During the last year the principal activity of the Society was still aimed at supporting of the ongoing Balint groups and stimulating the development of new ones in St.Petersburg and in other regions of the country, primarily in medical educational institutions in St.Petersburg. Balint groups are implemented now into the educational curriculum in at least four educational departments of our medical University (formerly – St.Petersburg medical academy), as well as in the East-European Institute for Psychoanalysis and educational center of the Bekhterev’s Psychoneurological Institute. The Society also organized regular supervision work-shops in the Institute of Psychoanalysis, in the Bekhterev Psychoneurological Institute and other professional organizations.
The Society took an active part in the organizing and providing the regular psychosomatic congresses and conferences as well as training courses provided in St.Petersburg for physicians and medical psychologists from different regions of the country. The annual all-Russian congress for psychotherapists held every March in St.Petersburg traditionally includes Balint work-shops and presentations in their program.
In January we presented our paper, leadership skills in the balint group and some other experiences of the group work in the International conference “Psychosomatic aspects of therapy and recovery” (Warszaw, 2011).This autumn we presented our activities and technologies in the meeting / round table of the leaders of numerous psychological societies and associations, established for and aimed at psychological support and psychotherapy. During the year the Society kept very active cooperation with the East-European Institute for Psychoanalysis and Russian Psychotherapeutical Association and regularly presented there our papers and workshops for physicians and medical psychologists. So the activity of the Society was directed on the spreading of basic ideas and balint group work technologies in different professional spheres and different regions of the country.
During last year the Society presented five papers on Balint work topics in Russian professional journals related to psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychological counceling issues.
Prof. Vladimir Vinokur,
president.
