The marathon encounter group--vision and reality: Exhuming the body for a last look.

Abstract

DOI 10.1037//1061-4087.54.3.186 Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Vol. 54, No. 3, 186–198 186 world and change the course of human destiny! The millennium was just around the corner! And, since in 1967 I was in the process of completing one of the first, if not the first, doctoral dissertations studying marathon groups (Weigel, 1968), I felt like one of the pioneering Apollo astronauts. A while later, when presenting my research during the Los Angeles meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (Weigel, 1969), I saw that George and Fred were in the audience. At a cocktail party at his home that evening, George introduced me around to his guru group-psychotherapist guests, glorified my work, and transformed me from a newbie to an instant insider. Later, well into the evening and after too many drinks and far too much secondhand pot, Fred even suggested the two of us write a book about marathons. Talk about heady! And me with the ink hardly dry on my diploma. The Marathon Encounter Group—Vision and Reality: Exhuming the Body for a Last Look