title: The written summary as a group psychotherapy technique.
abstract: During the past 18 months, we have been preparing detailed written summaries of the events of group therapy meetings, which have then been mailed to the group members. This technique was introduced initially as a device to provide structure in a very anxious group. We soon realized that the summary had a great potential for enhancing therapist effectiveness and it came to assume a number of other functions. In this report, we describe our experience with this technique, emphasizing its importance as a tool to improve the cognitive integration of the group therapy experience for both patient and therapist.
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000628:therapy; D001007:Anxiety; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012201:Reward