Group cohesiveness in psychotherapy is defined as the dynamic process that incorporates the multifactors that establish and maintain members in the therapy group. The development of group cohesiveness and the role of the therapist can be divided into five stages. In the first pregroup stage, the therapist must select clients and prepare them for group therapy. In the second stage of group cohesiveness the group is created and maintained. The therapist now serves as both technical expert and model-setting participant for group members. In stage three, when group members begin discussing sensitive matters and behaviors, the therapist must contend with hostility and transference. In stage four, facilitating self-disclosure and closeness, the therapist strives to foster the therapy process, deals with problems, makes observations, and encourages open discussion and analysis of group activities. In the final stage, termination of therapy, it is the therapist's responsibility to remind clients of their impending termination, to focus transfer of learning, and to encourage risk-taking outside the group. By focusing attention on the phases of group cohesiveness as a dynamic process within the process of group psychotherapy, the therapist can enhance the possiblity of achieving group cohesiveness more quickly, increasing it, and maintaining it at a high level. (NRB)