Integrating visions of reality: Interpersonal diagnosis and the existential vision.

The visions of reality underlying psychotherapeutic schools are considered as cognitive structures, and T. Leary's (1957) interpersonal diagnosis model is employed to systematize previously discussed visions and to generate additional visions. This serves to identify commonalities among therapeutic world views, intervention styles, personality patterns, and types of psychopathology and to further psychotherapy integration by stressing the need for flexibility as the therapist offers each client a re-vision of his or her experienced reality. Every individual is ultimately responsible for choosing his or her own "reality" and the identity that is embedded in it. Promoting self-direction and flexibility by enhancing awareness of these existential choices is at the core of therapeutic effectiveness and is fostered through metacommunication and beneficial challenge to the client's constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ambiguity of the psychoanalytic situation and its relation to the analyst's reverie.

This article is about ambiguity in psychoanalysis, an ambiguity that is particularly striking in the psychoanalytic relationship between patient and analyst. The analyst is a professional in his consulting room, in his chair behind the patient, but he is at the same time a figure in the patient's realization of his inner world of objects. The analyst is a transference figure, but he is also a real person with his own inner private reverie and a subjective contribution to the analytic process. For some patients, the ambiguous analyst is an enormous challenge or threat. This article describes parts of the analytic process with one such patient, a man with an early history of severe trauma who at the start of his treatment completely denied this ambiguity and felt every reminder of his analyst being anything else but professional as a threat to his sanity. The author tries to show how the improvement of the patient's tolerance for ambiguity depended on the work done in the analyst's private reverie, a quite demanding process for the analyst. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles and repressive defensiveness: The accessibility and architecture of affective memories.

One hundred and twenty Israeli students were classified into secure, avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent attachment groups. They completed scales that tap the construct of repressive defensiveness and recalled early personal experiences of anger, anxiety, sadness, and happiness. Secure people reported moderate defensiveness and low anxiety and had easy access to negative memories without being overwhelmed by the spreading of the dominant emotional tone to nondominant emotions. Anxious ambivalent people were unable to repress negative affects, reported high anxiety, had easy access to negative memories, and could not inhibit emotional spreading. Avoidant people reported high levels of defensiveness and anxiety and showed low accessibility to negative memories. The discussion emphasizes the parallel between a person's interaction with the social world and the makeup of his or her inner world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sibling status effects: Adult expectations.

Investigated expectations or beliefs held by 278 adults (average age 25.3 yrs) about a child based on his or her sibling status alone. Ss were asked to describe what they would expect a child without brothers or sisters, a child who was the oldest in his or her family, and a child who was the youngest in his or her family to be like. Ss seemed to have higher expectations for and give more positive ratings to oldest children than to only or youngest children. The ordinal position and parental status of the S also had an effect on the ratings given. Ss who were youngest children and Ss who were only children tended to show some bias toward their own sibling group; Ss who were oldest children actually gave their own sibling status lower group ratings than did other Ss. Ss with children tended to give higher ratings to all 3 sibling groups than did Ss without children. Results are discussed in terms of how these expectations may develop and their effects on the child's development. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object constancy: The illusion of being seen.

Recent theoretical advances in the concept of object constancy have placed it in the context of the child's establishing a separate identity. Although these advances were partly the result of examining the child's growing abilities to evoke a mental image of the absent mother, constancy cannot be well understood as a type of mental representation. It more resembles an illusion, specifically the illusion that the mother is constantly available in her mirroring function. The child's sense of his or her own reality is born in the mother's affectively attuned mirroring, as nothing about the child is real for the child until first seen by the mother. The illusion of the constant object allows the child to construct a sense of his or her own separate reality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change in job conditions and change in psychological distress within couples: a study of crossover effects

In a random sample of 242 full-time employed men and women in dual-earner couples (N = 484), this study estimated the relations between (a) his experiences on the job over time and her distress over time and (b) her experiences on the job over time and his distress over time. In addition, we explored whether the crossover effects were due primarily to experiences with particular job conditions, and whether there were gender differences in the magnitude of these associations. The participants were interviewed 3 times over a 2-year period. After taking into account the relationship between each partner's own job conditions over time and her or his own psychological distress, there were significant associations between both the time-varying and the stable components of each partner's job conditions on the other partner's distress. The findings are discussed within the context of the need to expand the models used to study the job stress-illness relation to include longitudinal and within-couple crossover effects.     

Brief problem-oriented psychotherapy: A model for nontraditional clients.

Presents an active, brief, problem-oriented therapeutic model for working with nontraditional clients. An effort is made to view the potential client in terms of his/her own environment and expressed problem areas. Using a limited number of contacts, the therapeutic emphasis is on aiding the client to more effectively interact with his or her environment through the acquisition of additional skills and bodies of knowledge. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

David Wechsler (1896-1981).

Memorializes David Wechsler, who helped to provide clinical psychology with a tool (his scales) and with a humanistic philosophy toward the use of such tools (i.e., that assessment is not synonymous with testing). As a result, clinical psychologists working on a one-on-one basis in a variety of settings have provided a professional service which has been voluntarily sought out and appreciated by clients and patients throughout the world. Beginning in 1934, Wechsler's creative efforts were largely directed to two of his most important contributions to psychology: (a) the development and standardization of the adult (and later preschool and children's) intelligence scales that bear his name; and (b) the substitution for Binet's Mental Age of a Deviation Quotient (so important in evaluating the intelligence level of adults) that related each person's raw intelligence test score to his or her own age group as a reference, rather than to a mental age and an upper age limit of 15 years for adults, as had been done by Binet, Terman, and others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Self inquiry.

Reviews the book, Self inquiry by M. Robert Gardner (1983). Gardner's fundamental insight is "that the psychoanalyst's main aim, now as in Freud's time, is, or might well be, to advance his or her own self inquiry to help his or her patients to advance their self inquiry to help him or her to advance his or hers. And so on. And so on" (pp. 7-8). Consequently, one of his key concepts, when describing the psychoanalytic work, is mutuality. It should be noted that what Gardner terms "self inquiry" is a rather humble activity, whether it is carried out by analysts or other human beings. Still, this kind of humble activity is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and pervasive. Self inquiry turns out to be written by a psychoanalyst of the purest water, in spite of the author's unconventional way of reasoning. I think that most experienced analysts will find such paradoxical formulations provocative but, above all, profoundly true. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect.

This article presents a theory of how different types of discrepancies between self-state representations are related to different kinds of emotional vulnerabilities. One domain of the self (actual; ideal; ought) and one standpoint on the self (own; significant other) constitute each type of self-state representation. It is proposed that different types of self-discrepancies represent different types of negative psychological situations that are associated with different kinds of discomfort. Discrepancies between the actual/own self-state (i.e., the self-concept) and ideal self-states (i.e., representations of an individual's beliefs about his or her own or a significant other's hopes, wishes, or aspirations for the individual) signify the absence of positive outcomes, which is associated with dejection-related emotions (e.g., disappointment, dissatisfaction, sadness). In contrast, discrepancies between the actual/own self-state and ought self-states (i.e., representations of an individual's beliefs about his or her own or a significant other's beliefs about the individual's duties, responsibilities, or obligations) signify the presence of negative outcomes, which is associated with agitation-related emotions (e.g., fear, threat, restlessness). Differences in both the relative magnitude and the accessibility of individuals' available types of self-discrepancies are predicted to be related to differences in the kinds of discomfort people are likely to experience. Correlational and experimental evidence supports the predictions of the model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bettelheim: A life and legacy: On succumbing to the temptations of "celebrity biography."

Reviews the book, Bettelheim: A life and legacy by Nina Sutton and translated by David Sharp (see record 1996-97846-000). Sutton's professional interest and work until now have been in the field of journalism rather than in the study of psychology or the history of psychoanalytic thinking. This primarily journalistic interest has resulted in a book that appears to be more a "celebrity biography," so typical for our present time of media mass consumption, than a rigorous study in psychobiography. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim was Director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago from 1944 until 1969. While Director of the Orthogenic School, Dr. Bettelheim refined the principles of group treatment of children, in efforts that were directly descendent from the works of August Aichhorn, Anna Freud, and others. In addition to his therapeutic work with children at the Orthogenic School and his many writings on both clinical work and social theory, Bettelheim played a pivotal role in the history of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, where many of his most important papers first appeared. Those publications included not only some of his earnest contributions to the field of milieu therapy, but also his symposium disputations on the nature of autism with Leo Kanner, Lauretta Bender, Margaret Mahler, and others. Bettelheim wais also one of the founders of the American Association of Children's Residential Centers, which for many of its early years met annually for lively, heated clinical presentations and debates on the campus of the University of Chicago. As a leader of that professional group, Bettelheim's ideas helped to inspire others involved in the residential care of children to create group living settings that were based upon more compassionate and informed views of the inner needs of youth, and to attempt to displace the more primitive methods of custodial and "correctional" management of society's marginalized and thrown-away children. Sutton gives us several versions of how she understands her intent in writing about the life of Bettelheim. She tells us that the more immediate precipitant for her writing was her own reactions to Bettelheim's act of suicide, as well as to the flurry of accusations that shattered his reputation during the six months that followed his death. From that inauspicious vantage point, her work was influenced by others' probing curiosities about whether her biography would lead to a conclusion about the accusations of cruelty and abuse, serve as a sanitized detective story--would it ultimately take a polarized stand either for or against Bettelheim? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations, aspirations, and evaluations as influenced by another's attributions for success and failure.

A study with 80 male and female students aged 16–18 yrs examined the effects of another's attributions for performance on one's own expectations, aspirations, and evaluations of performance. Ss witnessed an other (O) who had attributed his (or her) performance (successful or unsuccessful) on an anagram task to luck, task ease or difficulty, effort, or ability. When O had succeeded, Ss expected to perform best if O had attributed his success to the task (rather than to luck, effort, or ability); when O had failed, Ss expected to perform worst when O had attributed his failure to the task. In addition, Ss witnessing a successful O were more hopeful if O had made a task attribution, but Ss witnessing an unsuccessful O were more hopeful if O had made an effort attribution. Finally, Ss showed a tendency to attribute their own performance to the same cause to which O had attributed his own performance. Results are discussed in relation to the stability–instability and internal–external dimensions of causal attributions and to the need to perceive oneself as exercising effective control over the environment. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Failed empathy--a central theme in the survivor's holocaust experience.

In this article, we concern ourselves with massive traumatic events deliberately inflicted on individuals by fellow human beings. Specifically, we focus on the Holocaust and the fact that massive failure of the environment to mediate needs, as in genocide, will throw into question the existence of empathy, human communication, and ultimately ones own humanity, to which any mirroring ceases to exist. Such a life experience will represent, to the survivor of trauma, failure of a responsive empathic agent or function. Because it is precisely representations of need-satisfying interactions that provide the basis for links between personal existence and social connectedness, undermining the individual's representation of the need-mediating context will deconstruct the link between self and other. Destruction of the victim's representational matrix of interpersonal relatedness results in a vulnerability and loneliness in his or her internal world representation which is the sine qua non of man-made trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Saying goodbye: A casebook of termination in child and adolescent analysis and therapy.

Reviews the book, Saying goodbye: A casebook of termination in child and adolescent analysis and therapy edited by Anita G. Schmukler (see record 1991-98015-000). Anita Schmukler's new book is comprised of 10 clinical and 6 theoretical papers. Schmukler and her colleagues set themselves the task of exploring and illustrating the theoretical and technical issues involved in ending child analyses. The primary theoretical question under review is, of course, the selection of criteria for terminability. The theoretical articles in this book try to tease out with some specificity the changes in the child and in the sessions themselves that indicate termination is on the horizon. Several articles outline criteria for termination, as indicated both in symptomatic improvement in the outside world and in the evolution of the transference neurosis in the analyst's office. The life and times of children and analysts at work around termination are richly illustrated. All practicing child analysts will recognize the pains and pleasures inherent in their line of work. And all will feel helped by the clarity of conceptualization offered as they think through with their own child patients and their parents the question of when it is time to say goodbye. However, the most important criterion for terminability, the child's expanded capacity to integrate disparate parts of himself or herself and metabolize his or her own experience, is inadequately explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Empirical Studies of Psychoanalytic Theories, Volume 2.

This text consists of 7 chapters. With one exception, each author reviews his or her own programmatic research, along with related empirical and theoretical findings. This was also the format in Volume 1. The reviewer found a commonality in these contributions--representing as they do vital, but varied approaches to experimental psychoanalytic psychology--an interest in the question: What is the nature and the development of thinking and how does it vary in psychopathological states? Volume 2 provides a general education to the psychoanalyst and also stimulates and extends his or her theoretical and research interests. The chapters, different as they are in methodology, topic, and style of presentation, represent a shared and successful effort to further knowledge through a reasoned psychoanalytic empiricism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Film: Three Unorthodox Examples.

Although presentations of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in film are often distorted, examples of good psychotherapeutic principles can be found in film in unorthodox settings. In The Sixth Sense and The Silence of the Lambs, the therapist must overcome his own resistance to listening to his patient in order to be effective. A psychologist must come to terms with his own death in order to understand and help his patient, and a cannibalistic psychiatrist must control his oral voyeurism to allow his "patient" to tell her story. Rashomon takes place in medieval Japan, but it fits a model of a 1-session psychotherapy of a guilt-ridden, acutely depressed man who benefits from both insight and reparative action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrospectives from three counseling psychology predoctoral interns: How navigating the challenges of graduate school in the face of death and debilitating illness influenced the development of clinical practice.

Death and debilitating illness can have a significant impact on one's understanding of self, others, and society. When a counseling or clinical psychology graduate student experiences such hardships during the course of his or her clinical training, there can be several potential implications. The stressors of graduate school may exacerbate the emotional responses to an already painful situation. Additionally, clinical skill development can be negatively affected if the student has difficulty acknowledging how hardship influences his or her capacity to be an effective therapist. However, the same tribulations can also help new therapists to realize their inner strength, develop beneficial coping skills, and apply this knowledge when working with clients. Highlighted in this article are three cases of loss and hardship that underscore the importance of supportive clinical supervision, psychological hardiness, humor, and optimism during times of personal crises. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment with physical therapy after knee injuries]

Trauma to the inner knee disturb the organism's local and central regulations. Physiotherapeutic measures stimulate self-regulatory and self-regenerative mechanisms of the organism. Depending on the specific needs of the patient, active exercise treatment, or various procedures of physical therapy are administered (hydro and thermotherapy, electromedicine, light therapy, aerosol therapy, balneology, and climatology) in order to achieve his/her full restoration to the maximal potential vocationally, socially, and physically.     

Weaving together dream, image and relationship: Moving from anger, to fear, to love.

Discussed a case study of play and dream work. After a very difficult couple session, a female client used image play and dream work during a follow-up individual session. There, she was able to take responsibility for the harshness of her verbal communication style with her husband and the destructive belief system that guided her marital interactions. By sharing the client's exploratory and self-reflective play process, the therapist demonstrated how the play stimulated the client's innate capacity to examine her destructive approach to marital relationship, allowed her to uncover her actual (new) needs in the relationship, facilitated her capacity to claim anger, judgment, and "monstrous cobra self', and supported her in finding more helpful interactive patterns. As she faced herself in the mirror of her play, she not only found her shadow (problem), but activated her own inner wisdom and knowing, which offered her viable solutions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Free will: An automatic response.

Comments on the article by I. Kirsch and S. J. Lynn (see record 1999-05760-005), which concerned the effects of expectancy in clinical behavior change. Kirsch and Lynn reviewed several meta-analyses of placebo-controlled trials of antidepressants, and examined areas of research in which response expectancies have been shown to affect experience, behavior, and physiology: placebo effects, the effects of false biofeedback on sexual arousal, and the alteration of perceptual and cognitive functions by hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestion. Furthermore, Kirsch and Lynn suggested ways in which the use and adaptation of response sets may facilitate behavior change in therapy. The present author argues against these propositions, which seem to imply that an individual's actions, despite having seemingly been initiated through conscious choice, are actually automated responses. Does the fact that humans display automated response sets in some situations deprive humankind of the possibility of free will? What use is psychotherapy to a client if the therapist effects a minor behavior change but fails to assist the client in developing his or her own agency to determine the course of his or her own life? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)