Chronologically senile persons can be regarded as caricatures of their former selves, who feel rejected by the society of younger people. Among institutionalized senile women, excluding those too deteriorated to form any object relationship, group therapy offered a means of resocialization. This was facilitated when a female ward nurse assisted the male physician who was group leader. By identifying themselves with the younger and more attractive woman, the patients gained narcissistic satisfaction and enough confidence to feel a genital attraction for the leader, to whom previously they had merely felt dependence toward an authoritative figure. The adult sexuality gave them added self-respect, self-reliance, and ability to socialize.