'Activity Group Therapy'

Produced by the Jewish Board of Guardians. Released by Columbia University Educational Films.

Dr. Slavson has produced an unusually well-integrated film on group therapy. He has carefully selected his scenes so that the audience can obtain a general view of the major procedures in this form of treatment.

To gain immediate audience response, the film opens with a newborn infant; then a young child is shown looking very bewildered amidst crowds on the street, followed by close-ups of street scenes showing boys with various behavior difficulties. After this statement of the problem of behavior disorders and delinquency, the film portrays the constructive and friendly procedure of an agency, starting with the admission of patients, followed by staff conferences at the Jewish Board of Guardians, and then group therapy. The close-ups of individual boys present vividly the facial expressions, postural attitudes, and social behavior of several boys, but of three in particular. The changes in these boys over sixty-five weeks are clearly demonstrated.

Especially vivid for teaching purposes is the portrayal of Henry, an infantile boy, who has anxiety in all his personal relationships. At the onset of treatment, his withdrawal from the other children, playing with his lip, his lack of verbalization reveal his oral character. The portrayal of the other children is equally well done, but they exhibit less overt pathology. This has a definite advantage, for it illustrates that many children can have deep intrapsychic conflicts without too much overt gross pathology in facial expressions and behavior. The six sequences of group therapy, chosen from sixty-five, give convincing evidence of the changes in the total behavior of the group, as well as in the individual children.

According to Dr. Slavson's method, as shown in the film, the psychotherapist remains permissive as far as possible. He does not converse with the children unless approached. He is not acquainted with the p