Notes that one of the most significant characteristics of mutual aid groups is the fact that they are empowering and thus delineating. They enable members to feel and use their strengths, their own power, to have control over their own lives. (Author/AM)

Suggests that the single most important common denominator of the various types of self-help groups examined may be that the role of the person who has already lived through the experience is critical for helping others. (Author/AM)

Suggests that one of the reasons why many of the older self-help organizations rejected professional help may be that the help that was offered was of the more authoritarian variety. (Author/AM)