Morita therapy and behaviour therapy

The work of Morita is briefly described against the background of the development of psychology and psychiatry in Japan. It is shown that Morita had a theory of personality remarkably like that which Eysenck was later to develop, although more limited in scope. The therapy which Morita devised for neurotic disorders of a dysthymic kind is described and compared with similar forms of behaviour therapy which are now used in the West. Morita therapy is shown not to be dependent on Zen philosophy, as is sometimes supposed, and its radical difference from psychoanalytic therapy is demonstrated. It is suggested that behaviour therapists and Morita therapists have much to gain by cooperation.     

Rational-emotive therapy applied to relationship therapy

RET is a comprehensive mode of relationship therapy that takes a double-barreled psychotherapeutic approach of helping all the partners in a relationship to accept responsibility for their own disturbances and failings and to work at correcting these-while, at the same time, helping them to understand and work actively at changing the marital or family system in which they are relating and the conditions in this system that are contributing to their practical and emotional problems. Rational-emotive relationship therapy is a form of cognitive behavior therapy that includes the following features: (1) It importantly stresses the cognitive or philosophic causes of emotional disturbance and of family disruption. (2) It teaches partners that they largely disturb themselves and that they can effectively refuse to continue to do so. (3) It almost always employs a number of cognitive, emotive, and behavioral techniques but employs them not merely to achieve symptomatic change but to help couples achieve a profound philosophic reconstruction that will, hopefully, lead to elegant and permanent change. It clearly acknowledges the biological as well as the sociological bases of disturbance, and therefore stresses vigorous and forceful, active-directive methods that will impinge upon and help alter the strongly held disturbances that partners frequently experience. (5) It holds to a rigorously scientific and yet highly humanistic outlook in both its theory and its practice. (6) It stresses a phenomenological, intraindividual, and depth-centered approach to understanding and tackling human disturbance, but at the same time uses practical problem-solving and skill-straining methods of changing family situations and interactions.     

Art therapy in transcultural family therapy

The increased existence of foreign culture patterns in the child population calls for transcultural comprehension in child psychiatry. This case report describes transcultural aspects in the therapy of an 11 year-old Moslem girl admitted to a child psychiatric department. Her symptoms were abdominal pain, headache, anxiety, and pretended fever. A family therapeutic approach was used together with elements of art therapy and individual therapy in a successful treatment. The family therapeutic approach was based on art therapy as a part of the communication where cultural symbols were an important part. An interpreter was not used. The cultural context where it is acceptable to overstep the borderline between reality and fantasy is seen as an important healing capacity.I would like to acknowledge my debt and my appreciation to Ebba Ernst, psychologist of the department and supervisor in the therapy of the S. family. I would also like to thank professor Kai Tolstrup and child psychiatrist Torben Marner for stimulating support in the process of writing the article. A grant from Enkefrue Hermansens Mindelegat made the participation in the Krakow Congress possible.     

Personal therapy for family therapy graduate students

This study explores students' attitudes about personal therapy as a component of training and assesses the effects of providing a list of community therapist who were willing to see family therapy graduate students at a reduced fee on students' behaviors. Students' personal therapy experiences and attitudes about faculty involvement in their personal lives were also investigated. Most students believe that student therapists should have personal therapy sometime during their training, and the majority of students had al-ready been in therapy. Individual issues and relationship problems were the most frequently cited reasons for starting personal therapy.     

Addressing power in couples therapy: Integrating socio-emotional relationship therapy and emotionally focused therapy

Romantic relationships are more satisfying and fulfilling when power is balanced relatively equally between partners (Leonhardt et al., Journal of Family Psychology, 34, 2020, and 1). Yet, few couples therapy models explicitly outline how to confront relational power issues (Knudson-Martin & Huenergardt, 2015, Socio-emotional relationship therapy: Bridging emotion, societal context, and couple interaction, Springer). Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2020, The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy, Routledge) is a well-established, evidence-based therapy modality that many therapists use with couple clients, yet despite its effectiveness, it does not provide direction for explicitly addressing and treating power differentials in couple relationships. In this paper, we explore the integration of EFT with Socio-emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT), a model overlay that acknowledges the impact of social discourse on enactments of power in intimate couple relationships. We first address the importance of understanding power in couple relationships, addressing power in couples therapy, and provide a brief overview of SERT and EFT. We then introduce an integration of the models intended to help therapists balance power, increase connection, and secure attachment bonds between romantic partners.     

Choice therapy

Choice therapy offers a promising new integrative approach to helping. It attempts to bridge the gap between the respect for the uniqueness of the individual of existential-humanistic approaches and the specificity of behavioural and cognitive psychology. Key terms are defined. The practice of choice therapy is described focusing on skills used in initial and subsequent sessions. Case material is integrated into the text to illustrate points. Within the context of a supportive relationship, choice therapy involves helping clients confront the deficient choices they make that sustain their problems and then educating them in how to make different and better choices.     

Totemic therapy

Totemic therapists, those recognized as healers because of their identification with an ethnic subculture, religious group, or social cause, are a factor in modern society often overlooked or underestimated as a mental health resource. Whatever the advantages and disadvantages of totemic therapy, such therapists will be in increasing demand as pluralistic social trends continue. It is therefore realistic to ask how their skills may be increased and their services better utilized.Ronald R. Lee, Ph.D., was born in Melbourne, Australia, and received his Ph.D. in Pastoral Psychology from Northwestern University/Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1965. He is Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Counseling at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and is a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.     

New developments in electroconvulsive therapy and magnetic seizure therapy

New findings regarding the mechanisms of action of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) have led to novel developments in treatment technique to further improve this highly effective treatment for major depression. These new approaches include novel placements, optimization of electrical stimulus parameters, and new methods for inducing more targeted seizures(eg, magnetic seizure therapy [MST]). MST is the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation to induce a seizure. Magnetic fields pass through tissue unimpeded, providing more control over the site and extent of stimulation than can be achieved with ECT. This enhanced control represents a means of focusing the treatment on target cortical structures thought to be essential to antidepressant response and reducing spread to medial temporal regions implicated in the cognitive side effects of ECT. MST is at an early stage of development. Preliminary results suggest that MST may have some advantages over ECT in terms of subjective side effects and acute cognitive functioning. Studies designed to address the antidepressant efficacy of MST are underway. As with all attempts to improve convulsive therapy technique, the clinical value of MST will need to be established through controlled clinical trials. This article reviews the experience to date with MST, and places this work in the broader context of other means of optimizing convulsive therapy in the treatment of depression.     

The therapy of power and the power of therapy

Constructivism's ontology-based epistemology considers reality an expression of strictly subjective cognitive processes. Taking the conceptpower as an example, theeigen-dynamics of connecting these subjective constructions of reality in the socialization process are compared with this ontological epistemology. The qualities of such dynamics cannot be concluded from ontology. An alternative approach is taken here which proceeds from a sociological orientation, describes the structure and dynamics of power relations in the differentiation process of social systems, and applies to families and family therapy for an example. The conclusion draws attention to the necessity of a critical notion of power to permit discussion of ethical questions in the context of systems theory as well.Originally published as part of a special issue on the power metaphor guestedited by Klaus G. Deissler inZeitschrift fur systemische Therapie (1986),4, 243–252. Translated by S. Awodey.