A Review of “Relational Competence Theory: Research and Mental Health Applications”

Within the Couple and Family Therapy literature, there are few articles directly linking theory to treatment within the lesbian community. Utilizing contextual theory, the author presents a gay affirmative therapeutic approach to work with lesbian couples. The fundamental concepts of contextual therapy are uniquely suited for work with lesbian clients; particularly the four dimensions of individual psychology, relational ethics, systemic interaction, and facts. A case study is presented to highlight this therapeutic process. This article is one step in a larger systemic change related to the challenge of adapting theoretical methodology and gathering evidence for effective treatment of marginalized groups.     

A Review of: “Brothers and Sisters”

Abstract

Swimming Pool. Directed by François Ozon.     

A Review of: “Todres,L. (2007). Embodied enquiry: Phenomenological touchstones for research,psychotherapy and spirituality.”

In the brief essays that follow, failing narcissistic defenses are associated with two tragic events: the murder of a young woman by her ex-boyfriend that became a national media event, and the portrayal in a major motion picture of the gradual disintegration of a marriage that ended in the wife's death.     

A Review of “The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals”

The program described in the present article focused on service member parents and their teenage children participating in camps together. The scope of the project was to provide an opportunity for military personnel who recently returned from deployment to reconnect with an adolescent after an extended absence due to deployment. The camps used the Campfire Curriculum, which included experiential learning, team-building experiences and nightly campfire programs from the Blue to You curriculum for military families. Open-ended responses from parent participants suggested that time together with their children, interacting with fellow service members and their kids, sharing stories, and opportunities for camaraderie were especially important and meaningful.     

A Review of “Divorce: Causes and Consequences”

Substance abuse affects millions of adults each year, of whom one in five are older adults. Given pervasive stereotypes about later life and the ways in which older persons internalize such messages, dealing with and using previous work on substance abuse, the social breakdown syndrome, and narrative therapy, we describe the importance of and ways for marriage and family therapists to work with older persons facing the compounding experiences of ageism and substance abuse. The purpose of this study was to: 1) identify the prevalence of substance abuse among those 65 and older; 2) document and emphasize the unique challenges of addressing this issue among those 65 and older; and 3) provide an application of the narrative approach to working with older persons presenting with substance abuse.     

A Review of: “Making Sense of Ourselves and Others”

Midpoint ratings of elements on personal constructs have been given various interpretations, and the placement of the ideal self at the midpoint of a construct has been viewed as violating Kelly's (1955) Kelly, G. A. 1955. The psychology of personal constructs, Vol. 2, New York: Norton. Reprinted by Routledge, 1991) [Google Scholar] dichotomy and choice corollaries. This article reports analyses, using a mixed models approach, of repertory grids completed by 80 clients referred to a clinical psychology service at up to five assessment points both pre- and posttherapy. A larger than expected number of ideal self ratings at the midpoint was found, and consideration of the content of several of the constructs concerned elucidated why it might have been that neither pole was preferred. Midpoint ratings of the ideal self increased over the course of therapy and were not associated with depression or anxiety. Midpoint ratings of the ideal self and self now were also related to various structural measures of construing. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

A Review of: “A Limbo of Shards”

The following interview began as a family conversation over the Christmas holidays in 1987 at the home of Jane and Joseph (Jo) Wheelwright on the Hollister Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California. Betty, the Wheelwrights' daughter-in-law and a writer and teacher, was curious about their thoughts on gender differences. With the tape recorder running, they agreed to answer some questions.

The Wheelwrights both worked personally with C. G. Jung and have been Jungian analysts for 50 years. They, with others, founded the C. G. Jung Institute of San Fmncisco in 1943. Dr. Joseph Wheelwright is Emeritus Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco and a former faculty member of the University of California in Berkeley. He has published about 50 articles in various psychological journals in the US. and abroad. Jane Hollister Wheelwright has written about gender issues in Women and Men (San Francisco Jung Institute, 1978) and in For Women Growing Older: The Animus (C. G. Jung Educational Center of Houston, Texas, 1984). She grew up in the wilderness, an experience that has influenced many of her preceptions.     

A Review of “Trauma and Human Existence: Autobiographical,Psychoanalytic and Philosophical Reflections”

Abstract

The author sets out to locate Bion's model of the mind within the developmental history of psychoanalysis, from Freud to Klein to Bion, using biographical material and clinical case examples, to illustrate Bion's concepts of container/contained, his understanding and use of projective identification, his extension of the use of the countertransference, and his differentiation between the psychotic and non-psychotic aspects of the mind. Links, and attacks against linking are discussed, as well as Bion's thoughts about learning versus knowing, being versus becoming and his emphasis on the essential importance of the development of the capacity to think.     

A Review of “Mind to Mind: Infant Research,Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis”

Abstract

This article examines current research pertaining to the relationship between a mother and her children, and how this relationship may affect sibling interactions. Issues such as temperament, gender, and the age gap between children are also explored to ascertain their impact on the sibling relationship.

The displacement of the first-born child and the ensuing sense of loss and anger he may experience as a result of this is explored. The mother's second pregnancy is also discussed in regard to the impact of unresolved issues relating to her own sibling relations. The mother's interactions with each child, her role as a model for identification, and marital relations are discussed in light of their impact on sibling relations.

The evolution of a positive attachment between siblings is explored. Rivalrous behavior between siblings is also discussed, particularly in association to the mother's treatment of her own children and the manner in which the mother deals with her own aggression.     

A Review of: “Editor's Note”

Three components of a self-regulation approach-self instruction, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement-were used in training programs for three hyperactive, disruptive boys. Hyperactive behaviors and academic performance during reading and math were monitored in both clinic and school settings. Self-instructional training did not improve performance in the absence of adult supervision and self-monitoring did not significantly affect responding. A combination of self-monitoring and self-reinforcement techniques, introduced first in the clinic and then in the school environment, resulted in improved levels of academic performance and reciprocal decreases in hyperactive behaviors. The investigation represents an initial step toward teaching hyperactive children the skills necessary for successful self-regulation and improvement of their academic performance in the absence of direct adult surveillance.     

A Review of “Child Anxiety Disorders: A Family-Based Treatment Manual for Practitioners”

This study investigated the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by women and the attachment style of each partner in 20 couples in which the male partner was in therapy for abusive men. Results confirmed the presence of a relationship between IPV and attachment style. Men with an avoidant attachment reported higher physical abuse victimization and higher use of negotiation during conflict, as revealed by their partner. Women with an anxious attachment reported having inflected more injuries and were less likely to use negotiation during conflict, as revealed by their partner. Findings highlight the relational basis of IPV.     

Supervision as oversight: A new era in the history of psychoanalytic practice and training?

Taking its cue from Ekstein's analysis of the history of supervision (1960), this article proposes that there is a new historical era emerging in Britain, a phase that could be characterised as the ‘regulatory phase’. It is argued that in the future the clinical supervisor of psychoanalytic work will be positioned as ‘overseer’, with the consequence that what might be overlooked/not seen in the new regulatory climate is the notion of a psychoanalytically informed practice as a practice of the questioning of knowledge and its effects. Further, it considers how the effect of the proposed regulatory framework for psy-practice in the UK elides the current distinction between ‘practitioner/analyst’ and ‘trainee/candidate’. Thus psychoanalytically informed practitioners are re-positioned as candidates for authorisation as state licensed psy-practitioners. A clinical example, based loosely on Freud's account of his analysis of the young female homosexual, draws attention to the specifics and problematics of the competencies for analytic work and its supervision proposed by the Health Professions Council, Skills for Health and research for University College London, which envisages a future role of supervisors as the overseers of standardised interventions.     

A review of: “Acquiring a concept of mind: A review of psychological research and theory”

Peter Mitchell (1996) Acquiring a Concept of Mind: A Review of Psychological Research and Theory, Basingstoke: Taylor & Francis Psychology Press, $29.95