The Ecological Self: Metaphor and Developmental Experience?

The term ecological self, used within the fields of deep ecology and ecopsychology, is considered here from the viewpoint of developmental research and theory, within the context of contemporary relational psychoanalysis. Both developmental theory and more specifically our concept of health are explored with the inclusion of relatedness to the nonhuman world and an emphasis on embodiment and interactive experience. Illustrations and examples are drawn from research, clinical work with adults and the literature of natural history.     

The “Friendly visitor” program data: A reply to Denney

Conclusion In summary, Denney's failure to obtain the original results with her reanalyses can be attributed to the fact that she (a) scored some variables differently, (b) included an inappropriate subjects who was not entered into the original analyses, (c) excluded appropriate subjects who were used in the original analyses, (d) included an additional invalid dependent measure previously dicarded, and (e) may have used a different residualization algorithm. In view of these differences, it is not surprising that the multivariate and unvariate results that she obtained were different from those originally reported.We hope that now the procedural differences that account for the inconsistencies alleged by Denney are clear.     

The Right to Our Own History: Paradoxical Transference and the “Friendly Foreigner” Commentary on Orna Guralnik Paper

This paper comments on Dr. Guralnik’s paper and in particular reflects on how the “history of an ‘other’” and “History with a capital H” can be brought to analysis without turning the psychoanalytical process into sociology or “applied” psychoanalysis.     

A “Little Death”: The Near-Death Experience and Tibetan Delogs

A phenomenon remarkably like the near-death experience has been uncovered in Tibetan culture, aside from the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead (Thurman, 1994). Anthropologists have gathered accounts of contemporary and historical cases of remarkable people called delogs. Seemingly dead for several hours or days, these people revive spontaneously and tell detailed accounts of otherworldly journeys. Their journey accounts contain elaborate versions of Buddhist otherworldly landscapes and characters, emphasizing the moral and spiritual teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. These delogs are a bridge between contemporary near-death experiences and ancient shamanic practices.     

A View from Developmental Systems Self Psychology: Discussion of Joseph Newirth's Paper, “A Case Study of Power and the Eroticized Transference–Countertransference”

The clinical case that centers on a female patient who presented with a generalized sense of despair, hopelessness, and shame is discussed. Infant research, child development, neurobiology, trauma research, and nonlinear dynamic systems theory are employed in recontextualizing concepts of defense, resistance, dissociation, development, and therapeutic action. Specific positive new experiences, emergent from within the analytic dyad, lead to the development of consolidated, integrated self-states and a securely consolidated, intimate attachment to the other, which proved mutative.     

“It's A Long Way …” to Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Training Experience in Self Psychology,Intersubjectivity, and Relational Psychoanalysis

The successful experience with a Jungian analyst, research work on international economic interdependence, and the failure of a classical analysis were the preliminary steps toward the discovery of Kohut's self psychology. The comparison of epistemological principles in Jung and in Kohut and the discovery of the relational nature of experience formed the background of my professional attitude as an analyst. After an unsatisfactory, but “orthodox” supervision, training in self psychology, intersubjectivity, and relational psychoanalysis at Isipsé made it possible to integrate all previous experiences in a complex and, at the same time, clinically coherent framework.     

From “The Depleted Self” to “The Will to Believe”: Excavating the Hermeneutics of Donald Capps

The concept of “reframing” lies at the heart of the pastoral psychology of Donald Capps. In previous articles I have argued that the process of reframing follows a circular hermeneutics. An excavation of Capps’ hermeneutics reveals foundations in the fields of philosophy and psychology. This article focuses on the legacy of Johann Gottfried von Herder, Friedrich Schleiermacher, William James and Paul Ricoeur. It explores the differences and commonalities between William James and Friedrich Schleiermacher’s understanding of religious experience as well as Paul Ricoeur’s understanding of narrativity and traces these strains to Capps’ pastoral psychology. As illustration of his pastoral approach to healing and wholeness the problem of “the depleted self,” so prevalent in “our narcissistic age,” encounters the healing narrative of Jesus that appeals to “the will to believe.”     

Multiple Cultures,Multiple Selves,and Analytic Influence: A Response to Goldin’s “The Storied Self”

Using a dynamic systems contextual model, I expand Daniel Goldin’s ideas about narrative and the “storied self.” I identify two issues that are key to the development of a coherent life story: first, the identification and integration of the multiple psychic self-states and external cultures with which and in which people live, and second, the meeting and melding of important minds in the person’s environment.     

“Am I Going Crazy,Doc?”: A Self Psychology Approach to Therapeutic Assessment

In this case study, we explore the effectiveness of Therapeutic Assessment with a severely disturbed 25-year-old man, referred by his therapist, following Finn's (2007; Finn & Tonsager, 1992, 1997) model. This patient–therapist pair had been working together for approximately 2 months, but the therapy had ceased to progress. The therapist requested a clearer picture of his patient's affective functioning, interpersonal functioning, and self-functioning that might facilitate more effective treatment. Through a collaborative assessment process informed by the principles of Kohutian self psychology, the evaluator and patient slowly formed a working alliance that proved useful for the eventual communication to the patient of his psychologically tenuous reality. This case illustrates the utility of a collaborative, multimethod Therapeutic Assessment with a severely ill patient and the use of Therapeutic Assessment by a less experienced clinician.     

Are Openness and Intellect distinct aspects of Openness to Experience? A test of the O/I model

The Openness/Intellect (O/I) model proposes that Openness to Experience has two major facets—Openness and Intellect—that can be measured with the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS). Thus far, however, research has not shown distinct, unique relationships between the Openness and Intellect aspects and other outcomes. The present research evaluated the relationships between Openness and Intellect with two outcomes: creative behavior and achievement (conceptually closer to Openness) and fluid intelligence (conceptually closer to Intellect). Young adults completed the BFAS, several measures of fluid intelligence, and several measures of creative achievement. Latent variable models indicated that the Openness aspect significantly predicted creativity but not fluid intelligence; the Intellect aspect, in contrast, significantly predicted fluid intelligence but not creativity. The findings thus offer support for the validity of the O/I model.     

Are Oppositional-Defiant and Hyperactive–Inattentive Symptoms Developmental Precursors to Conduct Problems in Late Childhood?: Genetic and Environmental Links

Inattentive–hyperactive and oppositional behavior have been hypothesized to be developmental precursors to conduct problems. We tested these hypotheses using a longitudinal sample of 6,466 offspring of women selected from nationally representative US households. Conduct problems across 8–13 years were robustly predicted by conduct problems at 4–7 years, but also were independently predicted to a small extent by both inattentive–hyperactive and oppositional behaviors at 4–7 years. Longitudinal multivariate behavior genetic analyses revealed that the genetic and environmental factors that influence conduct problems at both 4–7 and 8–13 years also influence the putative precursors at 4–7 years. After genetic and environmental influences on conduct problems at 4–7 years were taken into account, however, inattentive–hyperactive and oppositional behavior at 4–7 years shared causal influences with conduct problems 8–13 years to a negligible extent. These findings suggest that after early conduct problems are controlled, little is gained in terms of prediction or understanding genetic and environmental influences on later child conduct problems by treating early inattentive–hyperactive and oppositional behavior as developmental precursors to later conduct problems.     

The Floating “I”—An Experience of Shifting Form: Commentary on Paper by Anne Sweetnam

The author offers a subjective reading of the clinical segment of Annie Sweetnam's paper. For clinical writing to have a lively impact, the form must be effective. This commentary focuses on how shifts in the written form convey shifting internal states of the patient and analyst and how the form then draws the reader into the emotional field within the transference–countertransference.     

A Window in Time: A Response to “Disorders of Temporality and The Subjective Experience of Time: Unresponsive Objects and the Vacuity of the Future” by Stephen Seligman

This response to Stephen Seligman’s “Disorders of Temporality and The Subjective Experience of Time: Unresponsive Objects and the Vacuity of the Future” considers Seligman’s ideas in the context of field theory. Seligman’s notion of becoming a self in time is elaborated through the concept, derived from field theory, of how time assumes an “essential ambiguity” that may facilitate analytic change and psychological development. This response suggests further that such “essential ambiguity” in relation to time opens both the patient and analyst up to a variety of complex, bidirectional influences, such as unconsciously mediated intergenerational transmissions of trauma. In addition, this response explores Seligman’s ideas associated with an analyst’s moment-to-moment recognitions and a patient’s corresponding development of a self in time in terms of their implications for analytic participation and analytic self-care.     

“I Believe People Need to Know Us in Order to Integrate Us”: Immigrant Women’s Cultural Attitudes and Needs

The integration of immigrant women is crucial for achieving coexistence and social cohesion in diverse societies. In particular, the analysis of the role of migrant women has a recent but strong tradition within sociology literature. From a gender perspective, this paper analyzes how immigrant women conceive of themselves in a process of sociocultural integration. Methodologically, this is a qualitative investigation based on in-depth semi-structured interviews of 60 immigrant women. The interviews were conducted in Galicia (Spain) and include diverse nationalities from Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Following an intersectional approach, the analysis of their responses showed that the value they placed on themselves, their cultures, and/or their languages of origin in a receiving society varied depending on the co-articulation of variables such as class, race, and formal level of education. For example, being the level of education the categorizing variable, participants from the higher-educated (HE) group stressed the importance of bringing attention to their cultural particularities in order to favor immigrants’ integration, whereas those from the lower-educated (LE) group did not see any relationship between the preservation of their cultural background and the process of integration.     

The Effect of Interpersonal Touch During Childhood on Adult Attachment and Depression: A Neglected Area of Family and Developmental Psychology?

Interpersonal touch has been little studied empirically as an indicator of parent- and peer-child intimacy. Undergraduate students (n = 390) were studied using a questionnaire survey regarding the frequencies of interpersonal touch by father, mother, same-sex peers, and opposite-sex peers during preschool ages, grades 1–3, grades 4–6, and grades 7–9, as well as their current attachment style to a romantic partner and current depression. A path model indicated that current depression was influenced significantly by poorer self- and other-images as well as by fewer parental interpersonal touches throughout childhood. Other-image was influenced by early (up to grade 3) parental interpersonal touch. Our findings suggest that a lower frequency of parental touching during childhood influences the development of depression and contributes to a poorer image of an individual’s romantic partner during later adolescence and early adulthood.