Controversies and Conflicts in the Institution of "Open" Psychoanalysis: Cases from the History of the Therapeia Foundation

The institution of psychoanalysis has included controversies, dissensions and expulsions at both the theoretical-methodological and personal-organizational levels. There have also been several intra- and intergroup conflicts in the history of psychoanalysis, and in constructing and patterning the future of psychoanalytic knowledge. In the context of Finnish psychoanalysis, the Therapeia Foundation (founded in 1958) met from the start with resistance from official psychiatry and also from the IPA. For example, in the mid-1960s, D. W. Winnicott, as the President of the IPA, supported the orthodox Finnish psychoanalytic study group (later to become the Finnish Psychoanalytical Society), and pronounced that the Therapeia group was too loose and was not strictly able to use the IPA-recognized designation "psychoanalytic." The Therapeia Foundation and its Training Seminar combined classical psychoanalysis and its new versions with existentialphenomenological views, anthropological medicine, research on "social pathology" and even modern theological research. On the basis of their Swiss analytic training, three Finnish psychiatrists, Martti Siirala, Kauko Kaila and Allan Johansson, organized Therapeian training to incorporate sciences and arts, and skills involving the therapeutic "carrying" of burdens. The multifacted nature of open psychoanalysis was seen to find its proper organizational expression when the Training Seminar of the Therapeia Foundation became, in 1974, a Member of the IFPS.     

Cross-cultural Psychoanalysis and the Interpersonal Perspective

From its beginning Interpersonal Psychoanalysis was eminently suited to address theoretical and clinically issues when working with patients from different cultures. The open-ended quality of the detailed inquiry was a particularly useful tool to get to know the "stranger," as American social scientists of the fifties and sixties were quick to acknowledge. It therefore comes as a surprise how few interpersonalists have addressed themselves to cross-cultural issues. Particularly lacking has been attention to countertransferential problems in analyzing patients from other cultures. In addition the impact of the cultural climate on the analytic process itself has rarely been explored. As cross-cultural contacts in the consulting room have become more frequent it is important for analysts to consider that developmental sequences, family relationships, interpersonal distance, concepts of time and openness to emotional sharing may differ from what Western psychoanalysis considers to be "normal."     

Psychoanalysis and Human Values

Psychoanalysis can contribute quite a lot to the question of values and to a theory of ethics. While the first part of this presentation is focused on the impact psychoanalysis continues to exert on present day ethical theory, the second part discusses Erich Fromm's particular approach to psychoanalysis. Fromm was the first to reformulate in his psychoanalytic approach the idea of an ethic of the virtues. With his theory of character (and of social character) he made values an integral part of psychoanalytic theory. Hence, what matters most morally from a psychoanalytic stance is the quality of character orientation. Despite the fact that - in Fromm's own socio-psychoanalytic approach - man's character is the product of adaptation to the environment, morality for him is dictated by economic and social requirements - whatever common sense may tell us to the contrary. For Fromm there is an intrinsic primary tendency to growth in all human beings. Thus, morally good is whatever furthers the growth of our own powers by which we relate to the outside world and to ourselves in a loving, "sane" and creative way. The last section reflects some implications of Fromm's approach to understanding values as an integral part of psychoanalytic theory, and finally discusses whether the search for truth and human values is as obsolete as postmodern thinking claims.     

Psychoanalysis in Psychiatric Institutions - Theoretical and Clinical Approaches

The paper presents historical remarks about psychoanalysis in institutions with a special focus on the contributions of nurses working in psychoanalytic settings. A case report of the forensic psychotherapy ward in Reichenau Mental Hospital, which is organised as a therapeutic community, shows how individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and special nursing care contribute to significant progress in the treatment of a severely narcissistic arsonist.     

Martin Luther in The Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Martin Luther’s influence in the Netherlands has often been overlooked in favour of a focus on the theology of Calvin. However, several historical facts lead us to consider the importance of Luther for the Dutch and the abiding significance of his work. The article examines several of those historical phenomena including the fluid ecclesiastical situation in the Netherlands from the 1520s to 1546, the year of Luther’s death. It also considers the impact which the reception of Luther’s writings had on Dutch society, both directly and in interaction with other theological perspectives. This leads naturally to a consideration of the general importance of Luther’s writings for the Dutch and their church(es). And after a survey of the variations and mutations which Luther’s ideas underwent in the Dutch context, we conclude with a brief survey of Luther’s continuing reception in the Netherlands beyond the sixteenth century.     

Governing the grapevine: the study of rumor during World War II

Throughout the early 1940s, a host of rumors relating to the Second World War began to circulate, leading the government to establish various committees and undertake multiple projects intended to counteract rumors that were believed to threaten civilian morale and compromise national security. Simultaneously, social scientists also began taking measures to study and combat rumor. Such efforts included the institution of several community groups, deemed "rumor clinics," that aimed to decrease the prevalence of wartime rumor by educating the general public. This article outlines the rise and fall of rumor clinics, focusing specifically on the shifting boundaries and the mounting tensions between the United States government and social scientists in the study of rumor during World War II.     

Emotional suppression and well‐being in immigrants and majority group members in the Netherlands

We were interested in interethnic differences in emotional suppression. We propose a model in which suppression of specific emotional experiences (suppressive behaviours during interactions with others) mediates the relationship between emotional suppression tendency (intention to suppress emotions) and well‐being, operationalised as mood disturbance, life dissatisfaction and depressive and physical symptoms. The sample consisted of 427 majority group members and 344 non‐Western and 465 Western immigrants in the Netherlands. Non‐Western immigrants scored higher on emotional suppression tendency and lower on well‐being than the other groups. We did not find interethnic differences in suppression of specific emotional experiences. The full mediation model was supported in all groups. Interethnic differences in well‐being could not be accounted for by differences in emotional suppression.     

Disbelief and Trust in Psychoanalysis - A Case Study

A case of unorthodox psychoanalysis with a 27-year-old woman, during the years 1994-1998 is presented. The patient, Silja, suffered from severe character neurosis with depression. She studied humanities at the University of Helsinki with poor results, because of severe inner demands of perfection. The therapy was unorthodox, because it was necessary to change the method a few times. After two years of psychoanalysis, a life-threatening crisis occurred in 1996, and I was obliged to take a more active role and even give direct advice concerning her studies. This was successful, and she could achieve her B.A., the lower university degree. The change of method was necessary to avoid suicide. In the end we could resume psychoanalysis and analyse what had happened. Suddenly in the summer of 1998 Silja's depression disappeared and her looks improved. Therapy ended in November 1998, when she was ready to try on her own. According to her both the holding and love and also the direct advice were the most important elements in her cure. After a three years' follow-up her condition had further improved, she was married, had a job and was expecting a baby.     

Childhood IQ and in-service mortality in Scottish Army personnel during World War II

The Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (SMS1932) provides a record of intelligence test scores for almost a complete year-of-birth group of children born in 1921. By linking UK Army personnel records, the Scottish National War Memorial data, and the SMS1932 dataset it was possible to examine the effect of childhood intelligence scores on wartime military service mortality in males. There were 491 matches between World War II (WWII) Scottish Army fatalities and the SMS1932 database; 470 (96%) had an age 11 mental ability score recorded. The mean (S.D.) age 11 IQ score of those who died on active service in WWII was 100.78 (15.56), compared with 97.42 (14.87) for male Army survivors (p < 0.0001; Cohen's d = 0.22). Men who took part in the SMS1932 and who were not found in the Army database had a higher mean score (100.45, S.D. =14.97) than those men who had been in the Army, regardless of whether they died or survived (mean IQ = 97.66, S.D. = 14.94; p < 0.0001; Cohen's d = 0.19). Male soldiers with a higher childhood IQ had a slightly increased risk of dying during active service in WWII. Men who did not join the Army had a higher IQ than men who did. Further research in this area should consider naval and air force personnel records in order to examine more fully the complex relationship between IQ and survival expectancy during active service in WWII.     

Child Care in The Netherlands: Trends in Quality Over the Years 1995-2005

The authors assessed the quality of child care in a representative national sample of 42 child-care centers in the Netherlands and compared it with the quality of care that researchers have found using similar samples in 1995 (M. H. van IJzendoorn, L. W. C. Tavecchio, G. J. J. M. Stams, M. J. E. Verhoeven, & E. J. Reiling, 1998) and 2001 (M. J. J. M. Gevers Deynoot-Schaub & J. M. A. Riksen-Walraven, 2005). In the present study, results showed a low level of overall process quality for the 2005 sample, measured by the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (T. Harms, D. Cryer, & R. M. Clifford, 2003) and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (T. Harms, R. M. Clifford, & D. Cryer, 1998). The present authors found a significant decline in process quality in comparison with the 1995 and 2001 findings. They concluded that, from an international perspective, the Netherlands has lost its leading position in child-care quality compared with that from 10 years ago.     

Why God Has Left the Netherlands: Explanations for the Decline of Institutional Christianity in the Netherlands Between 1966 and 2015

Why has the Netherlands witnessed such a strong process of secularization? This article examines this process very extensively. Based on modernization theory, it follows several social cultural developments in Dutch society over the last 50 years and distinguishes between effects on the individual level as well as on the level of society. We are able to do so because of rich data availability, derived from micro‐level longitudinal surveys (God in the Netherlands, Social and Cultural Developments in the Netherlands) enriched with macro‐level statistics (Statistics Netherlands). With this integrated approach, we provide explanatory insights into the transition of the Netherlands from a predominant Christian nation to a predominant secular nation. Our analysis clearly shows that macro‐level educational expansion has affected this process of secularization in the Netherlands, supplemented with the increase in social security, as a so‐called cohort effect. Moreover, the long‐term effect of Christian socialization is waning; Dutch people who were raised in a religious way increasingly lapse later in their life.     

西方四种心理学流派近19年在中国的发展

本文通过对 1 980～ 1 998年间 6种“核心”心理学期刊所发表论文题目的关键词、参考文献引用杂志的分析 ,对认知心理学、行为主义、精神分析和神经科学四种心理学流派在中国的发展做了研究 ,得出以下结果 :(1 )认知心理学研究论文的数量快速增长 ,神经科学领域的研究略有增加 ;(2 )四学派在中国受重视的程度依次为认知心理学、神经科学研究、行为主义、精神分析 ;(3 )精神分析和行为主义的研究极少。     

War stress and late-life mortality in World War II male civilian resistance veterans

The mental and physical health of 146 Dutch males exposed to severe war stress during their young adulthood were examined in 1986-1987 when they were at ages 61 to 66 years. The veterans' data were compared with a randomly selected population-based sample of same-aged males. In 2005, 70% of the war stress veterans had died, and only 35% of the comparison group. The baseline quality of life was significantly poorer in the war stress veterans than in the comparison group. Baseline variables explained 42% of the increased risk of mortality among war stress veterans. Smoking was the largest single contributor to mortality.     

Polish historians and Marxism after World War II

Born 20 September 1928, professor at the Adam Mickiewicz University at Poznan, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. His speciality is European History of the early modern period, methodology and theory of history, and history of historical and political thought. He is the author of numerous books of which the most recent is Freedom and Coercion in the Creation of History (in Polish) 1990.     

On Impediments to the Process of Individuation

A clinical case is presented at length with a view to understanding how the healthy fear of incest, which favours the process of individuation, may come into conflict with the fear of leaving childhood and becoming adult. Among the consequences of this conflict is a sort of paralysis or impediment to living which may be converted into hate. The inquiry mainly regards anxiety, fear, hate and aggression as factors which conspire in holding an individual back from his path in life. The affects are taken into consideration in accordance with Fromm's theory of aggression and his ''syndrome of decay'' diagnostic scheme, which results from the confluence and interaction of incestuous symbiosis, narcissism and destructiveness. Emphasis is placed on mechanisms of repression and splitting of hate not employed in aggression. Repressed and split hate may sustain para-hallucinatory symptoms and produce terror. This view offers an explanation of the perturbing symptomatology that afflicted the patient presented here and also shows the power of hate as a bond, as concomitant cause of the mother fixation and as obstacle to the process of individuation.