Reflections and suggestions on leadership of psychotherapy groups.

This paper attempts to provide a helpful, "hands-on" guide to leaders of psychotherapy groups in a manner that is free of any one particular theoretical orientation. It focuses on characteristics that can be applied to groups emphasizing life skills, cognitive skills, or interpersonal skills in a variety of settings and types of groups--inpatient or outpatient, short or long term. Issues covered include the importance of structure as it relates to anxiety, group composition, skill requirements, resistance, and symbolic factors.