ABSTRACT
Group-as-a-whole thinking differs from more traditional thinking about groups in that it is group-centred, not individual-centred. The subgroup exists in the environment of the group-as-a-whole and is the environment for its members. It follows, then, that the subgroup is the fulcrum. Subgroups form around similarities and separate around differences. Functional subgroups contain differences in the system while the system develops sufficiently to integrate them. Group-as-a-whole work is as powerful as it is because it utilizes the mechanism of projective identification at the group level as a major therapeutic force by making it the group task to take back projections from the member who is containing them for the group. The systems-centered approach to the group-as-a-whole introduces the technique of functional subgrouping, which increases the probability that splits will be contained at the group-as-a-whole level rather than displaced into a stereotype containing role.
