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In a field noted for books and articles written from the partisan viewpoint of the single clinician, Irvin Yalom's richly documented book on group psychotherapy eclectically draws upon many disciplines and approaches and integrates their various findings into a cohesive unit. Wherever possible, Yalom has supported the clinical aspects of his work with references to relevant research. He has consistently based his observations on a dual humanistic-scientific foundation.
The first part of the book deals with the curative factors in the group experience. He considers them to be the imparting of information, the instilling of hope, universalizing, altruism, the corrective recapitulation of the primary family group, the development of socialization techniques, imitative behavior, catharsis, and, most particularly, the emphasis on group cohesiveness and interpersonal learning. Though these factors can be found in almost all forms of therapy, Yalom shows how they are intensely and idiosyncratically experienced in the group.
To demonstrate these curative factors, Yalom systematically presents an unfolding chronological view of the therapy group, pointing out the characteristic group phenomena and the required role of the therapist at each stage.
Toward the end of the book there is an excellent discussion of the differences between T-groups and therapy groups. Yalom describes in detail the burgeoning world of the sensitivity group, the encounter