Fritz Perls on his work with groups:
“Basically I am doing a kind of individual therapy in a group setting, but it is not limited to this; very often a group happening happens to happen.”
… on mind-fucking:
“Usually I interfere if the group happening comes merely to mind-fucking (…) ping-pong game, (…) opinion exchanges, interpretations, all that crap.”
to Perls, a group is wonderful if:
“If they are giving their experience, if they ae honest in their expression…”
Perls on helpfulness in groups:
“Often the group is very supportive, but if they are merely “helpful,” I cut them out. Helpers are con men, interfering.”
Basically, to Perls, the group should be a supportive place for people to share their experiences, and to take in each other’s experiences. Being helpful by giving advice, intellectualizing (or mind-fucking), is not being supportive, but actually blocks the other person from developing new means to deal with the world.
This snippet is cited from this book (introduction to dreamwork seminar):
