ABSTRACT
Members of study groups are selected from heterogeneous backgrounds. Experience of conferences shows that what is to happen in study groups is usually the major preoccupation of most members on arrival. Study groups usually end with members having feelings both of relief at the end of a trying experience and of regret and mourning for something valuable that has been lost. In Experiences in Groups, W. R. Bion has described what happens in study groups to which he has acted as consultant. Most members of study groups attend them to learn about what happens in groups. In practice, members of study groups discuss almost anything from leadership as an abstract concept to the kind of leadership they are getting in their own group; from external events that have nothing whatever to do with their task to their own feelings for each other.
