ABSTRACT

A wide variety of experiential groups, including human relations training groups, sensitivity groups, and group dynamic seminars, began to attain increasing popularity during the 1960s both in America and abroad. They are now used with considerable frequency in a variety of training settings as diverse as psychiatric residency programs, psychology internships, and group psychotherapy workshops such as those sponsored by the American Group Psychotherapy Association. Experiential groups such as human relations training groups have the objective of understanding how groups behave and how each member tends to react in a relatively unstructured group. To the extent that T-groups also attempt to enhance individual insight, the problem is posed as to why a central vehicle of psychodynamic group psychotherapy, that is, transference, is not emphasized as a tool of the typical training group. The group therapist encourages the development of transference by confining his behavior largely to that of observer and interpreter of group and individual conflicts and resistances.