ABSTRACT
Yalom says 'If members are absent, most therapists prefer to remove the empty chairs and form a tighter circle', implying that the number of chairs can vary each week since chairs for any session should match the attendance for that particular meeting. Some members may state that they have never actually felt comfortable with all the empty chairs because it suggested to them that they were not in a well-functioning group. Rutan and Stone speak to this issue as well, and present two alternatives. In the first, the therapist sets up chairs for all current and potential members of the group, emphasizing that members are absent, that new members will be coming, and that members who have terminated can be remembered and mourned. In the second, just as Yalom does, as well as Fehr, the therapist sets up chairs only for those expected for a particular meeting.
