Autistic Patterns

Abstract

Over the last three decades, researchers have tried to identify the etiology of eating disorders. In examining the connections between different types of self-and-body dissatisfaction evident in eating disorders, the psychodynamic approach is the most feasible. Implicated are deficits of the self, unresolved problems in separation-individuation and self-definition, and the difficulty in expressing needcalled the “Black Hole.” The current article presents three case studies of anorexia, bulimia, and obesity and compares them through the ability to express neediness. Basic terms from the research of Tustin and others are used to explain the dynamics related to the capacity to express need, as exemplified in the different types of eating disorders.     

The exclusion of the other2

The author begins by noting that the subject of obsessions and obsessional neurosis seems to have fallen out of favour with the analytic community in spite of the important part it played in the formation of Freud's theories, and notwithstanding the significance of its mechanisms in the maturation of the ego. He then discusses some theoretical considerations regarding the development of the taboo on touching and, by extension, contact. Attention is drawn to the parallels with autistic functioning emphasised by other authors. Particular importance is attached to the distinction between internal and external reality that arises during the anal‐sadistic phase and that leads to polarisation and splitting in obsessional neurosis. Following a discussion of the transference' countertransference situation with obsessional patients and of their concretistic experience in the treatment situation, as also featured in the literature, an extensive case history exemplifies the author's contentions and shows how the patient concerned developed during the course of his analysis. After pointing out the importance of the avoidance of identifications as a mechanism of obsessional defence, the author concludes the paper with a brief comparison of obsessional and hysteriform functioning and a characterisation of the obsessional defence as the excessive recourse to perverted thought functions so as to ward off paranoid anxieties.     

Know before whom you stand: Mikael Enckell’s Companions of the Unknown [Okändhetens följeslagare]

Mikael Enckell’s book is discussed as a combined self-analytic tour de force and psychoanalytic supplement to Jewish philosophy represented by Frans Rosenzweig and others. The author discusses Enckell’s views on the roots of psychoanalysis in Jewish thought, anti-Semitism, historiography, the importance of human dialogue, revelation and psychic integration, atheism, and the nature of recovery in psychoanalysis. Enckell’s views of a triad of human activities open to conflict and ambiguity – Judaism, poetry, and psychoanalysis – are supplemented by a short discussion on the role of annihilation anxiety in these areas.     

The use of observation in the psychoanalytic treatment of a 12-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome

The author describes some aspects of a once-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. The patient's emotional and cognitive development had been impaired since early life, possibly due to an internal deficit and to the likelihood of inadequate environmental holding. He was unaware of having difficulties but was underachieving academically, was socially isolated and often visibly unhappy in his life. The patient's denial, splitting, and projection of emotion and insight presented the therapist with the difficult task of how to reach him. In order to communicate with him emotionally, the therapist created a modified technique which reflected the patient's development from part-object to whole-object relationships. This development became apparent in the sessions and was interpreted in the transference relationship. An account of the patient's early years was pieced together from a detailed commentary of what was being observed and intuited by the therapist during the sessions, as well as by an understanding of the countertransference. By the end of two years' treatment, the patient's sensitivity and creativity, which had been buried beneath a self-sufficient, autistic-like encapsulation, finally began to emerge in his communications with his therapist.     

Gender and mathematics anxiety: The role of math-related experiences and opinions

Abstract

Research has indicated that women may be particularly prone to experiencing mathematics anxiety and, to account for this, the sex-role socialization hypothesis posits that women are more math anxious because they have had less experience with mathematics and have more negative opinions regarding mathematics. In contrast, the math experiences hypothesis suggests that math anxiety is not truly a gender-related phenomenon, but rather is due to poor mathematical preparation, regardless of gender. The present study pitted the “sex-role” hypothesis against the “math experience” hypothesis in an examination of the relation between gender and math anxiety. One hundred and seventy-one university students completed a measure of math anxiety and a series of questions regarding their math marks, opinions, and experiences throughout their educational history. The findings clearly supported the math experience hypothesis of math anxiety, for differences in math marks, opinions, and experiences were found between non-math-anxious, moderately math-anxious, and highly math-anxious students. The few gender differences that were found indicated that the female students frequently reported higher math marks than those reported by male students. We suggest that the relation between gender and mathematics anxiety may be accounted for by gender-linked reporting biases. The limitations of the study are addressed and suggestions for future research are made.     

Social Anxiety and the Quality of Everyday Social Interactions: The Moderating Influence of Alcohol Consumption

Most research on the link between social anxiety and alcohol consumption has examined problematic outcomes without consideration of potential adaptive functions. Alcohol is an anxiolytic that has the short-term benefit of reducing anxiety; consumption may act as a social lubricant that facilitates higher quality social interactions. Using experience-sampling methodology, we examined how consuming alcohol attenuates the adverse effects of social anxiety in naturally occurring social interactions. Participants (N = 160) completed demographic and trait measures, then completed daily assessments for 14 consecutive days. Results from multilevel model analyses revealed that during face-to-face social interactions, state social anxiety was inversely related to 10 indicators of healthy social interactions (e.g., enjoyment, laughter, feelings of acceptance). Alcohol consumption moderated seven of these associations, such that when participants consumed alcohol in social situations, state social anxiety was no longer associated with social interaction quality. The quantity of alcoholic drinks consumed moderated two of these associations. Furthermore, we found evidence for directionality, such that social anxiety in a given social interaction predicted alcohol consumption in a subsequent social interaction, but not the reverse (i.e., alcohol consumption did not prospectively predict state social anxiety). In social situations that involved alcohol, experiences of social anxiety no longer thwarted one’s ability to derive social benefits. These results should be interpreted in the context of a participant sample with relatively low levels of trait social anxiety and frequency of alcohol use. Nonetheless, obtaining social rewards may be a reinforcement mechanism that maintains the link between social anxiety and alcohol consumption.     

Myths and realities of computerphobia: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Common beliefs about computerphobia were examined using meta-analytic techniques. Stringent screening criteria yielded 81 research reports with sample populations including college students, adults and business professionals, elementary/secondary students and teachers as well as postsecondary teachers. Results indicated that none of the six common beliefs characterizing the computerphobic represent reality. The computerphobic is equally likely to be a younger or older male or female. Although computerphobics tend to experience other types of anxiety (mathematics, test, state, trait), these anxieties account for little variance. Results indicated further that computer experience alone is not sufficient to eliminate computerphobia, but that psychological techniques have treated successfully these negative psychological reactions.     

The Role of Group Experiences in the Healing Process of Massive Childhood Holocaust Trauma

This paper proposes that Holocaust child survivors profoundly benefit from participating in a variety of group modalities. From participant observation and interviews we demonstrate that affiliation in organizations, social events, commemorations, rituals, and particular therapeutic groups each contributes to the well-being of Holocaust child survivors. Mourning is enhanced by joining forces with others from a historical event that left many children orphans, bereft of a home, a community, a country, and an identity. Group participants achieve individuation and ego integration, and gain clarity about the complex psychological consequences of surviving the Holocaust. A fragmented identity is restored through the opportunity of interacting with others whose identity has been ruptured by similar cataclysmic events.Senior Research Fellow, Graduate Center of CUNY. Codirector, Psychotherapy with Generations of the Holocaust and Related Traumas, Training Institute for Mental Health. Codirector, Child Development ResearchSenior Member and Faculty, National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Codirector, Child Development Research     

心理体验及其对象类型--试论迈农的意向性理论

意向性作为现代哲学的核心概念之一,在迈农这里有着与在胡塞尔那里同样重要的决定意义。迈农在布伦塔诺意向性理论的基础上,通过对心理体验及其各自所对应的对象类型的这一深入探讨,不仅将对象概念发展到了极致,而且为价值的存在争取了一个独立的领域,从而也使得价值的意向性构建成为可能。因此,迈农的意向性理论不仅是对象理论意义上的深化,更是价值维度上的深化。     

From I: A/M to “Who am I?”—Aggregation/Massification and Trauma-Based Affects and Object Relations in Groups: A Response to Earl Hopper

Hopper's portrayal of the fourth basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification has two components: (1) a revision of Turquet's theory of BA Oneness to incorporate the polarity of aggregation and massification stemming from annihilation anxiety; and (2) a conception of the difficult patient as having an encapsulated psychosis. Hopper's theory of the encapsulated psychosis offers an important but incomplete perspective in explaining borderline and narcissistic pathology, as well as psychological trauma. In this response to Hopper, I suggest that the fourth assumption is in fact a still more primitive state of boundary opening and closing. I also see a need to differentiate trauma as such from borderline pathology, and further hold that the relationship between Hopper's British Independent theory and trauma theories based on dissociation needs to be clarified.     

Predicting anger in social anxiety: The mediating role of rumination

Anger and the way that anger is expressed have been linked to attrition and poorer treatment outcomes in patients with Social Anxiety Disorder (e.g., Erwin, B. A., Heimberg, R. G., Schneier, F. R. & Liebowitz, M. R. (2003). Anger experience and expression in social anxiety disorder: Pretreatment profile and predictors of attrition and response to cognitive-behavioral treatment. Behavior Therapy, 34, 331–350). Understanding the connection between social anxiety and anger may be one way to improve outcomes in this population. A cross-sectional regression design was used in a sample of 363 undergraduates to examine the suggestion that ruminative thought is a critical factor linking social anxiety to anger. In support of this hypothesis, brooding fully mediated the relationship between social anxiety and trait anger and partially mediated the relationship between social anxiety and outward anger expression. The relationship between brooding and anger suppression became non-significant after depression was controlled. In contrast, reflective pondering partially mediated the relationship between social anxiety and anger suppression. These results suggest that addressing rumination may be useful in the treatment of socially anxious patients who struggle with anger. They also support the utility of considering multiple forms of rumination and multiple anger outcomes in a single study.