The Group in Depth: By Helen Durkin, Ph.D. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1964. 378 pp.

Group therapy became well established, generally accepted, and widely used during World War II and has remained so ever since. Yet the term 'group therapy' encompasses so many contradictory or overlapping theoretical approaches, such as variety of technical maneuvers, and so many different situations for its application that it has become too diffuse to be descriptive without further qualification. Here the author, with several decades of experience in this procedure, clarifies and defines group therapy in breadth as well as in depth, in most if not all of its aspects.

As we read, we can infer, perhaps too readily, that writing this work was a peace-making mission, in which the author tried to reconcile differences of opinion in a bevy of individualistic and possibly opinionated practitioners. The main contention seems to be between those who consider the benefits of group therapy to derive from interpretation of behavior, analytic in nature, offered in the presence of others by a leader or by their companions, and those who attribute therapeutic effects to group dynamics, the interaction of individuals on each other. The issue is further complicated because both sets of contenders differ among themselves, and all are original thinkers, abundantly articulate.

To present their views fairly, the author has explored the reaches of sociology and the historical progress of psychology. She comments on her investigations in what sound like rueful overtones, 'Surveying the research findings in the field of group dynamics proved in itself an arduous task'. Arduous it must have been, since the material is voluminous, and here it is condensed and discussed in chapters that are a scholarly and informative introduction for those unfamiliar with the subject.

However, group therapy is a less theoretical than a special type, or types, of human interrelationship. The author states: 'In addition