Family Consulting: A New Role for Therapists

A new model for psychological practice entitled, "Family Consulting" is proposed. It is defined as a long-term, intermittent approach to working with families based on a developmental/non-pathological perspective. The specific format of intervention is described in detail. A brief review of the life-span perspective of development, the family life-cycle literature, and object relations family therapy, which serve as the building blocks of the model is provided. The role that family consulting can play in today's managed mental health care environment is discussed.     

A Profile of Chinese Family Therapists

It is helpful for professional organizations, policy makers and regulators, third-party payers, and clients to have access to empirical data about family therapists and the practice of family therapy. Nevertheless, there is no such data available in China. This study attempts to fill this gap by profiling Chinese family therapists. A questionnaire was designed and delivered to family therapists and trainees. A total of 117 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The findings show that the majority of Chinese family therapists are female, in the age range of 31–40 years, hold master’s degrees, and attend continuous training programs that last 20–40 days over 2–3 years and short-term workshops for family therapy training. They are mainly motivated by the need for personal growth in their career choice. Most of them work in the institutional setting. They have worked in the counseling field for 6.6 years on average, and they have practiced family therapy for an average of 3.4 years. They perform counseling for 9.2 h per week, and 4 h involve working with families. They received an average of 30.6 h of family therapy supervision in the past year. They mainly see individuals and families with adolescents, and their approach is eclectic. This paper compares the findings in China with findings from North America, discusses possible reasons for differences in the findings, and provides suggestions for future development and studies of family therapy in China.     

Rural Marriage and Family Therapists: A Pilot Study

Marriage and family therapists practice in more than a third of the rural counties in the United States. However, little is known about the practice patterns of marriage and family therapists who practice in rural settings. This pilot study examined the clinical practice and community involvement of a sample of licensed marriage and family therapists in rural Texas. The results contribute to a small but developing body of research about a relatively unknown group of practitioners.     

From Destruktion to Deconstruction: A Response to Moran

Abstract

As a response to Moran’s (1994) recommendation that Heidegger’s Destruktion be extensively elaborated and critiqued, this paper suggests a way in which Heidegger’s thinking can be more clearly understood as a search for how better to ‘say’ the destruction. By briefly tracing how Heidegger’s thinking on the Destruktion repeatedly turns against itself throughout his writings, it is demonstrated that Heidegger does indeed revise the notion by abandoning the term in his later writing; to replace it first with the concept of ‘overcoming’, and subsequently with the notion of Verwindung. This self-critical reworking of the Destruktion is evident in his turning towards these concepts; which is taken up by Derrida’s deconstruction in its simultaneous turning towards and away from Heidegger’s Destruktion.     

Counseling Older Adults with Dementia: A Survey of Therapists in Massachusetts

Although much has been written about therapeutic interventions with caregivers, little is known about the counseling services that are available for victims of dementia. The present study was designed to explore community mental health center (CMHC) services and therapists' experiences in providing psychotherapy to this population in Massachusetts. Only 27 of the 36 CMHCs in the state reported providing mental health services to older adults with a dementing illness. A survey of therapists who specialized in working with older adults found that the percentage of older adult clients estimated to have dementia averaged about half of their caseload. Older persons in the early phase of a dementing illness were most frequently referred for depression and anxiety, whereas those with moderate decline were most frequently referred for management of disruptive behavior. The most common services provided to clients with dementia consisted of assessment and individual counseling. The latter finding indicates a discrepancy between what is practiced and the professional literature. Most of the psychotherapy described in the literature concerns group interventions, which were rarely provided by the mental health centers in Massachusetts. The centers tended to offer individual counseling; however, little information on how to provide this form of treatment can be found.     

Building a Better World for Transpeople: Reed Erickson and the Erickson Educational Foundation

ABSTRACT

This article argues that through its role as a national clearing house and funding agency, Reed Erickson and the Erickson Educational Foundation (EEF) actively directed the course of trans research and contemporary social services and policies effecting trans people. We structure this article around the EEF's three key areas of work in the field of transsexualism: support and referral, advocacy and education, and research and professional development. We show how these three main efforts lead to widespread medical and social change for trans people during the years of EEF operation.     

Lesbian Partner Abuse: Implications for Therapists

Silence surrounds the issue of lesbian battering. Lesbian victims of partner abuse are even less likely than are their heterosexual counterparts to seek help in shelters or from counselors because of the overlay of homophobia that exists both in the battered women's movement and among mental health professionals. In addition, many lesbian and many lesbian-supportive therapists hold an idealized and unrealistic picture of the nature of lesbian relationships, leading them to deny the existence of buttering among lesbian couples. The nature, severity, and prevalence of abuse in lesbian relationships is addressed; current counseling and treatment models dealing with battering relationships are analyzed; and a counselor advocacy model for working with lesbian partner abuse, drawing from the experience of activists in the battered women's movement and our clinical experience, is suggested.     

A Sort Card System for Therapists of Working Women

The author discusses the use of a system of sort cards that focus on the dilemmas of working women. The cards are used as a basis for therapy to help women focus on and come to terms with their ambivalences.     

An Infertility Primer for Family Therapists:

A seemingly "self-evident truth" in most people's lives is that one day they will have children. This universal, biopsychosocial assumption goes unchallenged until a couple faces infertility. Although the effects of such a challenge are profound, infertility is often treated as a nonevent — both within our society as a whole, and within the field of family therapy in particular. To assist clinicians who work with this numerically increasing population, and the many others who have been affected by their encounter with infertility in the past, this article discusses the biological/medical, psychological, and social factors that shape the experience of infertility in our society.     

A Commencement Charge to Therapists of Psyche and Soul

This article is from a commencement address delivered to the 2003 graduates of the Blanton-Peale Institute. It emphasizes the world's need for therapists who stand at the crossroad of psychology and religion. The concept of temenos is used to emphasize the need for making the consulting room a safe place away from the distraction of the outside world. The graduates are further charged with attending fully to those who come to them seeking help. Finally, they are challenged to find ways to encourage a poetics of reverie in their own lives and in those for whom they care.     

德里达：翻译与解构

德里达认为,自柏拉图以来的西方理性主义有一个根本的错误,即都在寻找某些“超验所指”(在任何语言中的任何时间都表达同样概念的所指),并以它们为中心,建构起具有等级秩序的逻各斯中心主义。要解构逻各斯中心主义,必须先解构其赖以生存的“可译性”基础。这样,解构问题转化为翻译问题。翻译,特别是语际翻译,见证、展现和诠释了能指与所指的分裂、所指/概念/意义自身的分裂、语言的(内部的和外部的)分裂以及文本的(内部的和外部的)分裂。在这一切发生的同时,翻译也撕裂了自身。它不再担“翻译”的名,而蜕化为无限暧昧的“变形”(transformation)概念,德里达用莎士比亚名剧《威尼斯商人》中的一句话“when mercy seasonsjustice”(情理兼顾)揭示了其内涵。     

Building a Better WarBot: Ethical Issues in the Design of Unmanned Systems for Military Applications

Unmanned systems in military applications will often play a role in determining the success or failure of combat missions and thus in determining who lives and dies in times of war. Designers of UMS must therefore consider ethical, as well as operational, requirements and limits when developing UMS. I group the ethical issues involved in UMS design under two broad headings, Building Safe Systems and Designing for the Law of Armed Conflict, and identify and discuss a number of issues under each of these headings. As well as identifying issues, I offer some analysis of their implications and how they might be addressed.

超文本:文本的解构与重构

计算机和信息处理技术正在改变着知识的性质,甚至“在知识构成体系内部,任何不能转化输送的事物,都将淘汰。一切研究成果都必然转化成电脑语言……今后,知识的创造者和运用者都要具有将知识转化成电脑语言工具的技巧———无论他们是在创造作品还是在搞研究”[1]。在信息技术迅猛发展的今天,利奥塔的这一预言似乎将迅速成为现实。除了网络上每天涌现的新资讯以外,全球范围的数字化浪潮正将人类已有的知识由铅字转换为比特,并以超文本的形式广泛传播。这些新开辟的文本空间,深化了人们对语言符号相互关系的认识,也影响和改变着我们对一系列问…