Psychoanalytic Engagements With Death: Discussion of Martin Frommer’s “Death Is Nothing at All: On Contemplating Non-Existence”

In this discussion, I reflect on some historical, theoretical, and clinical implications of Martin Frommer’s thesis that death anxieties are best navigated via reaffirming attachments with that which is beyond the self. Frommer’s examples of active engagement with his patients in personal modes of discourse about shared existential concerns are considered in terms of the ethics and responsibilities of self-disclosure and the therapist’s own subjective reactions to the death anxieties. Frommer’s contribution is applauded as an exemplar of relational psychoanalytic therapy that incorporates and goes beyond Freud’s formulations of internal processes of identification with the deceased.     

Patterns of Women’s Aggression Against Partners and Others: Broadening Our Understanding of Violence

Research on women's aggression typically focuses on relational aggression. However, the study of violence must include multiple forms of violence such as aggression against partners and non‐partner others, while also considering victimization experiences by partners and non‐partners. The focus of this study is the multiple experiences of violence (perpetration and victimization) of women who are incarcerated. Incarcerated women are likely to experience higher rates of both than women in community settings, but most will be released in a brief period of time. Using a random sample (N = 580) we conducted cluster analyses to identify five patterns of women's aggression. Clusters varied depending on the target/s of aggression (i.e., partner and/or others), and type of aggression (i.e., physical and/or intimidation). Multinomial logistic regression was performed to determine the relationship between women's membership in a perpetration cluster and their victimization. Victimization history was related to an increased risk of perpetrating aggression, and varied depending on the target and type of aggression. Our findings provide support that research and interventions addressing women's use of aggression must also address their victimization history. Furthermore, results indicate that for some women, aggression towards partners and others is related. Future research should investigate multiple forms of aggression.     

Are You Looking at Me,or Am I? Anger,Aggression, Shame and Self-worth in Violent Individuals

Conclusions about the relationship between anger and violence have been drawn from research that largely uses non-clinically angry, non-violent participants. The present study assessed cognitive correlates of anger by comparing mentally disordered violent offenders (n = 22) and violent prisoners (n = 22) in their irrational beliefs, self-esteem, internalised shame, and the experience and expression of anger. Findings showed there to be no significant difference between the two groups on all of the scales used. Low self-worth, high shame and self-downing irrational beliefs were found across the whole population. Cluster analysis revealed two distinct clusters with anger as the main factor separating them. One cluster could be categorised as anger disordered and had significantly higher shame, lower self-worth and more self- and other-downing irrational beliefs than the second cluster where levels of unhealthy anger were lower. It was concluded that high levels of unhealthy anger may serve as an attempt to protect against shame and low self-worth.     

All You Need Is Love: The Importance of Partner and Family Relations to Highly Creative Individuals’ Well-Being and Success

The aim of the article was to investigate how the family life of highly creative individuals—mainly marriages or romantic relationships—is related to their sense of success and well-being. Previous studies have led to conflicting conclusions. The predominant finding has been that marriage and family constitute an obstacle to creative potential development. Other studies have demonstrated that, regardless of gender, creators lead satisfying family lives, which contributes to their well-being. The study presented in this paper is based on the grounded theory methodology and triangulates two sources: interviews with prominent creators from the USA conducted years ago (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, N = 91) and interviews with recognized contemporary Polish artists and scientists (N = 34). Based on interactions between the interviewees’ perception of themselves as creators and their perception of gender and family roles, the authors identify and discuss five types of relationship between creators’ family life and work. They also discuss the factors that hinder or facilitate creators’ satisfactory functioning in both areas in each of the five types of relationship.     

Do I need ethnic culture to be free? A critique of Will Kymlicka’s liberal nationalism

Abstract

As part of a vigorous debate about the politics of multiculturalism, Will Kymlicka has sought to find grounds within liberal political theory to defend rights for cultural groups. Kymlicka argues that the individual’s ability to choose the good life necessarily takes place in a cultural context such that access to one’s ethnic or national culture constitutes a condition of autonomy. Thus, in liberal societies where the culture of minority ethnic groups or nations is under threat, these groups should enjoy certain special rights so as to uphold the autonomy of their individual members. However, Kymlicka’s ‘liberal nationalist’ argument relies on a problematic isomorphism between culture and identity. Very simply, I shall argue that an individual’s culture is not necessarily given by their membership of an ethnic group or nation, thus breaking the link between individual autonomy and rights for ethnic groups or nations.     

A Theology of the Cross and Ministry in Our Time: How Do You Call a Thing What It Is When You Don't Know What the Thing Is?

Abstract :  This article explores our cultural context and the issues it raises for ministry and theology in our time, especially as it relates to a theology of the cross. By drawing on the work of Jean Baudrillard the article asserts that we live in a time of hyper-reality, when nihilism is ever-present under the thin crust of our entertainment and information-saturated society. In responding to this world, it is argued that a theology of the cross has too often been misappropriated to serve as justification for taking on either the style of a postmodern aesthetic, which provides people a brand in new, hip forms of ministry, or adopting a fundamentalist stance, which provides people with a foundation in a world where it seems there is nowhere stable to stand. By returning to Luther's Heidelberg disputation, it is argued that "calling a thing what it is" in thesis 21 is not a style or foundation, but the invitation to enter (and do theology and ministry) in the nihilism of despair. Therefore, ministry and theology in our time should begin in the nihilism (the nihilism of the crucified Christ).     

‘How Can I Feel for Others When I Myself Am Beaten?’ The Impact of the Armed Conflict on Women in Israel

This research presents an initial documentation of Israeli women’s sense of insecurity during the Second Intifada (2001–2005). Drawing on feminist security theory and the intersectional approach to gender, we hypothesized that women’s familiar tendency to develop high levels of stress following political violence would be related to previous sexual and domestic victimization, to economic distress and ethnic discrimination among minority women, and to the cultural role of care workers among women of all socio-economic backgrounds. A sample of 552 women self-completed a cluster of questionnaires addressing a broad array of topics, and results confirmed most of the research hypotheses. The discussion highlights the multiple articulations of gender, militarism, and security and their possible implications for policies of conflict resolution.     

You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry: A Daily Diary Study of Displaced Online Aggression in Dual-Earner Couples

Modern technologies can aid working processes as well as provide individuals with an opportunity to connect and form interpersonal relationships. However, they can also create a context for displaced aggression. In this study, we examine whether people experiencing work stressors may engage in online antisocial behavioral as a means of venting their negative emotions. Specifically, we investigate whether experiencing stressors at work fuels anger in the private context and whether this anger triggers subsequent displaced aggression in the form of antisocial online behavior (AOB) throughout the evening. Additionally, we examine the crossover of anger to AOB in couples in their private context. We conducted a diary study amongst 95 dual-earner couples, twice a day, during five consecutive working days. Results confirmed that men’s daily work stressors spilled over to their private context in the form of anger after work and AOB throughout the evening. No crossover effects were found from their partner. For women, a crossover effect was found of their partner’s work stressors and anger on their own AOB. These results demonstrate gender differences in displaced online aggression.     

Will They Listen to Me? An Examination of In-Group Gender Bias in Children’s Communication Beliefs

Sex Roles - We assessed developmental and gender differences in children’s beliefs about their peers’ communication styles. We hypothesized that children hold more favorable beliefs...     

Are You Analyzing Me? A Qualitative Exploration of Psychologists’ Individual and Interpersonal Experiences with Authenticity

Within multiple social roles, such as careers and personal relationships, psychologists are encouraged to maintain their authenticity. Although the concept of authenticity has a lengthy history in the philosophy and literary fields, only in the last decade have researchers begun empirically studying this unique, yet vague, concept. This study sought to explore and understand what experiences, issues, and concerns psychologists encounter in their efforts to live authentically. A purposeful sample consisted of 17 psychologists, who were individually interviewed. Utilizing a qualitative research design, 328 significant statements were extracted and grouped together, resulting in five emergent themes specifically related to personal and social, nontherapeutic contexts. Participants described how their psychological-mindedness adds to complexity of separating the person from the therapist during encounters with others. They believed that self-exploration, self-awareness, and self-acceptance were important in attaining one's authenticity. Concepts of culture and gender influences, psychological-mindedness, and consistency in social roles were discussed as related to authenticity. Last, participants indicated feeling the most authentic with close friendships, significant others, and family members, and less authentic in casual and/or collegial-professional roles.     

‘Do to Me According to What Has Gone Out of Your Mouth’*: A Reformation Debate on the Tragedy of Jephthah and his Daughter

A challenging biblical passage is the narrative of Jephthah and his daughter in the Book of Judges. The consensus of the exegetical tradition is that in fulfillment of a rash vow, Jephthah sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. Yet some early Reformation exegetes argued instead that she entered into a life of dedication to the Lord. They argued on the basis of the grammar of Jephthah’s vow, a point which they found in one strand of rabbinical tradition. However, there developed a counter-argument reaffirming the patristic and medieval consensus, and that appealed to an alternative rabbinical tradition. The present essay will examine the competing arguments found in Protestant commentaries published between c.1530 and c.1650. In the end, the patristic and medieval consensus prevailed, and the alternative reading was rejected; but both sides agreed that the one noble character in this tale was the nameless daughter of Jephthah.     

Where are We When We are At-One? Discussion of Bion’s O and His Pseudo-Mystical Path

Civitarese’s demystification and reinvigoration of the Bion concept of O (this issue) are applauded for its effective re-grounding of the concept in the experience of unison. Yet the paper leaves ambiguous the question of whether the experience of unity in O depends upon how language brings us together; or whether, on the contrary, O reflects events occurring sub-symbolically, unmediated by language and self-reflectivity, through performative engagement in the communal world of psycho-sensorial experience. Eloquent references in the paper to non-linguistic and sensory-based phenomena seem to suggest that O might happen precisely where language does not, which Bion himself seemed to be pointing to in his insistence that O cannot be known, but only experienced. But in then reasserting the primacy of words and the oneiric functions of the mind, does Civitarese undercut the most radical insight of this reimagining of the concept of O, namely that O is the experience of living beyond our individual identities, unarticulated by language? Distinguishing three terms - the linguistic, the emotional, and the sensory – might allow us to consider that O is not a meeting of minds, nor even the consecration of an emotional event, but is a realization of the profound pre-reflective experience of de-subjectification, where one’s existence is affirmed beyond one’s individual identity by entering the world of shared sensory perception.     

“Am I Going to be Natural or am I Not?”: Canadian Women’s Perceptions and Experiences of Menstrual Suppression

This paper reports on findings from a qualitative interview-based study of women’s experiences and perceptions of menstrual suppression using a diverse sample of 12 women from Vancouver, Canada. The study used open-ended, in-depth interviews to ask women questions related to the following overarching research question: How do Canadian women perceive and experience menstrual suppression? Of the 12 women, six had experience with menstrual suppression, while six had never suppressed their periods. The six women who suppressed their periods cited convenience, pain management, and feeling more positively about their bodies as their reasons for suppression. The six women who had not suppressed their cycles cited fears about compromising their health, worries about altering the “natural” menstrual cycle, and an uneasiness with pharmaceutical products in general as rationales for rejecting menstrual suppression. Ultimately, the findings reveal that there are many considerations and factors involved in women’s decisions about menstrual frequency. While many of the women appreciated the appeal of menstrual suppression, the long-term risks and health uncertainties deterred many of them from reducing their menstrual frequency. The findings are discussed in relation to medical literature which encourages women to suppress their menses, as well as sociological theorizing about menstrual culture within a Foucauldian framework of discipline and control.     

Why Is Being Nothing? An Apophatic Reading of Hegel’s Opening to the Science of Logic

The aim of this article is to analyze Hegel’s famous transition from being to nothing in the opening of the Science of Logic, to outline a variety of interpretations from commentators, and to defend what I call the “indirect apophatic interpretation” as support for the conclusion that Hegel is an ambiguously apophatic thinker. One benefit of the “indirect apophatic interpretation” is that it leads to a reassessment of Hegel’s conception of totality. The prevailing understanding of “totality” as exclusionary exhaustion, completion, and finitude has often been attributed to Hegel’s thought. But the “indirect apophatic interpretation” of the transition from being to nothing that I defend prepares the way for an alternative reading of totality in his work: not as the exhaustion of all positive content, but as the coincidence of being and nothing, as the contradiction A is -A, and as the exhaustion of form and content by way of a dialectic with the apophatic.     

Response to MacIntosh’s Review and Discussion of the Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy Journal Literature: A Self Psychological,Intersubjective Perspective

ABSTRACT

After expressing my appreciation to Heather MacIntosh and highlighting her article’s significant contributions to the field, I comment briefly on some of the implications of her methodology and findings. I then elaborate on her summary of the history of the application of self psychology (Kohut, 1971) and intersubjective systems theory (Stolorow, Brandshaft, and Atwood, 1987) to couple therapy, highlighting the key contributions of both theories and describing the current state of the field.     

When Sleeping Dogs Awake,There Is Wisdom: Holmes’s Response to Guralnik,White, and Tummala-Nara

Whether the three discussions are framed in terms of the pull on all of us to the socio-political world in which we live (Guralnik), the usefulness of interpersonal psychoanalysis as a way of working (White), or the need to legitimize culturally imposed trauma in the face of resistances to doing so (Tummala-Narra), each commentator offers meaningful elaborations on what I have offered and/or alternative perspectives to be considered. This response affords me a welcome opportunity to celebrate and elaborate the multiple ways in which culture and cultural trauma can be conceptualized, understood, and worked with in the consultation room. I hope these papers, considered together, will make cultural trauma more accessible to work with for all psychoanalytic clinicians.