Working through can be viewed as the process of mourning idealized parents who never existed. Through repeated planned presentation of less and less distorted derivatives, the patient is confronted with the necessity of relinquishing illusions of omnipotence and ties to introjected protectors and providers. The multiple interactions in the group provide opportunities for repeated confrontations of defensive patterns, especially the masochist's refusal to mourn his lost objects. Since mourning is traditionally a shared experience, it appears useful to employ a group setting to implement the working through of separation from illusions and introjected objects.