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Recent months have seen the publication of several books on group psychotherapy, among which the present volume is of special interest. It describes the type of group psychotherapy developed by its authors, particularly Wolf.
In the first chapter, concerning method, six phases of group psychotherapy are described. In the first phase, the patient is evaluated by tests and by a varying period of individual analysis which is also preparatory. The second phase, called Rapport Through Dreams and Fantasies, begins with the first group session, at which the patients are asked to recount a recent or old dream, to free-associate to it, and to 'speculate about and interpret the dream'. A peripheral aspect of a patient's problems, fantasies, reveries, or daydreams may be presented. 'The permissive atmosphere fostered by the expression of dreams, fantasies, and critical problems helps the patients develop good group rapport.' During this second phase, group sessions with the therapist present alternate with others without him, frequently at a patient's home. The 'anonymity' preserved by patients' use of first names only is obviously lost by the patient at whose home the alternate sessions are held.
After the establishment of group rapport, the therapist leads the group into the third phase, which 'is controlled by limiting it to the expression of spontaneous, uncensored speculation about other members of the group… It is suggested that if a patient will say whatever comes into his head about another, he will intuitively penetrate a resistive façade and identify underlying attitudes… A patient is requested by the analyst to acknowledge the penetration of a façade if he feels something especially perceptive has been said to him.' The fourth phase of this 'psychoanalysis in groups' arises when 'resistances emerge with increasing clarity … defenses are discovered, studied, delineated, and the forces that support them are examined. Finally each member is offered increasing