PSYCHOTHERAPY: THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE VOLUME 10, #4, WINTER, 1973 KEEPING SECRETS: GROUP RESISTANCE FOR PATIENTS AND THERAPISTS P. R. BALGOPAL University of Maryland School, of Social Work and Community Planning Baltimore, Maryland 21201 Our purpose in this paper is to report and discuss some of our experiences during a two- year period working with an outpatient therapy group, emphasizing two aspects: a special form of group resistance, and the cru- cial relationship between the co-therapists. The ideas to be discussed evolved from our experience with the group and not from any prior hypothesis that we were deliberately trying to test. Dr. Balgopal was more ex- perienced in group psychotherapy and was the permanent therapist of the group. Dr. Hull participated as a co-therapist in the group as part of his psychiatric training and is designated as the resident therapist. The group was functioning for eight months prior to his joining. STRUCTURE: The group consisted of male and female college students, between the ages of 20 and 26, having problems in the areas of self-esteem, dependency needs and inter- personal relationships. The group was an open-ended one, new patients joining as old patients left. On an average six patients at- tended the group sessions, which were held twice a week, each session lasting for one and one-quarter hours. There was no specific termination date set at the time of the group's inception. After each session the two thera- pists met for three-quarters of an hour to discuss the content and process of the preced- ing session. THEORETICAL CONCEPTS: It is a com- mon phenomena for people to be somewhat reserved and guarded when dealing with any new set of people. This is also true in group psychotherapy, the members in the process of group treatment are not only guarded, but are also constantly testing one another and the therapist. Often the members hesitate to reveal crucial material concerning their life R. F. HULL Peterborough, Ontario, Canada history and their psychopathology. With- holding this sort of material of significant importance may be thought of as individual secrets. Besides this sort of individual secrets, because of the interaction within the group between the members, there is a possibility of contacts between different members outside the group and occasionally contacts with the therapists. When the contents of such con- tacts are not revealed to the total group, another secret emerges. By secrets the au- thors of this paper mean information shared by one or more group members and the therapists, but not revealed or discussed in the group sessions. With patients in either individual or group therapy, it is understood that part of the con- tract is to talk about things that ordinarily would be kept secret, although what is re- vealed by the patient at any one time is like the tip of an iceberg, with most remaining concealed. In this paper we want to focus on keeping secrets as a phenomenon in which the therapist may be unconsciously involved and thus unwittingly promote as a defense against his own internal conflicts. From the group's point of view, if the therapist as a transference object is also in reality one who keeps secrets, then the reality perception and the transference perceptions fuse, and the group resistance is consolidated. FIRST SESSION: Just prior to the resident therapist joining, movement in the group had become sluggish, topics were superficial, feelings were isolated, and little progress was being made. When the resident therapist attended the group session for the first time, the perma- nent therapist introduced the individual members to him, but in doing so he quite un- wittingly omitted one patient. The patient 334