Review of The Neuropsychology of Development: A Symposium.

Reviews the book, The Neuropsychology of Development: A Symposium edited by Robert L. Isaacson (see record 1970-11849-000). According to the preface of this slim volume, the papers contained within were given at a symposium entitled "The Neuropsychology of Development," the third of five symposia held at the Psychology Department of The University of Michigan, in 1967, to honour that University's sesquicentenary. The papers are said to be "original works undertaken especially for the symposium and [they] contain many previously unpublished data and interpretations; the ideas expressed here are sometimes at odds with traditional views of the effects of physiological processes underlying development." As far as content is concerned, we run immediately into that hardy perennial of symposia--relevance of the papers to each other. This reviewer cannot see the point of publishing concurrently relatively incompatible material. The fact that each paper can be related to neuropsychology and that they were each given at the same symposium is insufficient reason for publishing them between the same hard covers at such a high price. However, each of these papers is very worthwhile material for the audiences for which they are intended. the standard of the papers in this symposium is very high. This is not just a book of readings but a scholarly collection that should be in every university library. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telehealth Interventions in Rehabilitation Psychology: Postcards From the Edge.

This special section grew out of a symposium at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Honolulu, Hawaii, that presented innovative telehealth interventions in rehabilitation from around the world. Several presentations represented the cutting edge of science and technology for which only preliminary data were available--hence the subtitle "Postcards From the Edge." The collected articles represent emerging approaches by pioneers in telehealth rehabilitation and are intended to inform the clinical and research efforts of others who are grappling with the particular blend of psychological and technological issues that these interventions provide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research in health economics: a survey

This paper surveys the types of issues with which health economists have been concerned. It is intended to introduce noneconomists to the kinds of questions that economists have regarded as important. Economists' work in the health economics area may be usefully divided into "positive" and "normative" studies. Positive studies are those designed to describe, or make predictions about, how the health care system, or parts of it, actually operate. Conversely, normative studies are intended to provide statements as to how the health care system should operate. The major areas surveyed include the concept and estimation of the "production function" for health, the distinction between private and social costs, determinants of prices of medical inputs, and benefit-cost analysis.     

Upsetting experiences for the therapist in-session: How they can be dealt with and what they are good for.

Several major schools of psychotherapy require a genuine emotional presence from therapists in-session, as well as a nondefensive awareness of their emotional responses to the client. The present article addresses the part played by upsetting experiences in the context of these requirements. In order to identify relevant issues for a discussion of the literature, grounded theory analysis is presented of a series of conversations with four psychotherapists about their experience with in-session distress. The participants reported client confrontation and rejection evoked a variety of negative emotions ranging from helplessness to anger. Besides traditional professional resources like supervision and personal therapy, they discussed several coping strategies that focused on emotions. One strategy that stood out was to analyze how the emotional impact occurred in order to clarify client issues. This strategy was reported to yield information that improved therapeutic effectiveness in the case at hand, but it also was an effective method for overcoming therapist distress and a means of promoting broader professional growth. These observations suggest issues for integrative psychotherapy research into emotional risk taken by therapists and its payoff. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stages of therapist comfort with sexual concerns of clients.

Discusses the necessity for therapists in training to go through a process of examining their personal sexual beliefs and attitudes before they can be comfortable with the kind of sexual material brought up by many clients. The reactions of therapists in training to a course in which they use methods that are specifically intended to help them with the process of becoming comfortable with client sexual concerns are described. Feedback from students suggests that they go through at least 4 overlapping stages of comfort with the kind of sexual material that is likely to be presented by their clients. These stages are (1) an examination of their views and concerns about their own personal sexual issues, (2) increasing awareness and appreciation of problems and emotional reactions as the clients experience them, (3) a new freedom in discussing sexual matters, and (4) an awareness of a new level of comfort with clients and increased willingness to share sexual material. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trauma diagnosis: difficulty in differentiating between recall and fantasy

This paper is intended as a contribution to understanding why, up until recently, there have been so few case reports of actual abuse and its sequelae in the psychoanalytic literature. We suggest that psychoanalytic insights into the nature of psychic reality, while indispensable to the evolution of psychoanalytic thinking, have nonetheless had the adverse effect of collapsing any distinction between unconscious fantasies and repressed memories. Moreover, the idea that knowledge of external reality is itself mentally constructed also has diminished interest in uncovering trauma and "real" history. We present a report of an adult analysis that illustrates the recovery of a dissociated memory of sexual abuse that occurred during adolescence, as a springboard to discuss problems analysts have had in dealing with trauma theoretically. We hypothesize that repressed memories and unconscious fantasies can often be distinguished insofar as they may "be stored" or encoded differently, and that consequently the sequelae of trauma and fantasy often, but not always, can be disentangled. We describe some different modes of encoding trauma and some different ways of remembering, re-experiencing, and re-enacting it. And, finally, we suggest why traumatic memories are increasingly accessible to patients today.     

Not a piano key: Reply to Orange (1999).

What I called "minor quibbles" with a book I found appealing appear to reflect some major issues. The authors may have intended the book for readers in the tradition of European phenomenology, but I reviewed the book for psychoanalytic psychologists who are members of an American Psychological Association, not for a journal of philosophy or of psychoanalysis alone. I don't fault the authors for not writing a literature review or a work of scholarly criticism. Prospective readers will wonder, however, if they are saying something different from other writers they are already familiar with—if they are "introducing" any new ideas or if their ideas differ from others' ideas (I had just reviewed Benjamin's book, for example). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workplace mobbing and bullying: A consulting psychology perspective and overview.

Mobbing and bullying are forms of abusiveness that are of increasing concerns in the workplace. This special issue overviews various issues and interventions relevant for the practice of consulting psychology. The articles describe theoretical issues including prevalence, definitional clarity, and the influence of individual, work group, and organizational dynamics; they also describe various organizational interventions, including alternative dispute resolution, antimobbing training, and antibullying policy development. These articles and commentaries are intended to inform, provide strategies, and foster discussion of how consulting psychologists can best serve clients and client organizations that are experiencing mobbing and bullying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Animal awareness: Current perceptions and historical perspective.

An examination of the writings of 19th and early 20th century comparative psychologists such as G. J. Romanes (1883, 1888) and C. L. Morgan (1903, 1923) indicates that they were well aware of many of the issues raised by the recent "cognitivism" in psychology and ethology. A survey completed by 349 Ss in undergraduate ethology classes, an animal behavior conference, and meetings on creationism on attitudes concerning mental continuity between humans and nonhumans showed that emotional continuity was considered more likely than intellectual continuity and that acceptance of evolution favorably disposed Ss to both. Critical anthropomorphism often aids in formulating testable hypotheses, but cognitive approaches to animals are in danger of suffering a fate similar to the earlier comparative mentalism. (88 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Models for psychiatry: icons or effigies?

Toulmin notes that a good model takes us beyond the phenomena from which we began [67]. It also tempts us. Models demand that we attempt to represent the dynamic relationships between variables. When we use them, we risk insulating our findings from empirical disproof [68]. Self-certifying myths, like articles of faith, need to yield to the demands of science. Psychiatric theory and practice need to yield to the demands of experience. We need to move away from ethereal assumptions to tangible mastery of the understanding of behavior. Freud, in The Interpretation of Dreams [69], writes, "Analogies of this kind are only intended to assist us in our attempt to make the complications of mental functioning intelligible. We are justified, in my view, in giving free rein to our speculations so long as we retain the coolness of our judgment and do not mistake the scaffolding for the building. We have been obliged to build. If we are not wholly in error, other lines of approach are bound to lead us into much the same region and the time may come when we shall find ourselves more at home in it!"     

Review of Law and mental health: International perspectives, Volume 2.

Reviews the book, Law and mental health: International perspectives, Volume 2 edited by David N. Weisstub. Following the 1984 publication of Volume 1, reviewed in CJBS (1986), David Weisstub recently edited a second volume in this series. The publication follows the multidisciplinary lead established in the first volume. It consists of five papers, of which three are legal essays and two are empirical social science literature reviews. The two social science articles would be of interest to more psychologists, but particularly those in forensic and correctional psychology. Unlike the first volume, however, the legally oriented papers do not address the classical "forensic" issues. Instead, they deal more generally with legal aspects of mental health. In preparing a multidisciplinary edition, a reasonable objective given the topic, the editor has convened a collection of articles from various disciplines (law, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, criminology, and sociology) instead of articles that, in themselves, represent an integration of disciplines. Once again, one is left wondering if ever the twain shall meet between law and social science. Nonetheless, the editor, as promised, has put together papers on five current issues that are of international importance to law and to mental health. they deal more generally with legal aspects of mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life, science, and the role of therapy in the pursuit of happiness.

In a dialogue with an imaginary therapist, the authors raise a number of longstanding issues for psychology such as the relationship of research evidence to practice in psychology, issues of freedom versus determination in psychological research and practice, and the problems in the integration of one's values as a scientist and a practitioner. Of course, definitive resolutions to these perennial problems are not forthcoming. However, when one adopts a self-determining, active agent model of humans, promising new perspectives on each of these sticky problems immediately emerge. A study on the volitional control of exercise is reported to demonstrate how theory, research, and practice enrich one another from this active-agent perspective. The entire article is intended to demonstrate the many ways in which psychology would benefit from closer adherence to the first principle of ethogeny: "For scientific purposes treat subjects as if they were humans beings" (Harré & Secord, 1972, p. 5). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Growing up in the shadow of terrorism: Youth in America after 9/11.

Research conducted in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks (9/11) suggests that, except for those who directly witnessed or suffered loss from the attacks, for most children the emotional impact was relatively transitory. We review this literature as well as consider other ways in which the attacks may have played a role in the development of adolescents and young adults as they came of age in the shadow of 9/11 in the United States. Specifically, we discuss the potential impact of the collective trauma of 9/11 on children's coping and emotional regulation, their sociopolitical attitudes, and their general beliefs about the world. Developmental issues and the role of parents in shaping their children's responses to 9/11 are also addressed. Researchers interested in children's social, emotional, and psychological development have much to learn about children's reactions to events like 9/11 and factors that might mitigate the negative consequences of such events on children's development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

I struggle and emerge: Critical moments of experienced coaches.

A recent study of critical moments of relatively inexperienced coaches in their first year of formal coaching activities yielded new perspectives on the doubts and dilemmas faced by coaches during their coaching conversations (De Haan, 2008). This led me to question whether these same doubts and dilemmas would remain as coaches gained experience or whether new issues would emerge. Experienced coaches were defined as coaches who have at least 8 years coaching practice behind them after completing their formal training or accreditation. The sample size was 110 and 47 coaches responded (43%) communicating a total of 78 critical moments. Analysis of the moments revealed explicit evidence of both unpredictability and a deeper emotional meeting, either positive or negative. This appears to support Carlberg's (1997) conclusions that "unpredictability" and "deeper emotional meeting" always go hand-in-hand. It would seem that the quality of an experienced coach's work is determined primarily by their ability to tolerate tension and deliberately inquire into tensions within coaching relationships; else they are in danger of simply becoming good conversation partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Seeing and being seen: Emerging from a psychic retreat.

Reviews the book, Seeing and being seen: Emerging from a psychic retreat by John Steiner (2011). John Steiner is one of the foremost contemporary Kleinians of London who along with analysts like Betty Joseph and Ronald Britton, as well as many others, have been extending Kleinian thought in a way that greatly sharpens our understanding of the way in which internalized object relations are subtly recreated and enacted in microscopic aspects of the unconscious emotional interplay between patient and analyst. In the current work Steiner focuses with microscopic precision on the vulnerabilities patients tend to feel as they begin to emerge from a psychic retreat; vulnerabilities that make them want to go right back into hiding in a place where they will remain unseen. Coming out of a psychic retreat exposes patients to the dangers of being seen in an unflattering light that evokes intolerable feelings of shame, humiliation, and embarrassment. Shame evokes not only wishes to hide but wishes to get revenge on the shaming object as well as persecutory fears that the shaming object might retaliate. Emergence from the psychic retreat evokes not only the fears of being seen but the fear of seeing as well. As we emerge from a psychic retreat we may see that others have good qualities and good things that we lack and that makes us feel envious and shamefully inadequate. We then want to punitively spoil the good qualities and good things that make us feel shamefully inadequate thus activating further persecutory anxiety that others will retaliate. What is particularly original in Steiner’s treatment of these issues is how he puts these issues in the context of the triadic object relations of the oedipal conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reply to Mace and Pittenger on "Directly perceiving Gibson".

A reply to Mace and Pittenger on "Directly Perceiving Gibson" (see record 2005-09162-001). W. M. Mace and J. B. Pittenger address themselves to a false issue when they argue that J. J. Gibson has both a theory of stimulus structure and a theory of attention. The point of the 1972 article by J. W. Gyr is that these two theories are not as well integrated as they might be or as integrated as Gibson intended them to be. Moreover, a point also stressed by Gyr and overlooked by Mace and Pittenger is that Gibson's findings of stimulus structure are also consistent with theories that are not theories of direct visual perception, and therefore such findings by themselves cannot be used to support Gibson's theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"She's driving us nurses crazy!": On not solving the wrong problem as a consulting organizational psychologist.

Presents a case study to illustrate and advocate applied anthropological fieldwork in organizational consultation. It proposes a method in which organizational group members can (1) recognize that they have misdefined a problem and have designed solutions that will fail, (2) discover often unconscious obstacles to alternative solutions, and (3) identify and experiment with novel solutions based on a reassessment of the problem itself. The author argues that new solutions emerge once members of an organizational group can discern that many of the emotional issues that they had externalized onto the client divert attention from disturbing issues internal to the group. The consultant's role in providing a "holding environment" that permits this change of focus is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)