One Counselor's Intervention in the Aftermath of a Middle School Student's Suicide: A Case Study

The authors discuss the application of Gestalt theory as a means of dealing with the surviving classmates of a student who committed suicide.     

A Service Member's Self in Transition: A Longitudinal Case Study Analysis

Adopting a narrative approach with a dialogical framework, a longitudinal case study is presented that describes a service member's self in transition from active service into the civilian population. An analysis and interpretation of the case study leads to the hypothesis that if a dominant military I-position appears in the self, a transition may initially create decentering movements of the self that in turn decrease integration and dialogical capacity of the self. New narrative concepts of who one is to become may take time to shape and anchor in corresponding I-position(s) of the self, and self-adaption may only reach a certain level of integration. However, the rise of a third position may unify two conflicting parts, or I-positions, of the self. This may prove to be a promising development for integration and dialogue of the self. Future research is encouraged that examines this hypothesis more broadly.     

Using The Mirror Story to Understand Self

Research indicates self-esteem reflects many factors in a person’s life, such as relationships with parents or parent figures, attachment types, experiences of worth enhancement, ethnicity, generation, and cultural values. However, debate continues on whether self-esteem is simply a reflection of Western culture and may not be a universal factor of human nature. This research was undertaken to understand how four persons of diverse ethnic, gender, and age categories may each perceive the self from reading the same story. First, the authors offer a brief overview of how self-esteem is viewed and explore a few cultural, gender and age aspects of self-esteem. They then present our pilot study with the methodology, results, and discussion, and offer implications for mental health counselors.     

Downsizing: Case Study of a Career in Crisis

Downsizing is a major concern in American industry today. Although much has been written about the effects of downsizing on corporations, little has been said about its effect on individuals. This case presents downsizing from one individual's perspective and suggests strategies and procedures for reducing the negative effect of downsizing on employees. Strategies and procedures that firms can adopt to make downsizing programs effective include planning in advance, developing effective communications, centralizing decision making, and educating personnel specialists and managers.     

Recognizing Anxiety Disorders in the Aftermath of the World Trade Center Crisis

This article seeks to educate the reader on how to recognize the presence of anxiety disorders as they occur in the church community. The author uses medical information, Scriptural wisdom and a case illustration to help concerned Christians to assist sufferers in getting appropriate care. Anxiety disorders in the aftermath of the World Trade Center trajedy will be on the rise and the paper addresses this matter particularly for clergy, caregivers and professional counselors.     

The Self Focus Sentence Completion: A Study of Egocentricity

A 30-item sentence completion blank (SFSC), in which most of the stems contain a self-reference (I, my, me, etc.) is described. Normative data are provided for 2,592 non-psychiatric subjects representing five different kinds of populations, and 273 psychiatric patients from nine different diagnostic groups. Reliability data are presented and the results of six validation studies are discussed. It is suggested that the SFSC, which yields six scores, may provide a useful index of egocentricity as a response orientation or style. The data are discussed in the context of “egocentric balance,” a postulate seemingly compatible with several theoretical positions.     

Self Diagnosis of Lynch Syndrome Using Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing: A Case Study

We are reporting what we believe to be the first published case of patient initiated direct to consumer (DTC) genetic testing to test for the presence of a known familial mutation. Our client in this case is from a known MSH2 family; both his/her parent and associated grandparent have previously tested positive for the known familial MSH2 mutation. Using 23andme’s “family inheritance genome-wide comparison” option we were able to determine that our client most likely inherited the known familial MSH2 mutation without pursuing single site genetic testing. Our client pursued DTC genetic testing instead of single site genetic testing due to the fear of genetic discrimination. This case shows that patients are still fearful of genetic discrimination, despite the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), and that DTC genetic testing may be useful despite the overall negative feeling towards this type of testing in the genetic counseling community.     

Lacan's Theory of Self and the Story of the Last Cookie

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

A Cross-Cultural Study of Depression in the Aftermath of a Natural Disaster

This study evaluated the extent and severity of depressive symptoms among adults (n=1015) in Armenia one year after the 1988 earthquake, using an Armenian translation of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-Arm). Earthquake surivivors had higher levels of depression than did their non-earthquake counterparts. For both the quake and non-quake regions, women were found to have higher scores on the BDI-Arm than men, and persons between the ages of 31–55 reported significantly higher depressive ratings than individuals who were 17–30. Interactions between the quake and non-quake areas and gender indicated that women in both areas reported significantly more depressive symptoms than men. The psychometric properties of the BDI-Arm compared favorably to those defined by North American studies.     

Contemplating the Self: A Brief Phenomenological Participatory Action Study

This study examines Self contemplation from a heuristic phenomenological and applied psychological perspective using a participatory action research approach. The participant authors (n = 6; females = 50%, majority ethnicity = isiZulu = 67%) engaged in reflective contemplation of the Self to generate qualitative data that captured its core features and psychological applications. The data were thematically analyzed. Core features of the Self were revealed in contemplative, spiritual, ancestral, healing and psychotherapeutic themes. Specific psychological applications consisted of various universal characteristics of healing including the therapeutic relationship, therapeutic moments, integrity, dialogue, authenticity, intentionality, will, belief, practice and breath-work.     

Life Story Chapters,Specific Memories,and Conceptions of the Self

Two studies investigated the effects of recalling either life story chapters or specific memories on measures of self‐continuity and self‐esteem. Participants were assigned to recall important chapters, important specific memories, or impersonal facts, and they provided ratings of emotional tone. Participants also completed trait and state measures of self‐continuity, self‐esteem, and mood. Although effects of recall condition on state and trait measures were not statistically significant, within‐group analyses identified strong and consistent relationships between the positivity of life story chapters and both trait and state self‐continuity and self‐esteem. In contrast, the positivity of specific memories was related only to state self‐esteem. Qualities of life story chapters appear to be more central to enduring conceptions of the self than do qualities of specific life story memories.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In Search of the Self: A Positron Emission Tomography Study

Abstract—Previous work using positron emission tomography (PET) has shown that memory encoding processes are associated with preferential activation of left frontal regions of the brain, whereas retrieval processes are associated predominantly with right frontal activations. One possible reason for the asymmetry is that episodic retrieval necessarily involves reference to the self, and the self-concept may be represented (at least partially) in right frontal regions. Accordingly, the present study investigated the possibility that encoding of self-related material might also activate right frontal areas. Eight right-handed volunteers judged trait adjectives under four separate PET scan conditions: (a) relevance to self, (b) relevance to a well-known public figure, (c) social desirability, and (d) number of syllables. The results showed that self-related encoding yielded left frontal activations similar to those associated with other types of semantic encoding, but also specific activations in the right frontal lobe. It is concluded that the concept of self involves both general schematic structures and further specific components involved in episodic memory retrieval.     

Reference to Self and Other in the Digital Public Sphere: The Case of Political Blogs

In this paper, we analyze how a political blog author (Spanish Alejo Vidal-Quadras) establishes the reference to self and other in his blog entries. We furthermore look into how the commentators to this blog react and establish reference to self and other in the digital public sphere. More concretely, we show that they not only take up the references established by the main blog author but also create new references. These allow, on the one hand, for profiling themselves as part of a group and, on the other hand, identifying their interlocutor among the variety of possible interlocutors in the digital public sphere. By addressing different interlocutors, the commentators turn the comments section into a dialogic space, a dimension that is lacking in the main blog entries. However, the fact that they almost invariably identify interlocutors other than Vidal-Quadras but address Vidal-Quadras without explicitly identifying him, shows that Vidal-Quadras remains the main ratified interlocutor in view of his ownership of the blog. This paper shows then how participants in the digital public sphere create a complex relationship of self and other reference in political blogs.     

Self and Reminiscence of Place: A Conceptual Study

This conceptual study looks at reminiscence of past places and selfhood for older people, especially people with dementia, living in long-term care facilities. Although the therapeutic potential of reminiscence, as well as the importance of places in one's life have been recognized, the potential benefits of place-based reminiscence remains untapped. This study critically reviews the existing literature in related substantive areas, synthesizes emergent major themes, and proposes a conceptual framework in approaching the relevant concepts. It is suggested that reminiscence of events and aspects associated with significant places from the past can offer a potentially therapeutic process in holding onto one's life experiences, and in turn present opportunities for preserving one's sense of self-identity.