Psychologist-legislator: Reflection on the first year in office.

As a Massachusetts State Representative, the author describes how being a psychologist affected her campaign and 1st year in office. Her history of past and current political interests in women, education, labor, and human services has contributed to her legislative and political agenda. This article reports how the Massachusetts Psychological Association played a significant role in her campaign and how mental health issues have been her top priority. Serving as a state legislator has integrated her 2 passions: political activism and psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Benner and expertise in nursing: a critique

This paper examines the work of Benner (From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice. Addison-Wesley, Menlo Park, CA, 1984) on expertise in clinical nursing. The philosophical foundations of her work are explained as well as the work located within the wider context of the use of Heideggerian philosophy. Various criticisms of her study are developed in relationship to her methodology and her interpretation of nursing. It is argued that she represents a retreat into tradition and authority in nursing.     

Review of Maternal Desire: On Love, Children, and the Inner Life.

Reviews the book Maternal Desire: On Love, Children, and the Inner Life by Daphne de Marneffe (2004). This book is based on the premise that the desire to care for one's children is one of life's great pleasures and opportunities for fulfillment. In creating a relationship, and, by extension, a psychological life, suggests de Marneffe, women find particular and crucial meaning and authenticity. Grounded in psychoanalytic, attachment, and feminist theory as well as de Marneffe's own personal journey, Maternal Desire is a subtle rebuke to feminists' inherent derogation of motherhood and a far less subtle encouragement to women to open themselves to feelings that, in this day and age, may seem heretical. De Marneffe, who is a clinical psychologist and mother of three, was powerfully affected by the experience of struggling to balance the demands of her own career with her growing and ultimately grounding desire to care for her children. By the time she gave birth to her third child, she had decided to stop practicing in order to stay at home. The intensely personal nature of her evolution is at the heart of this book; the richness, the sensuousness, and the depth of her longing to care for her children are its emotional core. This revolutionary book challenges women (and men) to take on all the complex pleasures of motherhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Florence L. Denmark.

Florence L. Denmark is recognized for her achievements in psychology. This article provides a citation explaining her accomplishments, a biography and a selected bibliography. The citation is as follows: "Florence Denmark has been an innovator and leader in influencing education and training so that psychology's curriculum reflects the true cultural diversity of human experience. She is recognized for her considerable contributions to psychology in the area of women's studies. She has played a particularly critical role in programs and activities designed to include the new scholarship on women in both the education and training of psychologists. She has been an advocate for changes in education and training that increase the cultural diversity of the curriculum and open opportunity for members of all underrepresented groups. Her publications, as well as professional activities in psychological organizations on a national and international level, and her leadership at her university have all influenced the way that knowledge in the discipline is transmitted to the next generation of psychologists. For these distinguished contributions, we honor her." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The replacement of the fantasied oedipal child: A disruptive effect of sibling loss on the mother-infant relationship.

Presents the case of a 30-yr-old woman whose sibling had died during adolescence and who experienced her own child, almost 2 decades later, as a replacement for the lost sibling. This process was facilitated by the oedipal meaning of her sibling and by the interference in her family's ability to mourn the death of the child. The case illustrates the manner in which these conflicts were activated during the patient's pregnancy and how they subsequently interfered in the developing mother–infant relationship prior to intervention. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The baby and the marriage: Identifying factors that buffer against decline in marital satisfaction after the first baby arrives.

This longitudinal study identified factors of couples' marital friendship in the beginning months of marriage that predicted stability versus decline in marital satisfaction over the transition to parenthood. Newlywed couples (N?=?130) were followed longitudinally for 6 years. 43 couples became parents, and 39 childless couples served as a control group. Couples were interviewed about the history and philosophy of their relationship as newlyweds. What predicted the stable or increasing marital satisfaction of mothers were the husband's expression of fondness toward her, the husband's high awareness for her and their relationship, and her awareness for her husband and their relationship. In contrast, what predicted the decline in marital satisfaction of mothers were the husband's negativity toward his wife, the husband's disappointment in the marriage, or the husband or wife having described their lives as chaotic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science of obvious and common sense causes in historical perspective.

In her present stage of development, the science of obvious and common sense causes finds herself at cross roads. This paper provides a brief historical sketch of her actual development as a function of methods, professional identification and units of research employed. Prisoner's dilemma paradigm (PDP) is used as an explanatory model to highlight the implications of earlier choices made by social psychologists and social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mulholland Dr.

This article provides an interpretation of David Lynch's (2001) film Mulholland Dr. as the dreamscape of Diane Selwyn, played by Naomi Watts. Viewers are caught in a story of murder, mystery, and lesbian love, only to realize that what they have witnessed is merely a dream. As Diane wakes up, memory flashbacks and hallucinations unveil the real events leading to the dream. The viewers are able to trace back the elements of the dream to their real-life sources and decipher the dream's secret agenda. Diane's dream is understood as an attempt to fulfill her deepest wishes and to alleviate her guilt for arranging the murder of her ex-lover. The dream is a failed attempt to escape reality, as well as a preparation for death. Whether or not one views Mulholland Dr. as inspired by psychoanalysis, Lynch's film is a masterful exploration of the unconscious workings of the human mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehousing periadolescent male guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) apart from their mothers for 24 hours increases maternally directed sexual behavior and plasma testosterone.

Periadolescent male guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) housed continuously with their mother displayed little or no sexual behavior when they were tested with her in a novel environment. However, if males were rehoused without their mother for 24 hr before testing, they frequently directed courtship and sexual behavior toward her. This effect occurred whether the mother was isolated or not during the rehousing period. In addition, rehousing without the mother produced a significant rise in the plasma testosterone levels of the males. It appears that continuous housing with the mother inhibits sexual and courtship behavior directed toward her, as well as gonadal activity, in periadolescent male guinea pigs. These effects may serve to prevent inbreeding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who is afraid of STDP? Termination in STDP and therapist's personality.

The termination phase of Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (STDP) is considered to be of major importance for the success of treatment as a whole. It encompasses the essential conflicts experienced by both therapist and patient in relation to the issues of separation, loss, and imperfection. This article discusses the personality characteristics and personal defenses that assist or hinder the therapist in successfully practicing this mode of dynamic therapy. It also aims at inspiring the psychotherapist to examine his or her attraction or repulsion to working as a short-term psychotherapist, thereby promoting insight, and enabling him or her to broaden his or her therapeutic repertoire. Vignettes from two cases are presented, highlighting some expressions of countertransference and their influence on the process of termination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self as an organized system of valuations: Toward a dialogue with the person.

Suggests that in describing the self as an organized system of valuations, the concept valuation refers to anything a person finds important in his/her everyday situation. A self-confrontation method is described in detail as a means of making a person's system of valuations explicit, with due regard to its affective properties. The method shows how the system is organized and reorganized over the course of time. This procedure is illustrated in a longitudinal case study of a 31-yr-old woman with an identity problem who spontaneously changed her name in the process of solving this problem. Essential for the proposed method of investigation is that the person has the position of self-investigator and reflects on his/her experiences in dialogical relationship with the psychologist. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sara S. Sparrow (1933–2010).

Sara S. Sparrow passed away in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 10, 2010. She spent her final days in characteristically good spirits with close friends and her husband, Dominic Cicchetti, by her side. Sara was born on May 9, 1933, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating summa cum laude from Montclair State College in New Jersey in 1958, she began her career as a speech therapist in Orlando, Florida. She continued her studies at the University of Florida, receiving a master’s degree in speech pathology in 1962 and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology in 1968. Following completion of her doctorate, Sara became a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at Yale University. Sara’s contributions to science were many, and she was directly responsible for substantially improving the quality of life of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Her major professional contribution was transforming the assessment of adaptive behavior with the development of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, the first life-span, norm-referenced measure of adaptive behavior. Sara’s contributions were recognized with numerous awards. Sara was a longstanding and active member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and was deeply invested in the mission and success of APA Division 33 (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities). Sara was a leader not only in her formal roles and responsibilities but also as a formative social force; she and her husband Dom shared their gifts as connoisseurs of wine, food, and living well with their colleagues and trainees. Sara’s warmth and ability to create a festive environment ensured that her students had the opportunity to meet potential collaborators and to share life as well as work stories. She was a model for her students in her passion and careful investment in her work as well as in her zeal and enjoyment of life. Sara is deeply mourned by her husband, siblings, many friends, and the countless students and colleagues whom she has influenced. A memorial fund has been established at the Yale Child Study Center in her name. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repairing broken rules: care-seeking narratives for menstrual problems in rural Mali

Narratives play an important role in the organization of therapeutic action in rural Mali. This article provides structural and interpretive analyses of a young, French-speaking Dogon woman's accounts of her efforts to manage her menstrual bleeding and threatened infertility. Through her personal narratives she creates social arenas to recruit support, negotiate changes in her family relationships, and enhance her standing as a member of the community. Beginning with the accounts of her fear and helplessness, the narrator integrates past events into her unfolding present and achieves a meaningful resolution of her problem. Her narratives weave together encounters with family members, friends, and healers to describe a therapeutic itinerary that acquires significance as a transformative experience.     

My visit with Christiana Morgan.

This brief memoir reports a freighted conversation between the author and Christiana Morgan—Henry A. Murray's longtime mystical companion—in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1961. The principal topic was her idea, called the creative paranoid hypothesis, that people who have special pressures (such as the truly gifted, or the Jewish people as a whole) are more apt to make meaningful artistic or intellectual contributions. She was troubled by the burden of having to hold onto her belief in her own unrecognized potential greatness and wanted to explore how it might tie to Jewishness, of which the author was a convenient living example. Over and above the content of the talk, what was most memorable were the illuminating insights into the special relationship between Murray and Morgan, specifically how an extraordinary woman can influence a great man and subtly change the course of intellectual history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From "Anna O." to Bertha Pappenheim: Transforming private pain into public action.

Bertha Pappenheim ("Anna O.") was treated for hysteria by J. Breuer when she was a young adult. As a mature adult she became a leading social worker, writer, and feminist activist in the German Jewish community. This article examines her therapy with Breuer, her own struggle for recovery, and some links between her earlier and later life, in particular the lack of intimate relationships in her life and her work against the victimization of women. Throughout the article psychoanalytic interpretations, social history, and feminist analyses are integrated to provide a contextualized examination of Pappenheim's life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Carol and the beanstalk.

Contends that the hypothesis put forth by Carol Gilligan is simple. The current theories of psychological development are biased by a single track comprehension of maturity--separation-individuation. This is a motif for all modern theories. There is nothing wrong here, except, the separation-individuation track has a distinctly male turn to it. In other words men develop in that way but, typically, women hardly identify with it. Gilligan studies, among other things, the relation between identity and moral choice as they are integrated during the long transition from adolescence to adulthood. What Gilligan has offered is not a substitution of one theory for another but a profound clarification about development and experience. People move and mature at a pace and along a course of development often outside their or our awareness. Men and women differ in these courses even though there is a "teleology"...a convergence in parity. Gilligan true to her research interests and her basic honesty as a scientist, draws her conclusions well within the boundaries of her science--identity and its intriguing connection to moral development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflections on receiving an award.

Reflecting on the events that culminated in her receiving the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Psychology as a Professional Practice, Canter, an independent practitioner, discusses the road she traveled to become a clinical psychologist and to become involved in professional organizational activities. She believes that this award was given to her because of her contributions to psychology over her lifetime as an effective and hardworking leader, mentor, and role model in her home state of Arizona and nationally. She addresses some of her ideas about effective leadership and mentoring in the American Psychological Association (APA), providing many examples from which she has learned. Canter also shares some thoughts about APA's position as a leader in the development and enforcement of professional ethics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opitz oculo-genito-laryngeal syndrome: a rare cause of recurrent aspiration pneumonia in an adult

A 64 year old woman presented with persistent and severe symptoms due to recurrent aspiration pneumonias associated with oesophageal reflux. She had had multiple miscarriages and her son at birth had widely spaced eyes (hypertelorism), hypospadias, bilateral undescended testes, and an imperforate anus. Her daughter has mild hypertelorism and her daughter's son had neonatal inspiratory stridor, hypospadias and hypertelorism, all features now recognised as typical of the Opitz oculo-genito-laryngeal syndrome. This syndrome is genetically heterogeneous with autosomal dominant (linked to chromosome 22q21) and X-linked (linked to Xp22) inheritance. This family's history and genetic linkage data are consistent with linkage to Xp22. The proband is a manifesting carrier of this syndrome; her history of recurrent aspiration is probably secondary to pharyngeal neuromuscular incoordination aggravating gastro-oesophageal reflux. Obtaining a family history gives a vital clue to the diagnosis of Opitz oculo-genito-laryngeal syndrome. It is also suggested that this condition should be included in the differential diagnosis of recurrent aspiration pneumonia.     

Sarah Carolyn Fisher (1889–1985).

Presents and obituary for Sarah Carolyn Fisher. Fisher attended Lombard College, receiving the AB degree; earned a master's degree at the University of Illinois; and continued her graduate study at Clark University where she received her PhD in psychology. Fisher's first appointment was at Wellesley College, 1913-1914. In 1915 she accepted a position at what was then known as the Los Angeles State Normal School, eventually to become integrated as part of the University of California system and to be known officially as the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She remained at UCLA the rest of her academic life. Fisher's thesis described a systematic experimental approach to involving "introspection under controlled conditions" to describe the conscious processes and their modifications as the observer went about the task of achieving a satisfactory abstraction. This result was achieved when the observer discovered and associated the common features in a set of nonsense figures with the assigned nonsense word. She also investigated relationships in the attitudes of parents and their children to reactions that arise in certain social contacts. An important part of Fisher's life transcended the narrowly academic. She was an intellectual in the broadest sense. Her knowledge of literature, music, and art was impressive. Still another aspect of her person was her civic mindedness in its local, national, and international contexts. Fisher died on September 11, 1985. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)