Feminist Pioneer: Annette Brodsky Paving the Way

ABSTRACT

Even when the culture imposed stringent limitations on women’s roles, Dr. Annette Brodsky refused to succumb to these restrictions. As one of only a few women in her graduate school cohort, she broke new ground during her pre-doctoral internship, her post-internship military placement, and in her faculty position at the University of Alabama. Her renowned work advocating for and studying the effect of consciousness-raising groups engendered critical scholarship that revealed the harm of therapists’ sexual abuse and facilitated improved ethics and guidelines for psychologists in their work with clients. Dr. Brodsky has served as a pioneering feminist psychologist for several generations of women.     

Feminist Reflections from the Wheat Fields

No abstract available for this article.     

Feminist vs. Nonfeminist Therapy:

No abstract available for this article.     

A systematic review of the effectiveness of psychoanalysis,psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities: progress and challenges

Objectives: This systematic review aimed to critically appraise the literature on the efficacy and effectiveness of psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Method: A systematic search of electronic databases was carried out. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using a quality assessment tool and comparisons were made with a review of the quality of research on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for people with IDD. Results: The search yielded 13 papers which provided evidence for the effectiveness but not efficacy of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy; but none were found for psychoanalysis. The quality of the research was generally poor compared to the current research on the effectiveness of CBT. Conclusions: Positive outcomes have been indicated for psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy with people with IDD. Larger scale, more controlled research is necessary to advance the evidence base.     

精神分析中的主体间性研究

采取主体间性的视角,对精神分析中以治疗关系为核心的工作实践的演变与发展进行探讨。通过研究客体关系学派、拉康精神分析、人际精神分析以及主体间性精神分析在工作实践中的关注焦点与互动形式的差异,探讨患者主体与治疗师主体的主客关系的不同理念的演变,以及语言在主体间互动的重要作用。结论认为在主体间性的视角下,精神分析中的治疗关系与互动向着三个方面发展：治疗关系在根本上是超越的;治疗关系在实践上是双向开放的,是共同参与的;在工作实践中更关注语言诠释的主体以及非语言的互动。

     

Developing Feminist Conversation Analysis: A Response to Wowk

This paper responds to Maria Wowk’s (Human Studies, 30, 131–155, 2007) critique of “Kitzinger’s feminist conversation analysis”, corrects her misrepresentation of it, and rebuts her claim to have cast doubt on whether it is “genuinely identifiable” as conversation analysis (CA). More broadly, it uses Wowk’s critique as a springboard for continuing the development of feminist conversation analysis through: (i) discussion of appropriate methods of data collection and analysis; (ii) clarification of CA’s turn-taking model and an illustrative deployment of it in the analysis of a single case and of a collection (of if/then compound TCUs); (iii) exposition of a feminist CA understanding of “participants’ orientations”, and of the relevance of the distinction between participants’ and analysts’ orientations for feminist work. Finally, I suggest that feminist work in CA makes important contributions to the development of CA as a discipline.

Feminism,Therapy, and Changing the World

ABSTRACT

In this essay, Miriam Greenspan reviews her life’s work as an early pioneer of Feminist Therapy, the influence of her birth in a displaced person’s camp to parents who were Holocaust survivors, and her development as a feminist, social activist, and psychotherapist. She discusses her most influential works, including A New Approach to Women & Therapy (1983 Greenspan, M. (1983). A new approach to women & therapy. New York: McGraw Hill. [Google Scholar], 1993 Greenspan, M. (1993). A new approach to women & therapy (10th anniversary ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. [Google Scholar]) and Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair (2003 Greenspan, M. (2003). Healing through the dark emotions: The wisdom of grief, fear, and despair. Boston: Shambhala. [Google Scholar]). She concludes with a look back at her own spiritual evolution, her assessment of the ultimate contribution of Feminist Therapy to society, the need for a wide model of therapy that incorporates the political and spiritual dimensions of experience, and the challenges that psychology and psychotherapy face in an age of global threat.     

Relational dynamics between psychotherapy clients and clinic administrative staff: A pilot study

Extensive empirical research has established therapeutic alliance as one of the most stable predictors of psychotherapy outcomes. Nearly all the contemporary empirical literature on therapeutic alliance focuses on the therapist-client dyad without attending to the relational experiences many clients in outpatient clinics have with administrative staff. Literatures from the fields of social work, psychiatric nursing and milieu therapy suggest there are more systemic relational and environmental dynamics that impact treatment beyond the therapist-client dyad, although these issues have been considered primarily in inpatient settings. A relational ecology framework has been developed drawing upon relational psychoanalysis, attachment theory and symbolic anthropology to help conceptualise the broader relational dynamics beyond the therapist-client dyad that may impact a more systemic therapeutic alliance in certain outpatient contexts. In an initial cross-sectional pilot study with a sample of clients (N = 107) receiving psychotherapy at a community mental health clinic in the Northeastern United States, the present study found client ratings of both (a) the therapeutic alliance with their therapists and (b) their alliance with administrative staff each significantly positively predicted client ratings of treatment. Thus, ratings of administrative alliance predicted client ratings of treatment over and above the effects of the therapist-client therapeutic alliance. These findings provide preliminary support for further investigation of the relational ecology of outpatient psychotherapy and suggest that client experiences of relational and environmental dynamics with administrative staff may be important contributors to psychotherapy outcomes. Limitations of the present study and implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Thought paralysis: tolerance,and the fear of Islam

In much contemporary public debate, ideas of hate and terror have become synonymous with Islam. It is difficult to talk about how justified these associations might or might not be, as protagonists are readily accused either of Islamaphobia or of a naïve and dangerous tolerance. The paper will critically draw on elements from political theory, group analysis and psychoanalysis to reflect on some of the possible psycho-social reasons and mechanisms behind this impasse. It will be suggested that part of the reason for the thought-impasse is to be found in the way that liberalism has come to be taken up by some influential strands within the multicultural and diversity movements.     

Outsight: Radical Behaviorism and Psychotherapy

Clinical experience suggests that a variety of neurotic and personality disorders are effectively treated by an approach to therapy that is relatively passive in appearance and is directed towards the development of self-knowledge. Behavior theory provides an economical, naturalistic analysis of the therapeutic effects of this approach. Punishment, a common method of controlling forbidden behavior, can result in pathologic avoidance and deficient awareness of one's own behavior and its relation to the environment. Traditional methods of psychoanalysis and behavior therapy provide circumstances that help the patient to observe acts and feelings and their relation to elements of the environment that are otherwise avoided. These procedures may work best when self-observation is (1) not selectively reinforced by the therapist, and (2) supplemented by explicit training in behavior analysis. These elements are combined in a treatment approach for generating observations of one's own behavior and its functional significance in the natural environment.     

Trauma, Regression, and the Intensive Group Experience

Ferenczi contributed a theory of trauma and regression that has application in the contemporary practice of group therapy. This article seeks to present an extension of these seminal ideas in the form of interventions based on therapist induced regression. The Intensive Group Experience (I.G.E.), a time extended group format found to be necessary for extensive emotional reliving and working through of trauma is described. A clinical case example is then discussed in detail and concludes this report.     

神经精神分析学对压抑机制的研究简析

神经精神分析学是一门试图将神经科学与精神分析学结合起来的学科, 作为一个新兴的领域, 在其成立的短短10年中, 已取得了丰硕的研究成果。为精神分析学这拥有一百年历史的学科带来了新的生机。对精神分析的基石——压抑的研究是神经精神分析学的热点。神经科学家试图从不同角度证明精神分析中压抑这一过程确实是存在的, 而且还存在相应的神经基础, 但是, 目前神经精神分析学的研究还存在一些局限。     

A successful trial utilizing the Leuzinger-Bohleber methodology for evaluation of psychoanalytic treatment: Preliminary report

Utilizing audio-recorded psychoanalytic interviews of both patients and their analysts, group discussions of these interviews, and the application of questionnaires commonly used in psychotherapy research, the authors investigate the potential use of the Leuzinger-Bohleber methodology as an objective evaluative instrument to assess the quality of psychoanalytic treatment. Preliminary study results were obtained through interviews conducted with seven analysts and their respective patients, three of whom were treated with psychoanalysis (three or more sessions per week, for a duration of no less than one year) and four with psychotherapy (one or two sessions per week, for a duration of no less than one year). Patients were found to be eager to participate, and no adverse experiences were reported by analysts, patients or the research team. In addition to the interviews, further data were obtained through review of mailed-in questionnaires completed by 21 patients. The authors present both preliminary observations regarding the methodology as a whole, as well as the detailed results of one specifi c case subject treated with psychotherapy. Review of study fi ndings supports the utilization of this methodology as an evaluative instrument which may ultimately advance current knowledge of the process and outcome of psychoanalytic treatment.     

Power and the origins of unhappiness: Working with individuals

Evidence that the ‘ultimate repressed’ in our understanding of emotional distress is power can be gleaned even from Freud's writing. This is a form of repression which community psychology is well placed to lift. Impossible though it is to stand outside the ‘apparatus of power’ (and, therefore to give a complete analysis of it), we cannot achieve an accurate account of the causes of human unhappiness without taking its operations into account as fully as possible. The psychological therapies do have an implicit notion of will power, but this serves only to distract our attention from the external, material nature of power. We have to be careful, moreover, not to ‘psychologize’ power by trying to turn it into an internal attribute to be ‘switched on’ by an essentially mysterious process of ‘empowerment’. We need to specify empirically the types of power that contribute to ‘clinical’ distress and give an account of ‘therapy’ in terms of the powers to which it has access (recognizing also that these are limited).     

Cosmetic Surgery: Feminist Perspectives

Cosmetic surgery is gaining popularity not only in the U.S., but worldwide. The sheer number of procedures being performed makes it seem “normal,” and in the statistical sense it is. Feminist therapists are likely to have clients who are contemplating undergoing one or more of these procedures. Therapists ought to help their clients to understand the motivations underlying a decision to undergo surgery for the sake of improving on nature. In the final analysis, the decision belongs to the woman who may be placing her life at risk to achieve some desired end. The therapist can play a role in helping her to weigh the risks and what will be accomplished in the end.     

Feminist Organizing in Rural Nicaragua: Assessing a Psychosocial Process to Promote Empowered Solidarity

This study examines a psychosocial process linking women's involvement in a grassroots women's organization with skills and experiences to promote empowered solidarity. Empowered solidarity is described as a process of increasing the sense of connection and capacity to create social transformation among a group of people united by interest in addressing a social issue. Data collected and analyzed for this research were 298 quantitative surveys conducted with two groups of women living in rural Nicaragua. One group of women were members of a grassroots feminist organization, and the other group lived in nearby communities where the organization did not offer programs. Findings document higher levels of leadership skills and sense of community, and lower levels of powerlessness among members of the organization. Additionally, tests of a process model using structural equation modeling provides support for a model that links involvement in the organization to women's increased interest in, capacity and experience in working to support women, broadly. Overall findings from this research are valuable to both community psychologists and groups seeking to enhance social justice and uphold feminist values of equity and community well‐being.     

'This is not psychoanalysis': On the stony way of the Danish Psychoanalytical Society

When Freud founded the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), he wanted a network of local groups responsible for psychoanalytic training. The groups would function as ‘headquarters whose business it would be to declare: All this nonsense is nothing to do with analysis; this is not psychoanalysis. Today, with psychoanalytic pluralism, Tuckett (in press) has asked ‘Does anything go? He has pointed out that the psychoanalytic community has been increasingly willing to accept within its ranks apparently very varied approaches to theory and practice, and that this increasing diversity has many negative consequences for psychoanalytic institutions and especially for training schemas. The aim of this paper is to give an example of psychoanalysis that ‘did not go’, and how that led to a shaky start for the new Danish Psychoanalytical Society, with confusing boundary relations between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and no training institute. Beginning with the written psychoanalytical contribution of the three founders of the Danish Society, the paper will try to identify factors that contributed to the ‘shaky start’. The paper will also examine how stones were removed from the path, thus paving the way for the members of the Society to discover ‘competent psychoanalysis’.