ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the missed group session as a significant event, with considerable meaning for all members and the leader, and aims to encourage group therapists to treat it as such. It discusses factors that contribute to the likelihood of missed sessions; reasons that missed group sessions are not discussed; possible meanings of missed sessions; and metaphorical aspects of members' missed sessions. The chapter also discusses cancellation policies and recommends one that encourages the exploration of the possible meanings of missed sessions. In a group meeting many agendas press for attention, and the missed session may get overlooked in service of seemingly more urgent material. I.D. Yalom indicates that patients' behaviours around missed sessions can provide valuable information about character, attitudes toward authority, and the group's feelings toward the member in question as well as about the group's culture and its norms.
