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The first paper in this symposium, Some Elements in Activity Group Therapy, by S. R. Slavson, describes a special type of treatment which he has developed at the Jewish Board of Guardians in New York. Carefully matched groups of seven or eight children are permitted free acting-out in crafts or games, the session ending with a meal. The rôle of the group worker is permissive and nonauthoritarian. Five elements are emphasized as important in the therapeutic process. The author points out that individuals always feel threatened by group contacts because they involve comparison with others and revive other early intra-familial conflicts. In 'activity group therapy', this anxiety is minimized by the worker's positive attitude and respect for the individuality of each child, by the emphasis on constructive achievement and the development of skills, and by the repetitious nature of the sessions. It is felt that the group also affords the child substitute gratifications for earlier frustrations. The group leader not only exercises little authority but also gives minimal satisfaction to passive wishes. Through various techniques, he gradually withdraws support from dependent children, thus encouraging them to form child-to-child relationships. Activity group therapy aims at 'eliminating dependence and helping the child find security within himself'. The atmosphere of freedom encourages the discharge of suppressed impulses with resultant 'expansion of the quantum of inner life', and a presumed strengthening of the ego. Identifications and close relationships (either child to child, or child to adult) do not play a major rôle in this type of treatment, as they do in psychotherapy or in 'interview group therapy', which is used for adolescents. Activity group therapy is said to aim at developing the capacity for forming relationships rather than at strong relationships per se. (This statement seems like a contradiction in terms.) It has been noted that the behavio