Editors' Introduction

The following papers address some frequently raised questions as to the advantages of group over individual analysis, the use of modern psychoanalytic techniques in groups, and what is distinctive about modern analytic group treatment.

Leslie Rosenthal's view of the group as early mother leads him to believe that the deepest issues around constructive and destructive impulses, and the defenses against them, can be aroused and resolved in the group setting. He offers clinical evidence of occasions when patients regressed to early, infantile levels.

William Kirman finds a way to use modern analytic techniques in brief psychotherapy groups. He seeks to provide psychological safety for group members and models a nonattacking form of emotional communication based on Spotnitz's maturational interpretation. Kirman's attitude toward saying what is therapeutic rather than on delivering interpretations that may be true but hurtful is a distinguishing concern of modern analytic group treatment.

Evelyn Liegner offers an example of an entire group in the grip of a single resistance. How she uses her countertransference feelings to respond emotionally demonstrates the successful application of modern analytic techniques in the group setting.

Sidney Love's paper shows how resistance is explored and joined in modern analytic family treatment and how this approach differs from family treatments in which the major decisions about treatment are made by the therapist.

Dolores Welber gives an example of how the modern analytic injunction to say everything operates in a group. She illustrates how