ABSTRACT
Along with group transference, and as part of a group field or system orientation, the development of the group has received considerable attention (see, for example, Saravay, 1978; Tuckman, 1965; Hill and Gruner, 1973, for summaries of pertinent literature), but unfortunately without a formal consistency and common vocabulary. Nonetheless, there is agreement regarding basic trends in small-to mid-sized psychotherapy, training, and study groups, exemplified, for instance, by movement from a group which is dependent upon the leader to one which is cohesive and stable by virtue of a common task and a shared interest in its interpersonal relations. Such groups have identifiable beginning, middle, and termination phases, and this trajectory survives may ‘traumas:’ the arrivals and departures of members, time intervals and disruptions, and absence or change of leadership. Thus, groups evolve in a predictable way, although in these studies there is enough variation that the details of phases and dynamics cannot be stated with certainty, and each group’s evolution may show a different course from other groups.
