The group psychotherapy literature 1967

An investigation of conceptual process and pattern change in a psychotherapy group

In a review of the 1967 group psychotherapy literature, MacLennan and Levy (1968) record that nearly 300 papers were published in that one year. Unfortunately, this proliferation does not reflect any great increase in the knowledge of group psychotherapy processes. There are plenty of original ideas, but these are almost totally unsupported by systematic theory and research. Where theoretical ideas have been used, they have been lifted from the sphere of individual psychotherapy and applied unmodified to group psychotherapy. The research has largely been concerned with determining such things as the most efficient group structure; who talks to whom about what; and what grammatical forms are used.