The Practice Guidelines: An Impressive Overview of the State of Our Art

like most busy practitioners who accept an optional project, I had second thoughts after accepting Bob Klein’s invitation to write a commentary on Bernard et al.’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for Group Psychotherapy. Having read through the Practice Guidelines several times, however, I am pleased that I took on this project and feel enriched and inspired by it. Written by several of this country’s leading group practitioners, the Practice Guidelines are lengthy, thorough, thoughtful, and amply referenced. They address basic topics in psychodynamic group psychotherapy and combine clinical wisdom and research data. The guidelines target as its readership the practitioners of dynamic, interactional, and relationally-based group therapy. They are broader than treatment standards or treatment guidelines and aspirational rather than prescriptive and mandatory. As someone with extensive clinical experience—and hopefully wisdom—I have been invited to discuss the inherent issues raised by the Practice Guidelines from a clinical perspective. Before doing that, I feel that the reader is entitled to know something about the basic principles that inform my clinical work. These principles include but are not limited to the following ideas: