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'Accelerated interaction is a recent development in the use of groups for the purpose of personal change which utilize continuous group interaction over several days as its major source of impetus.' A group typically meets at 8 p.m. on Friday and stays together until 6 p.m. on Sunday with time out for sleeping. They are told initially, 'We are going to talk as honestly as possible; to spell out the kinds of reactions aroused in us; how others make us feel and behave toward them. Your behavior in the group will represent your way of being in the world and you will have opportunity to change aspects which are both unrewarding and unnecessary. We will be more interested in what goes on between us than history.'
The mental health-mental illness concept is here inappropriate in forcing one person to judge another's health. Intensive group experience teaches a new behavior, parts of which persist. In the closing phases of the meeting increased self-regard is accompanied by appreciation of other members with concern, identification, directness, honesty, and helpfulness. This may enable an individual to approach new crises in a more creative manner. Follow-up sessions held six weeks later have indicated that twenty per cent of the participants are not benefited by the experience, and two per cent may be actually harmed. The latter would seem to be those with limited resources or overwhelming immediate difficulties.
In discussion, Hyman Spotnitz questioned whether Stoller's assumption that an emotional experience, highly concentrated, with a built-in sense of urgency, produces significant personality changes. He felt such experiences were gratifying rather than therapeutic and enhanced resistance to working out problems. Morris B. Farloss objected to the paper not as an unconventional innovation, but because its ready acceptance of what the writer wishes to believe as true is intellectual nihilism.