In this article, the author attempts to show that containment in Foulkesian group-analytic therapy has a number of different aspects. The author outlines how containment needs to be active as well as interpretive, & outlines the role of the conductor. She then describes the case of a male patient with borderline personality disorder, whose absences from group therapy provoked intense anxiety that he might have committed suicide. How the group functioned through this period & after the patient returned, is explored. (27 refs)