ABSTRACT
The participants of this Group are not seen individually. They have, however, occasion if they choose to speak to me alone either before or after the Group session. They have felt very little need for this. I consider it highly desirable, if not essential, that every Group patient should have this possibility, as a minimum of personal contact with the Therapist. But, strictly speaking, this group is not "combined." This is one of the differences, why a distinction is made between private and clinic patients. In the former the Group is more often combined with individual treatment, for obvious reasons. However, my present private Group is also very " mixed " in this respect. Some participants I have never seen outside the Group, others see me regularly once, twice, three times, and in one case until recently, five times a week; But my tendency is to reduce personal interviews in so far as possible, except where treatment has to be intensive in any case and where the group-session is used, sometimes experimentally, as a supplementary stimulus. On the whole, as far as my present experience goes, I feel that Group Analysis in combination with one or two private sessions is the optimal arrangement in private practice. Other factors enter into this, such as whether the Group is "open" or " closed." We will have more to say on this point.
