Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought by Ruth L. Munroe

This paper assesses the impact of large-group processes and dynamics upon the patient-staff community meeting in hospital treatment. It focuses upon the therapeutic values and limitations of the large-group format by examining, from an integrated general systems and object relations perspective, how size, structure, patient population, staff training, and leadership variables reciprocally affect the process and content of the community meeting. The special problems associated with selecting an appropriate format for the meeting and the intense pull of regressive group forces upon the large-group leader are discussed.