Continued growth and increased legitimacy are anticipated for the American self-help group (SHG) phenomenon. Currently estimated at six and a quarter million participants annually, self-help groups will assume a central role in the nation's mental health delivery system over the next two decades. The first part of this article illuminates the self-help group phenomenon itself. Its scope, characteristics, supporting social climate, and associated research issues are reviewed. The second part is a futuristic examination of its interface with the newly industrializing world of health care. Massive increases in mental health services are predicted, especially via the SHG format. Theory development, research sophistication, changing SHG formats, a place in public policy, and acceptance into graduate curricula are also expected, as are collaborative relationships with a variety of professional disciplines. Psychologists are urged to enhance the relevance of the profession by taking an early leadership role in these developments.

Undergraduates in six programmed T groups received feedback that was either behavioral, emotional, or combined behavioral-emotional. The feedback was either positive or negative in nature. All positive feedback was consistently rated as being more credible than all negative feedback. Negative behavioral feedback was more credible than negative emotional feedback. It is suggested that participants in group psychotherapy and encounter groups who give each other behavioral feedback will enhance the credibility of the feedback by adding their emotional reactions only if the feedback is positive. Positive feedback was also rated as more desirable and as having greater impact. Greater cohesion is reported among positive feedback groups. Other findings concerning the credibility, desirability, and impact of feedback, and evaluation of the T groups are discussed.

Professional psychologists are challenged to determine the appropriate use of interactive computer therapy programs. Although such programs have the potential of enhancing delivery of mental health services and reaching ever broader audiences, they raise serious clinical, legal, ethical, and practical concerns. This article reports on a controlled clinical trial comparing short-term traditional individual therapy with a computer-based intervention overseen by a therapist. Results were favorable and comparable in both conditions, with individual therapy outperforming computerbased therapy on some measures. The practitioner's use of computer-based psychotherapy interventions is discussed and some guidelines offered. Computer technology is changing the face of psychotherapy. Should interactive programs be used as an adjunct to treatments? Should they be recommended for use without other treatment? If so, for what diagnostic groups and with what precautions should they be recommended? Should some clients explicitly be warned against unsupervised interventions? An American Psychological Association task force (Nickelson, 1997) report has cited a minefield of legal, ethical, and financial issues of concern to psychologists interested in these new technologies.

This study examined three different sequences of positive and negative feedback delivered in T groups. The Ss were 46 undergraduates. The believability and desirability of the feedback, as rated by the 5s who received the feedback, were the main areas of interest. Positive feedback was found to be more desirable and tended to be more believable than negative feedback. Overall, the sequence of negative feedback delivered first, followed by later positive feedback, was more effective than positive feedback followed by negative feedback. A third group, which received a mixture of positive and negative feedback, rated the T group lowest as a learning experience. Finally, no significant differences in cohesion resulted from the different feedback conditions. Some implications of these findings for training laboratories and group psychotherapy are discussed.

Dysfunctional cognitions have been hypothesized to be important determinants of unassertive responding, although treatment strategies aimed directly at modifying cognitions have generally proved no more effective than skills training interventions alone. However, the possibility that individual differences in dysfunctional cognitions may interact with type of treatment has not been previously explored. Nonstudent adults with assertion problems and with high or low levels of dysfunctional attitudes were assigned to cognitivebehavioral, skills training, or waiting list control groups. Both self-report and behavioral assessments of behavior change following treatment failed to show interaction of treatment type and level of dysfunctional attitudes. Skills training and cognitive-behavioral treatments were equally effective and significantly more effective for persons with low levels of dysfunctional attitudes. The results are discussed in terms of matching individuals to treatments and highlighting the particular challenge presented by the unassertive, high-dysfunctional-attitude individuals.