ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the novice group psychotherapist with a 'feel' for group dynamics, as a step in bringing his expectations about groups into closer alignment with the realities of therapy groups. It describes the framework within which the therapists’ think about group constructs. The chapter presents a theory of the group-as-a-whole which differentiates group dynamics from individual dynamics. The invisible group can be conceptualized as four systems: individual person; individual member-role; group-role and group-as-a-whole. A vital part of the training of a group therapist is the acquisition of a cognitive framework that will permit him to 'see' both the visible and invisible group. The organization of the stored information will define the person's characteristic manner of sending and receiving information. From the individual systems perspective the therapists differentiated between the person and member constructs and traced the development of the 'irreal' and the 'real' group as it emerged from transactions between member systems.
