THE GROUP-DYNAMIC PRINCIPLE IN DIAGNOSTICS AND RESEARCH OF DYNAMIC PSYCHIATRY

The inclusion and use of the group-dynamic approach and of group-dynam ic phenomena in the process of diagnosing and research in Gunter Ammon 's Dynamic Psychiatry are discussed as principle of theory of science and exemplified by diagnostics and research as carried out in the Dyna mic-Psychiatric Hospital Menterschwaige (Munich). In the author's opin ion, empirical findings and progress are a group-dynamic event as far as their contents and process are concerned. The findings concerning t he psychic nature of man always demonstrate the empirical interpersona l reality, which can only be realized by the researchers' own utmost a bility to experience. In practical diagnostic work, as in the case-con ferences of the Hospital Menterschwaige, phenomena of >>mirroring<< de veloping between the participants can be used to diagnose the patient' s dynamics of relations in his primary group. The same is true for the dynamics of transference and countertransference developing between d iagnostician and patient during examination. The results obtained by a multitude of different situations (psychiatric, dynamic-psychiatric, psychological, medical, in the field of social work, direct observatio ns in milieu work etc.) as well as methods of examination are interpre ted and integrated on the background of Ammon's group-dynamic model of human-structurology.