ABSTRACT
Instead of sitting alone with one individual patient, the therapist may call a number of them together and talk to them. The first thing the therapist will notice is the general atmosphere. The psychiatrist listens and mentally registers. His "patients" have become alive, acting in a reality which he can share with them, under his own eyes. If the psychotherapist resists the temptation to be made a leader, he will be rewarded by their growing independence, spontaneity and responsibility and personal insight into their social attitudes. The psychiatrist leaves the lead to the group, acting mainly as a catalyst and observer. The individual participant produces himself or his ideas for the group, acting also as receiver and audience when he takes an active interest in the others' problems. As far as the individual is concerned in group-therapy he finds himself in others and others in himself, by similarity and contrast, thereby regenerating to some extent his ego and its boundaries.
