ABSTRACT
Widespread use of group psychotherapy began during World War II as an expedient application of individual psychotherapy aimed at reducing the length and cost of therapy while increasing its availability to the growing numbers of people who needed treatment. Over the last 40 years, the burgeoning field of small-group theory and practice has come fully into its own as diverse streams of theorists and practitioners have explored the unique possibilities as well as the problems and dilemmas inherent in the use of small groups for individual learning and change. There are applications to populations not dreamt of at the end of World War II: to organizational and administrative settings, to educational and spiritual endeavors, to professional training programs (law, medicine, psychology), to political forums dealing with the explosive issues of profound human differences, to individuals seeking growth rather than cure.
