in the early 1900s. The impulse of interpersonal connection is present in some meaningful form in every branch of psychotherapy and theory of effective leadership.
Current research in attachment theory
underscores the pervasive and overarching impact of learned patterns of connection that contribute to modes of human behavior
in all arenas of human life.
4. Immediacy
Immediacy
is a term used to describe the formulation that the avenue to change is an emotionally charged interpersonal engagement that takes on a new form. Immediacy is the forming of new connections, and of building new forms out of old ones.
Dr. Ormont provides interventions and techniques that promote immediacy in conjunction with progressive emotional interactive communication. Immediacy is the medium in which the group-and each member of the group-can be the agent of change for all its members.
5. The Group as Maturational Agent
Maturational agent refers to the capacity of the group to provide exchanges between and among members that facilitate their personal development
and growth. The Ormont method focuses on interventions to resolve the group's resistance to engaging in needed nutrient exchanges. Through selective interventions the leader can empower the group as a whole to repair emotional damage, fill in the developmental voids, and foster the potential of each of its members.
In addition, interventions and techniques to maintain the safety of the individual and the integrity of the group are given primary importance.
The Group Contract
The group contract provides an objective, unchanging structure that all group members can observe in relation to all other group members' behavior and feelings. All group members agree to follow the contract
that Dr. Ormont has developed. They understand its purpose is to guide the group forward in their work together. They discover that they all deviate from the guide from time to time. The group members' resistance to following the agreed upon contract provides a solid basis on which both the leader and group members can explore and study the kinds of stumbling blocks that impede group members not only in the group process, but in their daily lives.
Bridging Techniques
Bridging refers to a set of interventions group leaders can use to form and strengthen emotional bonds and generative communication between group members. Dr. Ormont has developed specific techniques for building bridges among group members depending on the immediate objective. Immediate objectives include such things as support for an individual member, energizing the group, promoting full participation, building group cohesion, promoting generative communication between members, and building and maintaining safety in the group.
Safety in a Group
Broadly defined, safety in the group is established by helping group members differentiate between interactions or exchanges in the group that are constructive and nourishing, versus interactions that are unproductive, damaging, or destructive. Dr. Ormont's interventions are designed to work in concert to protect group members from exposure to toxic stimuli or noxious emotional interchanges within the group, while recognizing and supporting the personal strengths of group members.
Articles by Dr. Lou Ormont:
Early Evolution of the Group Experience
Acceptance Speech presented by Dr. Louis Ormont to the American Psychological Association on the occasion of accepting the Group Psychologist of the Year Award at the APA Convention in San Francisco, August 16, 1998
Emotional Communication
Address on Emotional Communication Presented by Dr. Louis Ormont to the American Group Psychotherapy Association on the occasion of accepting the Distinguished Fellow Award at the International Convention in Los Angeles, February, 2000
The New Sense of Stability
Speech presented by Dr. Louis R. Ormont at the Shambhala Center in New York City, January 2003
Treating the "Defeatist " in Group Therapy
We all have our defeatist moments. We feel incompetent, hopeless, worse off than nearly everyone we know. Even Shakespeare had such interludes ...
Clinical Incidents - Brief clinical descriptions of cases that taught the therapist:
Preparing the Borderline for Group Therapy
Clinical Incidents: Incident #1 December 4, 2002 Preparing the Borderline for Group Therapy
Clinical Technique - Articles descrbing clinical techniques that are specific to modern group therapy:
Matriarchal Genealogy and Transient Identification
Joan Ormont. A talk given with Lou Ormont on April 19, 2002 in New York City
Revisiting Defense Mechanisms: Introduction
The Effect of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces in Group Treatment.
Clinical Vignette - Clinical Vignettes - examples of specific techniques by Dr. Lou Ormont:
A Group Leader's Dilemma
Notes on Technique: Vignette#4 1 December 2001 A Group Leader's Dilemma
Individuation: Feelings toward the Other Person
Notes on Technique: Vignette#3. 1 November 2001. Individuation: Feelings toward the Other Person.
Reversal Through Joining
Notes on Technique: Vignette#1 1 June 2001 Reversal through Joining
The Group as Instrument of Awareness
Notes on technique: Vignette#6, 25 June 2002. The Group as Instrument of Awareness.
Unblocking the Ability to Understand Others
Notes on Technique: Clinical Vignette #7, 5 October 2002.
Unblocking the Ability to Understand Others
Use of the Member as a Resistance Solvent
Notes on Technique: Vignette #2 1 October 2001
Dr. Ormont Responds to Questions:
The Importance of Transference in Groups
Dr. Ormont responds to a question from Erika Greisman about the role of the group leader in dealing with transference.
Group Psychotherapy:
Joining in Therapy and in History
George Weinberg. December 2001. Joining in Therapy and in History.
Zen and Modern Group Practice
Mark Abramson. 29 October 2002. Zen and Modern Group Practice
Primary Contact: Joan Ormont
Group psychotherapy
Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group...
based on a psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
model, died on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008. During his long career, Dr. Ormont was passionate about developing, practicing, teaching, and speaking and writing about Group Therapy
Group therapy
Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group...
. The context of his passion was always that of relieving suffering and fostering hope
Hope
Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...
, creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
, resourcefulness and joy
Happiness
Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....
in his patients, students and audiences. He was actively engaged in all of these areas with inimitable energy, intelligence and humor until he entered the hospital for open heart surgery
Open Heart Surgery
Open Heart Surgery was released on August 8, 2000 by rock band Virginwool. The band signed to Breaking/Atlantic Records after initially beginning signed to Universal Records. The album was produced and mixed by Brad Wood....
in July 2008. He was 90 years old.
You may read his obituary at: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/11/26/dr_louis_ormont_pioneer_in_group_psychotherapy_90/
The Ormont Method
The Group as an Agent of Change:The theoretical cornerstone of the Ormont Method of Group Psychotherapy and Leadership is that the Group is the Agent of Change. To the extent the group leader can effectively engage group members to interact directly and responsibly with each other in very specific ways, a transformative and generative power emerges in the group that is many, many times greater than any group leader could ever hope to engender through his or her direct intervention.
How effective can group members really be? The capacity of the power of the group-To heal group members,to meet maturation
Maturation
Maturation could refer to any of the following:* Fetal development* Developmental biology* Emotional development* Or physical maturation of any biological life form - see individual articles for maturation of different life forms....
al needs,to deepen the capacity for rewarding human relationships,and to make rewarding and productive life commitments -is potentially limitless.
Are Dr. Ormont's techniques useful only in therapy groups? Dr. Ormont's techniques are based on psychoanalytic and developmental theories and clinical experience. They were developed primarily for psychotherapeutic
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
groups.
These principals of group theory
Group theory
In mathematics and abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups.The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and...
and group interaction continue to be developed and are being effectively applied in all settings where groups of people convene. They can enhance and increase personal and interpersonal meaning, satisfaction
Contentment
"Contentment" seems realistically defined as "enjoyment of whatever may be desired". That definition is realistic because the more contented an individual or community becomes the less extreme so more acceptable their desires will be...
, communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
, creativity, and productivity
Productivity
Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Usually this ratio is in the form of an average, expressing the total output divided by the total input...
, and promote group cohesion.
Where does the transformative and generative power of the group come from? Dr. Ormont has developed and refined skills and techniques with which group leaders may cultivate healthy channels of expression and interaction between and among group members. As these channels grow stronger, human relationship between and among group members becomes the cradle that nurtures unprecedented human growth. The creative power comes from the rich diversity of group members' own experience, personalities, perspectives, strengths, and talents.
The Five Theoretical Pillars
These five interrelated concepts represent the theory, structure, and processes that form the foundation for the Ormont method of group intervention.1. The Observing Ego
The observing ego is that part of the self that has no affects, engages in no actions, and makes no decisions. It functions in conflict-free states to merely witness what it sees. It is like a camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
that records without judgment. It is never weighing any thought, gesture or action on the scale of right and wrong, sane or insane, good or bad. It is a psychic entity that is intact and separate from what is taking place before it.
Dr. Ormont's concept of the observing ego extends familiar concepts in ego psychology
Ego psychology
Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind.An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. Many psychoanalysts use a theoretical construct called the ego to explain how that is done...
and incorporates thinking from eastern philosophy
Eastern philosophy
Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Indian philosophy and Korean philosophy...
. He has developed group leadership techniques to use the collective and individual observing egos within a group as a source of strength and potentiation for all group members.
2. The Insulation Barrier
The insulation barrier is a psychic structure that supports and protects ego boundaries. A healthy insulation barrier allows a person to withstand toxic stimuli
Stimulus (physiology)
In physiology, a stimulus is a detectable change in the internal or external environment. The ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli is called sensitivity....
but to take in nutrient experiences. The individual with a healthy insulation barrier generally enjoys feelings of ease and wholeness within ego boundaries that are flexible and adaptive. The insulation barrier is a developmental concept that has roots in psychoanalytic theories of defense, and in humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
's respect for the self-directing capacities of human beings, as well as the developmental need for genuine I-Thou encounters.
Dr. Ormont's theory and methodology enables the group leader to empower group members to sustain a group environment in which interactions among and between members support the development of insulation barriers that maximize one's inherent capacity for ease, generosity
Generosity
Generosity is the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return. It can involve offering time, assets or talents to aid someone in need...
and contentment
Contentment
"Contentment" seems realistically defined as "enjoyment of whatever may be desired". That definition is realistic because the more contented an individual or community becomes the less extreme so more acceptable their desires will be...
, in all aspects of human relationship.
3. Generative Communication
Progressive Emotional Interactive: Generative Communication is the verbalization of the feeling, thought, notion or idea in mature adult language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
. It has three qualities: it is progressive, emotional and interactive. Progressive refers to the irresistible forward movement of the group's maturation. Emotional refers to the affect laden aspects of human communication
Human communication
Human communication, or Anthroposemiotics, is the field dedicated to understanding how people communicate:* with themselves: intrapersonal communication** expression: body language* another person: interpersonal communication...
. Interactive refers to the dynamic energy that takes place between people as they meaningfully connect with each other.
Generative Communication describes the entire spectrum of meaningful connection in the group's intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamic-from the most general to the most specific, the most personal to the most collective. It has the important characteristic that it is of the moment yet it carries the individual and group forward.
Function: Generative communication is the dynamic that functions as the transformative power of the group. In E.M. Forster's words, "The important thing is to connect." Generative communication is a construct that includes theoretical understanding, and provides specific techniques and interventions group leaders can use to facilitate healthful, generative connections in groups.
Theoretical Underpinnings: The theory of generative communication is rooted in Dr. Ormont's own clinical work, and in an impulse in group therapy that is traceable to the salubrious effects of the spontaneous interactions physician Joseph Pratt noted in his tubercular
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
treatment groups in the early 1900s. The impulse of interpersonal connection is present in some meaningful form in every branch of psychotherapy and theory of effective leadership.
Current research in attachment theory
Attachment theory
Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...
underscores the pervasive and overarching impact of learned patterns of connection that contribute to modes of human behavior
Human behavior
Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics....
in all arenas of human life.
4. Immediacy
Immediacy
Immediacy
Immediacy may refer to:* Immediacy, a concept in English law* Immediacy, a concept in vested interest theory* Immediacy, a condition in the Buddhist Twelve Nidānas* Immediacy , a philosophical term...
is a term used to describe the formulation that the avenue to change is an emotionally charged interpersonal engagement that takes on a new form. Immediacy is the forming of new connections, and of building new forms out of old ones.
Dr. Ormont provides interventions and techniques that promote immediacy in conjunction with progressive emotional interactive communication. Immediacy is the medium in which the group-and each member of the group-can be the agent of change for all its members.
5. The Group as Maturational Agent
Maturational agent refers to the capacity of the group to provide exchanges between and among members that facilitate their personal development
Personal development
Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations...
and growth. The Ormont method focuses on interventions to resolve the group's resistance to engaging in needed nutrient exchanges. Through selective interventions the leader can empower the group as a whole to repair emotional damage, fill in the developmental voids, and foster the potential of each of its members.
Techniques and Interventions
The techniques and interventions that Dr. Ormont has developed all relate in one way or another to two stabilizing forces: The Group Contract and Bridging techniques.In addition, interventions and techniques to maintain the safety of the individual and the integrity of the group are given primary importance.
The Group Contract
The group contract provides an objective, unchanging structure that all group members can observe in relation to all other group members' behavior and feelings. All group members agree to follow the contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
that Dr. Ormont has developed. They understand its purpose is to guide the group forward in their work together. They discover that they all deviate from the guide from time to time. The group members' resistance to following the agreed upon contract provides a solid basis on which both the leader and group members can explore and study the kinds of stumbling blocks that impede group members not only in the group process, but in their daily lives.
Bridging Techniques
Bridging refers to a set of interventions group leaders can use to form and strengthen emotional bonds and generative communication between group members. Dr. Ormont has developed specific techniques for building bridges among group members depending on the immediate objective. Immediate objectives include such things as support for an individual member, energizing the group, promoting full participation, building group cohesion, promoting generative communication between members, and building and maintaining safety in the group.
Safety in a Group
Broadly defined, safety in the group is established by helping group members differentiate between interactions or exchanges in the group that are constructive and nourishing, versus interactions that are unproductive, damaging, or destructive. Dr. Ormont's interventions are designed to work in concert to protect group members from exposure to toxic stimuli or noxious emotional interchanges within the group, while recognizing and supporting the personal strengths of group members.
Journal Articles
Articles by Dr. Lou Ormont:
Early Evolution of the Group Experience
Acceptance Speech presented by Dr. Louis Ormont to the American Psychological Association on the occasion of accepting the Group Psychologist of the Year Award at the APA Convention in San Francisco, August 16, 1998
Emotional Communication
Address on Emotional Communication Presented by Dr. Louis Ormont to the American Group Psychotherapy Association on the occasion of accepting the Distinguished Fellow Award at the International Convention in Los Angeles, February, 2000
The New Sense of Stability
Speech presented by Dr. Louis R. Ormont at the Shambhala Center in New York City, January 2003
Treating the "Defeatist " in Group Therapy
We all have our defeatist moments. We feel incompetent, hopeless, worse off than nearly everyone we know. Even Shakespeare had such interludes ...
Clinical Incidents - Brief clinical descriptions of cases that taught the therapist:
Preparing the Borderline for Group Therapy
Clinical Incidents: Incident #1 December 4, 2002 Preparing the Borderline for Group Therapy
Clinical Technique - Articles descrbing clinical techniques that are specific to modern group therapy:
Matriarchal Genealogy and Transient Identification
Joan Ormont. A talk given with Lou Ormont on April 19, 2002 in New York City
Revisiting Defense Mechanisms: Introduction
The Effect of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces in Group Treatment.
Clinical Vignette - Clinical Vignettes - examples of specific techniques by Dr. Lou Ormont:
A Group Leader's Dilemma
Notes on Technique: Vignette#4 1 December 2001 A Group Leader's Dilemma
Individuation: Feelings toward the Other Person
Notes on Technique: Vignette#3. 1 November 2001. Individuation: Feelings toward the Other Person.
Reversal Through Joining
Notes on Technique: Vignette#1 1 June 2001 Reversal through Joining
The Group as Instrument of Awareness
Notes on technique: Vignette#6, 25 June 2002. The Group as Instrument of Awareness.
Unblocking the Ability to Understand Others
Notes on Technique: Clinical Vignette #7, 5 October 2002.
Unblocking the Ability to Understand Others
Use of the Member as a Resistance Solvent
Notes on Technique: Vignette #2 1 October 2001
Dr. Ormont Responds to Questions:
The Importance of Transference in Groups
Dr. Ormont responds to a question from Erika Greisman about the role of the group leader in dealing with transference.
Group Psychotherapy:
Joining in Therapy and in History
George Weinberg. December 2001. Joining in Therapy and in History.
Zen and Modern Group Practice
Mark Abramson. 29 October 2002. Zen and Modern Group Practice
Primary Contact: Joan Ormont
External links
- http://www.groupcenter.org/aboutus.php
- http://www.ormont.org/default.cfm