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Falk's main hypothesis is that the century old terms, 'individual' and 'group', describe ways of thinking and acting which are inadequate for the design of social or psychological treatment. He reviews the thinking of social philosophers (Browne, Hobbs, Locke) as well as T. Parsons and posits that 'individuality' (not individualism) and 'groupness' (instead of group) comprise the qualitative characteristics of a person. The concern is with how people see themselves and how they are seen as part of their group, whether social, familial, or analytic. He then suggests that the question to be foremost in a therapist's mind is, 'How, in what manner, does this person demonstrate individuality-groupness?', rather than the 'hows' and 'whys' of what a patient tells him. This presupposes that we reject the notion of an idealized American individualism as a standard, as well as accept the patient-therapist dyad as a functioning group. The either/or problem regarding individuality-groupness leads to simplistic dichotomies and individuality has meaning only as part of one's groupness. He therefore questions the possibility of treating a single patient.