Group Psychotherapy: Studies in Methodology of Research and Therapy. By Florence B. Powdermaker, Jerome D. Frank, and others. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1953. Pp. 615. 42 s.)

This account of a research project is presented in two sections: the first is concerned with groups of neurotic patients at the Veterans Administration's Mental Hygiene Clinic in Washington, D.C., and the other with chronic schizophrenic patients at the Veterans Administration's Hospital at Perry Point, from July 1947 to May 1949. The research staff concerned with both parts consisted of four psychiatrists, five clinical psychologists, and two psychiatric social workers, apart from a further twenty psychiatrists in charge of groups.

The therapy was analytic in orientation, and its goals those of psychotherapy in general. The dynamics of group interaction in its relation to therapy was a special feature of the research. Each psychiatrist used his own approach, but as the project developed the different approaches tended to converge.

The groups lasted one and a half hours, and were attended by a (mostly silent) observer who prepared narrative reports of each meeting. This was found to be the most suitable form of recording, but wire recordings (with an unconcealed microphone) were also used. After discussion between the doctor and the observer, summaries of the meetings were prepared. The aim of developing an objective method of studying group therapy led to the isolation of specific problems as experienced by the therapist. A form of 'situation analysis' was devised to sift the vast material and to bring out cause and effect relationships.

The groups of neurotic clinic patients were open ones over relatively short periods (three to nineteen months). Attendances were rather irregular, averaging five patients. A large proportion received individual psychotherapy as well. In 27 per cent of the patients who improved under combined individual and group psychotherapy, the doctors considered that the main weight of the therapy had been carried by the group in spite of the more intensive contact in individual sessions. For another 13 per cent both types of therapy w