Family Traditions,Cultural Values,and the Clinician's Countertransference: Therapeutic Assessment of a Young Sicilian Woman

Despite recent advances in models and instruments to understand the role of a client's cultural background, clinical psychologists are not immune to implicit cultural biases that are potentially damaging to the therapeutic alliance. In this article, I present a Therapeutic Assessment with a young Sicilian woman conducted in a university-based student clinic in Italy. During the assessment, I assumed that because we were both Italians, my client shared my perspective (northern Italian) about family and individual values, which resulted in a therapeutic impasse when I responded on the basis of my individual and culturally shaped view of interpersonal and family relationships without appreciating important differences between my own and my client's microcultures. To overcome the impasse, I had to openly acknowledge such differences and reorient myself to my client's goals. I discuss the core processes involved in such a repair in the context of a cross-cultural psychological assessment.     

The Dialectics of Relational Psychoanalysis and Group Psychotherapy: Commentary on Paper by Robert Grossmark

In this commentary, I address the question of why so few psychoanalysts become group therapists as I respond to the thoughtful and impressive paper written by Robert Grossmark on his work with a psychotherapy group, now in its 10th year of meeting. Prior to discussing the clinical material, and to set the stage for a discussion of Grossmark's work, I comment on my sense of the prevailing attitudes on group affiliations and group therapy within our culture and field as they have progressed over time. I then discuss my reactions to Grossmark's handling of his group session. Many of his conceptualizations of group treatment are in accordance with my own beliefs. There are some differences, however, in how I view my role as a leader and some ideas I have about group treatment that Grossmark did not address.     

Concrete Tornadoes

I present the case of a Hispanic woman whose physical illness parallels the massive destruction that she witnessed at the World Trade Center. I talk about my own feelings of terror and how I try to deal with my private ghosts as I sit afraid and wanting to help. I mention the longings we all have for powerful parents who can protect us and keep us safe.     

The Trauma of Poverty as Social Identity

Poverty is more than an income level; it is a socially constructed identity that leaves scars of psychological impoverishment. Using autoethnography, I tell my story about growing up poor, climbing out of poverty as an adult, and falling back into poverty during marriage. I explore the unforgettable traumas of poverty, including empty cupboards, social rejection, humiliation, homelessness, and loneliness. Through the lens of Goffman’s frame analysis theory, I cope with my memories of hardship and stigmatized identity.     

The Carnales

Once, and only once, I had to fight for my life. The experience catapulted me to an edge of my being that I am glad to have found but don't want to visit too often–an edge others may seek by climbing a glacier, trekking in Nepal, or fasting for a week to induce visions. I am not a thrill-seeker, but a lazy quester content to make do with the ample shocks life has brought me unsought.     

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death: A Personal Encounter with Cancer

This article describes my personal encounter with cancer (multiple myeloma) and a stem cell transplant. I discuss the tension between the ego (and its fear) and the Self (and its centering, calming nature) that went through the whole experience, including the decision to give talks about my experience. After giving the basic facts about the disease and my treatment and recovery, I discuss my experience, reactions, the ways I worked with myself, and what gave me meaning during this time. I discuss my use of meditation, visualization, and active imagination as tools to access inner resources and the support and meaning I derived from the Jewish prayer, the Sh’ma, and Psalms 23 and 30.     

Considering Community Psychology Competencies: A Love Letter to Budding Scholar-Activists Who Wonder if They Have What It Takes

Recently, community psychologists have re‐vamped a set of 18 competencies considered important for how we practice community psychology. Three competencies are: (1) ethical, reflexive practice, (2) community inclusion and partnership, and (3) community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness. This paper will outline lessons I—a white working class woman academic—learned about my competency development through my research collaborations, using the lens of affective politics. I describe three lessons, from school‐based research sites (elementary schools serving working class students of color and one elite liberal arts school serving wealthy white students). The first lesson, from an elementary school, concerns ethical, reflective practice. I discuss understanding my affect as a barometer of my ability to conduct research from a place of solidarity. The second lesson, which centers community inclusion and partnership, illustrates how I learned about the importance of “before the beginning” conversations concerning social justice and conflict when working in elementary schools. The third lesson concerns community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness. This lesson, from a college, taught me that I could stand up and speak out against classism in the face of my career trajectory being threatened. With these lessons, I flesh out key aspects of community practice competencies.     

说谎者悖论的一个新解决方案的纲要(英文)

首先,本文在第二节中提出了谎者悖论所包含的一些问题,比如加强的说谎者悖论,Curry悖论,Yablo悖论,偶然的说谎者悖论,以及塔尔斯基的真不可定义性定理。其次,在第三节简单介绍了塔尔斯基的分层理论,并且指出了他方案的一个最大不足之处就是把一个真谓词分成了很多个个真谓词,这和我们的直观很不符合。之后在第四节介绍了我的一个解悖方案,并讨论了它的一些性质,比如可靠性,完全性,以及我的方案和塔尔斯基方案的区别。第五节说明了第二节中提到的一些问题在我的这个方案下如何处理。     

Diversifying the Social Scientific Study of Religion: The Next 70 Years

Here I argue that we need to diversify the social scientific study of religion and chart a plan for how we are already and will continue to do so. At the time of the 70th anniversary of our association, I reflect on where—as an association—we have come from and where we are going. Our origin story points to an expansive vision for what would become the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), but unfortunately our past has also been marked by an overrepresentation of white male leadership. It was only in 1982 that the society elected its first woman president, Mary Augusta Neal, and only in 2015 that it elected its first person of color, Fenggang Yang. Here, I discuss our hope for a more diverse future: attending to diversity in studies of religion, diversity in the groups of people who are encouraged to study religion, and efforts to translate religion research well to diverse groups of listeners. I share with you pieces of the new SSSR strategic plan, spearheaded in 2018 by Korie Edwards, the first black and woman of color President of the SSSR: particularly the pieces that are most attentive to diversity. I also highlight insights from my own scholarly story about diversity that I have learned through my work with the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University.     

From Survival to Creative Destiny: The Psychoanalytic Journey of Nina Farhi

Initially, this paper briefly introduces the work of my colleague, Nina Farhi, who was a highly respected psychoanalytic psychotherapist in London and who sadly died last year. After her death, I was invited to discuss both her paper, “The Hands of the Living God,” and the three commentaries by North American analysts, all published in this issue. As part of my commentary, I provide an appreciative yet critical discussion of the way Farhi uses the term “intersubjectivity.” I argue that there is a need for paternal function or a third position to be found in the mind of the analyst in the later phases of work with deeply disturbed patients. I also contribute to the hypothetical debate about whether or not experiences in the womb can be subject to analytic work, using the Lacanian concept of the “Real” and Piontelli's work on fetal and child observation. After this, I explore some of the ways Lacan revised drive theory and discuss these in relation to psychic devolution in later life, essential aloneness and creative human destiny. Finally, I look at how Farhi's paper's posthumous publication may have affected the commentary.     

Blessed are the uncertain,for they will experience excess

In this paper I look at the possibility that uncertainty may not merely be a stage in the research process, but an outcome in itself. Exploring how university education and scholarship collided with my own personal experiences and identity I discuss how a combination of poststructural theory and my encounters with peace, conflict and religion enabled me to value uncertainty, and I make the case that uncertainty can open up the future to the gift of chance. By intertwining discussions of both lived experience and academic work, the organisation of the paper reflects how the two became inextricably linked, continuously folding into each other, so that my sense of self influenced my research, and conversely, my research influenced my sense of self. The outcome is a discussion of how I incorporated uncertainty into my research and personal life, which I explore using the example of religion, and how I lost and gained my faith, rejecting my previous Christianity while reconstructing a kind of faith found in uncertainty, a sense of place and ethical space to come.     

Memoirs of a Mentor: Using Creativity for Counselors in Coping With the Loss of a Mentor

This article was inspired by my (S.S.) own personal loss. My mentor passed away during spring break of my 2nd year postgraduate school after a short battle with systemic lupus. I remember the deep sadness that I felt when it became apparent that she was coming home from the hospital for the last time. No words can describe the emotions; she had helped me through the toughest times in my academic life. How would I ever get the type of mentorship she provided again? She was there when I almost quit as a young student, back when my anger still got the best of me. She talked me down from the edge so many times; I never expected to be on this journey without her.

I dedicate this article to her and mentors like her. Equally, I dedicate this article to mentees who have lost their mentors. I offer my story (in italicized font) in the hopes that it will help others who are dealing with a similar loss. In this article, we attempt to illuminate the true power of mentorship, honor the significance of the relationship between mentor and mentee, and provide a tool useful to anyone who has lost their guide. I share my story in gratitude for my own mentor; I am so thankful that she was a part of my journey and that I can pass on to others the patience she had with me.     

Bearing Witness in Israel/Palestine: Finding My Voice

This article traces my evolution as a political activist in relation to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict over the past decade, and describes the ways my activism has become integrated into my professional life. I discuss my journeys in Israel/Palestine with delegations of the Compassionate Listening Project, highlighting disturbing stories of injustice and abuse and inspiring stories of interfaith cooperation and nonviolent peace work. My focus is on the emotional impact of becoming the bearer of stories of unbearable human experience that I felt compelled to bring back and share. I reveal my struggles with continuing to speak and write publically about the injustice that I witnessed. In the course of standing up to both internal and external attacks on bearing witness, I have discovered a stronger therapeutic voice with my patients as well.     

Caring for the Care-Giver: The Benefit of a Peer Supervision Group

I presented the following case to my leader-led peer supervisiongroup twice as the case evolved over the course of one year. During my firstmeetings with Mr. and Mrs. M we discussed a prenatal diagnosis of a skeletaldysplasia at thirty-three weeks of pregnancy and the option of a third trimesterpregnancy termination. One year later I presented follow-up on the outcome ofthe affected pregnancy, a new pregnancy, and Mrs. M's suicide. Although bothsegments of the case were completed by the time I presented, my peersupervision group was invaluable. With the encouragement and support of groupmembers, I could openly express and process my sadness and grief for the M'ssituation and the loss of Mrs. M's life.     

Testimonies in the Treatment of Genocidal Trauma

This article describes an approach to the treatment of genocide survivors that addresses both the personal and communal/historical dimensions of their experiences. I begin by outlining the characteristics of massive psychic trauma as background for using video testimonies in the treatment of Holocaust survivors. I then discuss videotaped interviews with perpetrators as an illustrative contrast to survivors' testimonies. The third section explains my position as a psychoanalyst encountering historical trauma and its relationship to my own experiences as a survivor. Following a brief history of videotaping as a medium for recording testimonies, I conclude by demonstrating the ways in which active listening can lead to the revelation of new dimensions of historical as well as personal truth.     

Becoming (and Remaining) an Analyst in Latin America

The following overview of the development of psychoanalysis in Brazil and in Porto Alegre outlines the current situation and the challenges to psychoanalysis in my country. I will explain my own experiences on becoming an analyst, the main reasons for my choice, my main influences, and my evolution as a clinical psychoanalyst and as a member of psychoanalytic and psychiatric institutions. I include my main contributions to psychoanalysis and consider two broad areas of interest: psychoanalytic technique and its teaching, and the relationship of psychoanalysis and culture. As for the former, my main interests are studies on countertransference and analytic neutrality, to which I will propose a comprehensive concept. As for the latter, I discuss a culture that contrasts vividly with the one in which Freud created the discipline, psychoanalytic views on violence and perversity, psychoanalytic institutions, and the application of analytic ideas for the understanding of some artists and their work.

I will also describe some general features of my country and the development of psychoanalysis in it; report my experiences as a candidate and an analyst; and offer some information about my evolution as an analyst through papers I have written over the past 30 years.     

UNTOLD STORIES AND THE POWER OF SILENCE IN THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF SOCIAL TRAUMA*

There are intergenerational secrets and unprocessed experiences that very often don’t have a voice or an image associated with them but loom in our minds nonetheless. What haunts are not the dead, but the gaps left within us by the secrets of others. This paper will look at the conflict that occurs when unspoken events and memories of one generation haunt the next one. It is my contention that the second-generation survivors of trauma can be deeply affected by something that did not directly happen to them. Utilizing my own personal narrative I will examine how being the daughter of a woman who escaped the Holocaust, and her silence about those events affected my personal development and later my work with patients. I will also explore the unspoken secret that a patient’s mother kept from her, paralleling the writer’s mother’s secret.     

Man on Wire: Walking the Therapeutically Transformative Tightrope of the Analyst’s Cancer

Almost nothing was clear to me when I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I knew that I intended to inform all of my patients about my illness. But how could the focus remain on their needs when my mortality was so at risk? Unexpectedly, I discovered that I coped with my fears most effectively in my office. It was the one place where I could maintain a grasp on a holistic sense of myself and hold conflicting intense emotions. Additionally striking was the corresponding capacity of my patients to remain in treatment while addressing the unpredictable dyadic changes generated by my sickness. In this paper, I address this point of intersubjective transformation—the interactive contributions that generated each treatment’s unique rhythm. I also discuss the temporality of illness and how my continuing reconfigurations of self-experience impacted my ability to maintain authenticity and analytic balance both during and after treatment.     

A psychologist grows in Brooklyn: reflections from the past

In this autobiography, I begin by describing how I made many important decisions in my life without much conscious or verbalized thought. I cover information about my parents, grandparents, early school experiences, and both college and graduate school. The autobiography also includes a detailed discussion of my 41 years of teaching at the University of Tennessee. I discuss important experiences that helped me to become a clinical psychologist and a teacher. I conclude the article with a personal experience concerning the death of my mother and an early memory.     

Skill transfer,affordances and dexterity in different climbing environments

This study explored how skills in one region of a perceptual-motor landscape of performance, created in part by previous experience in rock climbing, can shape those that emerge in another region (ice climbing). Ten novices in rock climbing and five intermediate rock climbers were observed climbing an icefall. Locations of right and left ice tools and crampons were videotaped from a frontal camera. Inter-individual variability of upper and lower limb couplings and types of action regarding icefall properties were assessed by cluster hierarchical analysis, distinguishing three clusters. Pelvis vertical displacement, duration and number of pelvis pauses were also analyzed. Experienced rock climbers were grouped in the same cluster and showed the highest range and variability of limb angular locations and coordination patterns, the highest vertical displacement and the shortest pelvis plateaux durations. Non-fluent climbers (clusters 2 and 3) showed low range and variability of limb angular locations and coordination patterns. In particular, climbers of cluster 3 exhibited the lowest vertical displacement, the longest plateaux durations and the greatest ratio between tool swinging and definitive anchorage. Our results exemplified the positive influence of skills in rock climbing on ice climbing performance, facilitated by the detection of affordances from environmental properties.