Counselling the HIV ‘affected’ individual: A case study

The literature on HIV disease has largely centred on the virus' biological, psychological and social impact on the infected individual. There is, however, an increasing recognition of the impact of this virus and the extent to which it reaches beyond the infected person and affects partners, families, fiend and carers. This focus, from a family systems perspective, on the impact of illness (Rolland, 1994) and death (Walsh & McGoldrick, 1991), attempts to give attention to both the immediate and long tern effects on nuclear and extended family members, whilst the work of Bor, Miller & Goldman (1992) specifically offers a family systems approach to psychotherapy for people affected by HIV. The following case is an illustration of the complex and challenging issues encountered in working with an affected family member and the way in which “a range of feelings depending on the unique meaning of the releationship and its loss for each member and the implications of the death for the family unit” is experienced (Walsh & McGoldrick, 1991).     

Can imaginal exposure reduce intrusive memories in depression? A case study

The presence of intrusive memories as an overlapping feature of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) raises the possibility that common therapeutic approaches may be effective. Imaginal exposure (IE) is the gold-standard treatment for PTSD and directly reduces both PTSD and depression symptoms in traumatized individuals. The objective of this pilot study was to use a single-case design to trial the use of IE to target intrusive memories of a negative life event as a treatment for major depression. The participant was experiencing depression after a relationship breakup. Pre-posttreatment measures (clinical interview and self-report) showed a decrease in frequency of intrusive memories and improved mood, such that the participant no longer met diagnostic criteria for major depression at posttreatment or at 6-month follow-up. This case is an important first step in demonstrating the possible value of IE as an inclusion in therapy to reduce intrusive memories in patients whose depressive episode is precipitated by a stressor. Further application of IE to additional depressed clients in the context of a case series is needed to provide preliminary evidence of its efficacy as a treatment for depressive disorders.     

A case against behavior modification in the ‘ordinary’ classroom

It is argued that while behavior modification techniques have proved tremendously valuable in the teaching of problem learners, there are good grounds for resisting the use of these same procedures on a casual basis with normal children in ordinary classrooms. Aside from questioning the necessity of setting up a behavioral classroom for the majority of children, it is pointed out that (a) powerful reinforcers can limit the range of behaviors in which a child will engage, and (b) in some circumstances extrinsic rewards may undermine a child's willingness to become involved in some activities.     

The snake in the mandala: dialogical aspects of Jung’s ‘A study in the process of individuation’

Jung’s study centres on the amplification of pictures painted by a woman patient and posits their sequence as evincing the initial stages of the individuation process. His text performs a dialogue with its audience whereby Jung persuades us of this truth, and also reveals Jung’s dialogue with his patient and with his own ideas. The present paper revisits the clinical material first with a focus on the interaction between Jung and his patient. The second part compares the 1940 and 1950 versions of Jung’s study with attention to tensions that traverse them, such as Jung’s attitude to the animus and his two voices as a practitioner and a theorist.     

Floating food: Eating ‘Asia’ in kitchens of the diaspora

This article borrows fragments of memory to chart a drifting course towards an imagined ‘other’ of ‘Asia’, produced and consumed in the kitchens of the west and available for diasporic digestion. Specifically, the argument focuses on micro-narratives of ‘Asian’ food, with these emerging here during an interview on food and transnationalism, conducted while the interviewer and household members eat together in the intimacy of a North London kitchen. Specifically, the analysis reflects on these narratives, tracing some of their curious and disturbing nuances. The ‘oddness’ of such stories (identity's capacity to ‘float’ while ‘grounded’), in turn, is used to question the figure of the consuming cosmopolitan (and its necessary ‘other’) that haunts cultural and culinary analyses. Meanwhile, everyday practices of ‘eating back’ at ‘Asia’ in order to feel ‘at home’ become resonant resources not only for identity's place-making but also for imagining a different politics of eating. Furthermore, the narrative richness of everyday interactions between strangers and familiars in the kitchen points to less usual, and perhaps more productive, ways of understanding the complexities of diasporic place-making.     

Serendipity? Are there gender differences in the adoption of computers? A case study

In a study of the effect of learning styles of patent examiners on adoption of computers, there was an important serendipitous finding: women showed a greater propensity to adopt than did men. Moreover, within the sample of women covered in the study, adoption of the computer related to a preference for abstract thinking, scientific education, and effective use of training. No such relationships were found within the group of men. Women were more encouraging to others than men but less assertive in assisting others to learn how to use the computer, implying that the socialization of men and women affects their behavior. The data also suggest that there are important implications of these findings for programs intended to train men and women to use the computer. This paper speculates on the reasons for and implications of these findings.     

Are religious ‘nones’ secular? The case of the nones in Australia

The number of people with no religious affiliation (religious ‘nones’) is growing in the west. However, little is known about the religiosity – or non-religiosity – of these people. Using representative survey data, this report examines the levels of religious belief and practice among Australian religious nones and compares this with those who identify with a religion. It is found that there is a deep congruence with no religious affiliation and other ways of being considered non-religious.     

“‘Ninja’ levels of focus”: Therapeutic holding environments and the affective atmospheres of telepsychology during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis in Australia led to a rapid increase in the use of telehealth services to offer psychological therapy (often referred to as ‘telepsychology’). In this article, we discuss the intersection of the social psychology concepts of therapeutic holding spaces and containment with more-than-human theory as it relates to Australia's mental health sector during the COVID-19 crisis. Drawing on our recent qualitative survey research into Australian psychologists' use of telepsychology during the crisis, we consider the ways that they worked to build and maintain therapeutic holding spaces and alliances over teleconferencing platforms during this extraordinary time of social crisis and isolation. We explore and contextualise three important findings from our study: 1) the limited viewing area of a flat screen makes it difficult for therapists to read and respond to their client's body language and requires different forms of returned bodily gestures in order to show empathy; 2) most respondents implemented different affective and relational strategies online to ensure they were not missing important non-verbal cues from their clients; and 3) the traditionally ‘safe’ therapeutic holding space created in face-to-face therapy can be easily subverted by client-end interruptions, and concerns around safety or personal privacy in the client's home environment. In bringing these issues to the fore, we highlight the online therapeutic holding space as a temporally and socially situated human-technological assemblage in which a series of affective, spatial, relational and sense-making agencies coverage, opening or closing off capacities for therapists and their clients.     

Can mindfulness modify your thoughts? A study in the context of social phobia

IntroductionSocial phobia is said to be the commonest anxiety disorder (Furmark, 2002). Cognitive Behavior Therapy appears to be the most recommended form of psychological treatment for this condition (Federoff & Taylor, 2001; Willutzki et al., 2012). Dismantling studies have raised doubts regarding the utility of cognitive restructuring in bringing about decrease in symptoms (Barrera et al., 2016; Pompoli et al., 2018). Mindfulness, a ‘third-wave’ concept, seems to contradict the philosophy of ‘restructuring’ with its apparent stress on non-judgmental observation (Hayes, 2004). This approach postulates that acceptance of cognitions and emotions as therapeutic in contrast to traditional cognitive behavior therapy approach, which advocates restructuring and modifications of cognitions.ObjectiveThe current study attempted to study the ‘restructuring’ effects of mindfulness in persons with social phobia.MethodThirty-nine clients with a primary diagnosis of social phobia (ICD – 10) participated in the Mindfulness Integrated Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MICBT) program, which consisted of eight sessions. MINI International Neuropsychiatry Interview Plus, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation, Meta Cognitions Questionnaire and Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire were administered pre and post of the therapeutic program.ResultsThe results demonstrated that MICBT had a significant effect on reducing the scores on fear of negative evaluation and bringing about changes in metacognitions.ConclusionMindfulness could be sufficient as a therapeutic strategy to bring about changes in the cognitions of clients with social phobia without using cognitive restructuring.     

Religious news and controversies in Central Asia: a case study of a Western ‘Christian Initiative’ news service

Abstract

Religion, politics and public policy are tightly interwoven in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, where regimes tightly control religion and domestic and foreign media. This case study examines how one Christian-oriented western news organisation, Forum 18, covers religion-related news. It finds that religious-affiliated news sources are cited more frequently and more prominently than official sources, that Forum 18 stories cover Christian more often than non-Christian religious groups, and that discrete events are covered more often than broad policy or issues.     

A case study of ‘The Good School:’ Examples of the use of Peterson’s strengths-based approach with students

This applied case study centers on two aspects of Peterson’s research as introduced into a large K-12 school in Australia: (i) creating enabling institutions and (ii) applications of character strengths. The paper describes five character strengths initiatives. Four of the strengths initiatives have been integrated into existing school experiences such as English curriculum, school sport, student leadership, and counseling. The fifth initiative involved a brand new program which introduced a Positive Education Curriculum for years?K-10. We describe these five initiatives and then explain how students at the school may experience these in a more holistic and integrated way. We hope that this article will act as a fitting tribute to the legacy of Christopher Peterson.     

The professionalization of counselling: A coherent ‘case against’?

In this paper I am concerned with the relevance and significance of Richard Mowbray's recent book The Case Against Psychotherapy Registration for the broad field of counselling. Specifically, I focus on two of the taken-for-granted assumptions underpinning the ‘conventional wisdom’ of professionalization: namely, (1) the view that stricter controls are necessary to protect the public from incompetent or unscrupulous practitioners; and (2) that it is possible to generate or even guarantee competent practice in this field via training and formal top-down accreditation and registration procedures. The client-protection and practitioner-competence arguments are perhaps the two most powerful reasons cited in support of current professionalizing developments; yet if, as I attempt to illustrate, it can be shown logically and evidentially that the respective rationales underpinning these two positions are based on inadequate and erroneous reasoning, then the whole raison d'ětre for professionalization is at the very least thrown into severe doubt. I conclude with a plea for a full engagement with the emotional dynamics of the professionalization process by all those—both pro and anti—who are implicated in it.     

What makes a saint? A Lincoln case study in the communion of the local and the universal Church

Within the curtilage of Lincoln Cathedral lie buried the remains of three very different people to whom sainthood has been attributed: Saint Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln (d.1200); 'Little Saint Hugh' (d.1255), a child maliciously alleged to have been murdered by the local Jewish community; and Edward King (d.1910), Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Hugh is a saint of the Catholic Church, commemorated by Catholics and Anglicans; 'Little Saint Hugh' was for a short while acclaimed by local people as a saint but never officially recognised as one; Edward King is commemorated by Anglicans but not formally recognised as a saint. The marked difference of approach to the attribution of sainthood between local Christians and Catholic Church authorities, as well as between Catholics and Anglicans, is illustrated by this case study, which raises important ecumenical questions: 'What makes a saint?’, ‘How are non-Catholics to regard the Roman Catholic procedure for beatification and canonisation?’, ‘To what extent can there be fully ecumenical calendars of local saints?’, ‘Does beatification offer a way forward by which Catholics may recognise the holiness of non-Catholic Christians?’     

What is an extinction burst?: A case study in the analysis of transitional behavior

Among the tactics of experimental science discussed by Sidman (1960) were those used to study transitional behavior. Drawing from his insights, this review considers an often cited but infrequently analyzed aspect of the transition from reinforcement to extinction: the extinction burst. In particular, the review seeks to answer the question posed in its title. The generic definition of an extinction burst as an increase in response rate following the onset of extinction is found to be wanting, raising more questions than it answers. Because questions of definition in science usually come down to those of measurement, the answer to the title's question is suggested to be found in how behavior prior to extinction is maintained and measured, when and how extinction is introduced, and where in time and how behavior early in extinction is measured. This analysis suggests that a single, uniform, and precise definition of the extinction burst is misguided. Examining how each of these facets contributes to what has been described generically as the extinction burst is a small, but important, part of Sidman's methodological legacy to the experimental analysis of behavior.     

The closer the relationship, the more the interaction on facebook? Investigating the case of Taiwan users

This study argues for the necessity of applying offline contexts to social networking site research and the importance of distinguishing the relationship types of users' counterparts when studying Facebook users' behaviors. In an attempt to examine the relationship among users' behaviors, their counterparts' relationship types, and the users' perceived acquaintanceships after using Facebook, this study first investigated users' frequently used tools when interacting with different types of friends. Users tended to use less time- and effort-consuming and less privacy-concerned tools with newly acquired friends. This study further examined users' behaviors in terms of their closeness and intimacy and their perceived acquaintanceships toward four different types of friends. The study found that users gained more perceived acquaintanceships from less close friends with whom users have more frequent interaction but less intimate behaviors. As for closer friends, users tended to use more intimate activities to interact with them. However, these activities did not necessarily occur more frequently than the activities they employed with their less close friends. It was found that perceived acquaintanceships with closer friends were significantly lower than those with less close friends. This implies that Facebook is a mechanism for new friends, rather than close friends, to become more acquainted.     

Uncovering and managing unconscious ways of ‘looking’: A case study of researching educational care

Abstract

In this paper the author argues for the importance of those working as counsellors with children and adolescents to have specialist training. She outlines the need for many more properly trained counsellors to be available to children, and emphasizes the need for them to have detailed knowledge of children's emotional development. The argument is throughout illustrated with clinical examples. She draws attention to the differences between working with children and adolescents as opposed to adults, with an exploration of the special skills that need to be developed if working with younger clients. Reference is made to the differences in the contract and the thinking about the family. She explores the importance of including in a specialist training infant observation and the consideration of group and institutional dynamics.     

Humour and the super-ego: A case study of Paul Muldoon’s poetry

This article focuses on the workings of ‘humour’, a phenomenon that is often neglected in Freudian readings of literature, and also (perhaps relatedly) in the analysis of work with patients. Challenging views that the details of humour are best left uninterpreted, it explores how they can provide a mode of access to what is important. In particular, it focuses on the idea of Galgenhumor (literally ‘gallows humour’) in Northern Irish verse. The Ulster poet Paul Muldoon provides a ‘case study’ of someone using considerable humour while facing political atrocities. I aim to show that Muldoon can be viewed as a useful chronicler of ‘the Troubles’ and that a Freudian view of his humour can help readers to appreciate his significance. The method of the article is to interpret some of Muldoon’s verse by applying Freudian theory, working on the basis that poetry can sometimes achieve its effects in ways that are obscured to both the reader and the poet. I have not set out to psychoanalyze Paul Muldoon through a reading of his poems, but rather to stage a discussion of ways that humour can work, making use of Freud’s theories about the unconscious, especially his writings on humour. I examine how humour can create an outlet for affect while simultaneously assisting its repression, and also how it can leave memorable traces of traumatic experience, making it easier for the experience to become available for retrospective examination and exploration.     

Collective memory in the making of religious change: the case of ‘emerging Jews’ followers of Jesus

This study explores a facet of the construction of a new worldwide religious tradition that fuses the beliefs, rituals, and identity claims of both Judaism and Christianity. The Brazilian ‘Messianic Anussim’ comprise former Charismatic Evangelicals that adhere to a variety of Jewish practices. Unlike Messianic Judaism, where Jewish-born people identify themselves as believers in Jesus, or Christian Zionism, where Evangelicals emphasise the eschatological importance of the Jews and Israel this particular community maintains the veneration of Jesus and calls for a purification of Charismatic Evangelicalism while observing Jewish laws. Their calls for a ‘pious restoration’ are guided by a recovered Jewish identity that is inspired by the historical figure of the Bnei Anussim. Based on ethnographic research conducted between 2013 and 2015, this study explores the formation of a new hybrid religious group.     

Racial and cultural in-betweenness meet in the consulting room: the case of ‘Anna’

An upper-middle-class black woman, who grew up adapting to a white-dominated environment, entered the consulting room of a multicultural ‘white-passing’ analyst, and here unique emotional experiences were reflected in dream images of racial disorganization, internal racism, and identity confusion. While sorting through the analysand’s internal dynamics, the external world erupted in May 2020 with the murder of George Floyd, catapulting both analysand and analyst (and the nation) into a transformative confrontation with their mutual, deep-seated woundings of American racial and cultural inequities. The analysand’s racial complexity directly impacted the analyst’s ‘white-passing’ privilege, bringing into question established classifications of American whiteness. Overlapping dynamics and experiences as ‘in-betweeners’ and ‘outsiders’ – a black woman subsumed by a white-dominated society and an immigrant refugee acculturated to American life – provided a common exilic ground for mutual understanding and mirroring. The analyst explores the racial and multicultural straddling that served as a lens into the analysand’s fragmented racial identity during the eruption of American racial unrest.