ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the conceptual frame to differentiate methods, models and applications for the practice of group therapy. It describes the psychodynamic models of group therapy, the Group-analytic and Tavistock models in Europe and, in North America, the Interpersonal, Modern Analytic, Psychodynamic, and Relational and Systemic models, to set a context for a more detailed study of the Group-analytic model. The chapter discusses the systematic comparison of an extended number of models in order to provide a critical framework for the comparison of leadership role and focus amongst them. The more directed the group is by the leader, the more prominent he becomes as the group's 'model object'. The chapter talks about the psychoanalytic group therapy in North America begins with S. R. Slavson, whose clinical influence with groups for the parents of children in difficulty and his focus on the dynamics of projection in groups has been of lasting importance.
