A TECHNIQUE OF GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY.

This article develops and discusses a technique of group psychotherapy with illustrating various phases of a so-called "group therapy session." It is emphasized that group interaction and group decision are an integral part of this type of therapeutic session and that these interrelationships, as well as those relationships between therapists and members, are influential in personality change. Three phases of psychotherapy process has been identified and discussed here, which are: the period of resistance, the period of confiding, and the period of integration. Modern theorists see the therapeutic process as a social exchange in which two or more people are interacting. Findings of the study on which this article is based, reportedly, corroborate the primary importance of the interpersonal relationships in therapy. It is argued that an explicit theory of therapy is necessary for two reasons. First, the therapist must be certain of his own direction and motivation in responding to the group. He must be aware of the direction of the group development. A second advantage, suggestively, is the experimental value accruing from a detailed theory of group therapy.