Percival Mars

I am a Group-analyst of mixed-race and was born in the Caribbean. After completing my formal education in England, I worked in the NHS and held various posts in management in Mental Health services. I worked with individuals and groups for ten years in the Psychotherapy department of the London Hospital, Whitechapel, during my training at The Institute of Group Analysis. After qualifying, I was a small-group conductor on the Foundation Course at the IGA for five years. My special interest is in working with cultural and racial constraints for those who experience problems within their families and their communities in the face of conflicting cultural values, and to be received as equals within society.

Group Analytic Psychotherapy, underpinned by psychoanalytic thinking, is embedded in the idea of a universal common humanity in which equally there are universal emotional conflicts pertaining to psychological growth and development, whatever the culture. All lives have the same structure: the need to love and be loved, to enjoy life and to be part of a relationship in its fullest expression. If emotional conflicts, shaped be personal circumstances and social and cultural considerations are too strong, they impair and diminish the achievement of human potential. There is no ‘cure’ in the biological sense, since emotions cannot be eradicated. There is the notion of understanding, transformation, healing and reconciliation, which is a gradual process and which, importantly, accords with the patient’s motivation for change.

The framework for my psychotherapeutic approach and attitude is anchored in the above model of psychotherapy. It is rooted in analytical thinking, with deep reflection and exploration of the early relationship with parents, and the ever-present conflicts inherent in wishes and desires.

In addition, uniquely, it privileges the relationship between the individual, family and society. This is the group-analytic attitude, where the seamless individual engagement with family and culture is explored to understand how the experience can be oppressive and restricting.

I am registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy.