Braunthal gave a course in casework training to some fifty social workers in Mannheim, Germany. They were old-fashioned, authoritative, moralistic, rigid, middle-aged unmarried women. Case record material was unavailable or too literary and moralistic to be of use. Lectures, it was felt, would not alter the basic attitude. Discussion groups consisting of about twelve members were instituted, each having six half-day sessions per week. These discussions resulted in a complete change of thinking—a realization that a moralistic approach failed to meet the clients' real needs, but simply made them more dependent. The workers themselves were revealed as dependent and demanding of acceptance, which throttled their aggression toward society and their ability to think with originality.