COVER -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- PART I: GENERAL INTRODUCTION -- The Individual as a Whole in a Total Situation -- The Study of the Group -- Northfield Experiment -- Psychiatric Practice -- The Psycho-Analytic Situation -- The Group Analytic Situation -- Two Questions -- Two Answers -- A Basic Law of Group Dynamics -- Inter-relationships between Different Therapeutic Situations -- PART II: THE BACKGROUND -- Therapists and Patients -- Out-patients in Clinical and Private Practice -- In-patients in a Military Hospital -- Different Phases -- Preparation -- Forms of Groups -- Combined, Uncombined -- Open, Closed -- The Northfield Experiment -- Group Work in the Various Phases -- PART III: THE GROUP-ANALYTIC SITUATION -- Arrangements -- Numbers -- Conditions -- Meeting-place -- Seating -- Position and its Significance -- Selection, Grouping -- Various Principles -- The Group as Test -- Selection according to Syndromes or Problems -- Selection according to Personality Types -- By Contrast -- Selection from the Group's Needs -- Various Factors -- Correlation of Factors -- Preliminary Sifting of Factors -- Selection must take the Total Situation into Account -- Time Factors -- Frequency of Sessions -- Regularity -- Duration of Whole Course -- Determinate or Indeterminate -- Duration of Session -- Short Resumé of Arrangements -- The Conductor's Contribution -- Minimum of Instructions -- No Set Topics -- Free-Floating Discussion -- Induction by Handling of Situation -- Three Basic Principles -- Active Participation -- Communication in Permissive Atmosphere -- Observation in a Social Setting -- The Group-Analytic Situation in Operation -- The Beginning of a Group -- First Group Session at Bart's -- Windfalls -- First Session of a Military Group -- A Lively Start -- " Quite Different People ".

A Closed Group -- The Individual Members -- An Activity Group -- The Hospital Band -- The Group Analyst makes Contact and Observes -- The Group Analyst Acts -- The Group carries on -- An Individual Gain -- Treating a Ward -- Existing Conditions -- Changes -- The Ward as a Community -- Sports Competition -- The Same Principles in Events of Historical Magnitude -- Treating a Hospital -- Orientation -- The Hospital as a Group -- The Co-ordination Group -- The Interaction of Groups -- Sociodrama with the Co-ordination Group -- The Newspaper Group on the Stage -- Spotlights from Group-Analytic Work -- Group B -- The Meaning of Words -- The Group as Diagnostic Agent -- Mutual Diagnosis (Group P) -- Unconscious Understanding (Group P and Group B) -- Communication through Silence -- Interaction of Behaviour and Interpretation by the Group -- Unconscious Understanding of Symbolism -- The Supportive Function of the Group (Group B) -- Unconscious Identification with the Leader (Group P) -- The Conductor as Obstacle -- Resistances -- Contrasting Defence Mechanisms -- The Symptoms join in Discussion -- Group Explodes Silence, Clearing Symptom -- Release of Spontaneity -- Activation -- Chain Reaction in a Group -- The Location of a Disturbance -- Group P -- The Presence of the Absent Member (Group B) -- The Scapegoat (Group B) -- Another Absent Member as Scapegoat (Group P) -- PART IV: THE CONDUCTOR'S CONTRIBUTION -- The Conductor's Contribution -- Some Definitions -- The Conductor's Part -- The Group as an Instrument -- Acting through the Group -- Discriminating Activity -- Trigger Action -- Silences -- The Conductor as Instrument of the Group -- Following the Group -- The Group as a Whole -- The Group's Climate -- Intuitive Action -- The Situation as a Whole -- Positional Dynamics -- The Conductor's Special Position -- (Diagrams).

His Symbolic Function -- Leakages -- The Group's Secrets -- Group P as a Leaderless Group -- Its Remarks on the Conductor -- The Conductor's Qualifications -- Training of Group Analysts -- PART V: SURVEY -- Group Analysis and its Relation to Other Approaches -- Group Analysis and Psycho-Analysis -- Affinities and Essential Differences -- Some Forms of Group Treatment -- Other Authors -- Views on Indications, Selection, Dynamics of Therapy -- Specific Principles -- Specific Therapeutic Factors -- Supportive and Analytic Factors -- Communication as a Factor of Central Importance -- Group Therapy and the Individual -- Bibliography -- Index.