ABSTRACT
Conditions under which modern man lives force him to cope with mass and group problems to an extent hitherto unknown. The totalitarian states themselves make vast-scale experiments in solving these problems. In the meantime the problems themselves are pressing, groups and individuals run into difficulties, they suffer and need treatment. In the psychiatric field, the advent of group therapy reflects this state of affairs and mediates against the price that must be paid by individuals as well as by groups for the greater responsibility which is a condition of greater freedom from state or mass control. A conductor makes the members of the group participate actively in the therapeutic process. The integration which develops is offset by the impact of new material as deeper levels are reached. This integration is an important and sustaining therapeutic agency. The group therapeutic situation itself emphasizes this. If the group focuses too much upon its own processes, this disturbs and distorts those very processes.
