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This book contains the proceedings of two round table conferences on group psychotherapy. The title of the first, held in 1932, was The Application of the Group Method to the Classification of Prisoners. It was sponsored by Dr. William A. White, who had
read Dr. Moreno's monograph and had talked with him, and was interested in the possible importance of the group approach to treatment. Although much of the discussion centered about the treatment of prisoners, the broader implications and possibilities of the group method were discussed. The talks were largely exploratory. Dr. Moreno concluded the discussion with what seemed to be a defensive explanation of his theory.
The remainder of the book consists of the proceedings of a second round table conference in 1944, and brings the group method of psychotherapy up-to-date. The exigencies of the war gave impetus to the method, and Captain Francis J. Braceland (MC), U.S.N.R. found adversity to be a unifying force; Bruno Solby, Surgeon (R), U.S.P.H.S., mentioned as unifying factors (1) similar symptoms, (2) similar social status in military service, and (3) a similar goal. Samuel B. Hadden, M.D. added members to his group at weekly intervals, included both sexes and apparently handled problems of sex and of transference without unusual difficulty.
Joseph H. Pratt, M.D., working in the medical clinic of the Boston Dispensary began 'mass instruction' of tuberculosis patients in 1906, thus becoming one of the pioneers in the use of group therapy. He first employed lectures, but as his experience broadened he recognized the neurotic elements in physical illness and his classes came to include what today would be called psychosomatic cases. His approach is 'repressive inspirational' as contrasted to psychoanalytical. The improvement of his patients was more rapid than when they were treated individually. In his contribution he pays tribute to the early works of Dejerine.
The combined system of group psychotherapy and