Stages of Group Development and Their Significance in the Managed Care Setting

Numerous authors have described and labeled stages of group development as a therapeutic "road map" for leaders of groups. In an effort to put the awareness of group stages in context in time-effective groups, it is helpful to start with one or two typical long-term group models. By understanding the stages of groups without a time limit, one can see the processes that take place in time-limited groups in "slow motion" and thereby be informed as to how to label the parallel processes as they unfold much more rapidly in the brief format used in the managed care model.