Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a manual of practice for therapists' use that includes detailed descriptions of groups at work; accounts of therapists' experience and the issues they face in themselves and their groups; tables, diagrams and up-to-date literature. It deals with vignettes drawn from groups of different kinds, each of which is followed with a commentary that discusses dynamics and interventions. The book focuses on the group-analytic model for guidance in providing either supportive or dynamic psychotherapy and for those who use groups in teaching, consultancy or organisational work. It explains the commitment in the field to applications that range from the mainstream of private psychotherapy practice to populations at risk who are specially troubled and marginalised and who are worked with in specialist settings.