Critique of “the dream in group therapy: A reappraisal of unconscious processes in groups” by Peter J. Schlachet,Ph.D.

This commentary is on an article published inGROUP,16(4), 1992.     

Discussion of “On Deconstructive Interventions” by R. M. Billow

This discussion challenges the importation of ideas from other disciplines such as philosophy to group psychotherapy. I do not suggest that there should be no engagement with these other domains; inevitably, it does occur. Rather, I am suggesting that such theoretical support may not necessarily add to our practical as well as our theoretical knowledge and should therefore be used only when ideas from within our own field do not suffice.     

Discussion of “time and timekeeping in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy”

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Discussion of “Nuturance and self-sabotage: Psychoanalytic perspectives on women's fear of success” by Ellen G. Ruderman

Abstract

Ruderman discusses the challenge that contemporary professional women still face in a sexist society and from their own inner critic. She shows how a relational approach to the treatment of women can empower women to overcome both external and internalized sexism. It is suggested that as patriarchy has been challenged, there has been a backlash against feminism. Urban professional men rebel against feminism by aspiring to become playboys who will never stop “playing the field.” The playboy mentality creates a challenge for contemporary professional women who may not wish their boyfriends or husbands to be spending so much time seeking sexual gratification through Internet pornography, lap dances at strip clubs, massages with happy endings, or clandestine affairs.

Lawrence Josephs. Diskussion von: ….

Rudermann diskutiert die Herausforderungen, denen heutige Frauen im Berufsleben begegnen. Einerseits haben sie in einer sexistischen Gesellschaft und andererseits gegenüber ihrer innerpsychischen Selbstkritik zu bestehen. Sie zeigt, wie eine psychotherapeutische Behandlung mit einem relationalen Ansatz, der externe und internalisierte Sexismus überwunden werden kann. Der Gedanke wird angeregt, inwiefern die Infragestellung der patriarchalen Gesellschaft eine Gegenbewegung auslöst, die auf den Feminismus zurückschlägt. Die berufstätigen Männer rebellieren gegen den Feminismus und haben den Ehrgeiz Playboys zu sein, die nicht aufhören können, das Feld zu beackern. Diese Playboy Mentalität ist eine Herausforderung für die heutigen berufstätigen Frauen. Sie sind nicht gewillt zuzulassen, dass ihr Freund oder Ehemann sich sexuelle Gratifikationen durch Internet-Pornographie, Nachtclubbesuche, Massagen und heimliche Affären beschafft.

Lawrence Josephs. Discusión de: Crianza y autosabotage: Perspectivas psicoanalíticas sobre el miedo al éxito en mujeres por

Ruderman discute el reto que las mujeres profesionales contemporáneas todavía enfrentan en una sociedad sexista y desde su propia crítica interna. Ella muestra como una aproximación relacional de tratamiento para mujeres puede fortalecer a la mujer para vencer el sexismo tanto externo como interiorizado. Se sugiere que así como el patriarcado ha sido cuestionado, existe un retroceso contra el feminismo. Hombres urbanos profesionistas se rebelan contra el feminismo aspirando a convertirse en playboys que nunca dejaran de jugar en ese campo. La mentalidad playboy representa un reto para las mujeres profesionistas contemporáneas quienes pueden no desear que sus novios o maridos, Dediquen tanto tiempo buscando gratificación sexual a través de la pornografía en internet, bailes en clubs de striptease, masajes con final feliz, o asuntos clandestinos.     

The “idealized individual” interpretation of individual differences in multidimensional scaling

It is shown that several variants of the Tucker-Messick points of view procedure are interpretable in terms of their idealized individual concepts. It is contended that the main function of the method is that it allows the computation ofseveral vectors of mean judgments instead of only one and that each of these may be used to stand for the actual judgments of a subgroup of subjects. Vectors that do not correspond to the judgments of any subjects are to be avoided. It is alleged that Ross's interpretation of points of view is quite different from that intended by Tucker and Messick.The preparation of this paper was supported in part by Contract Nonr-228(32) between the Office of Navel Research and the University of Southern California.     

Witnessing and Passing. Discussion of Prince's “The Self in Pain: The Paradox of Memory. The Paradox of Testimony”

The author indicates that she has two voices. One voice speaks to the patient's loneliness and detachment and her expectation to not be seen, believed, or acknowledged. This voice, housing the knowledge that events that remain unprocessed continue to have an impact, wants Dr. Prince to risk intrusion and preemption. This voice believes that it is worth it. The author's other voice considers bottomless wounds and speaks to the patient's need to build up healthy aspects of personality that is necessary to do the holocaust work. This voice holds that this is not the time for Dr. Prince to witness what happened to the patient, what the perpetrators of massive crimes did to her or what the onlookers saw and chose not to do. This voice says that the patients lead should be followed. The author elaborates on her two voices and indicates what she would have done had she been working with the patient.     

Discussion of “Hysteria and Humiliation”: Commentary on Paper by Sam Gerson

This commentary describes certain differences in how Relational and Contemporary Freudian analysts approach both the conceptual dynamics of hysterical functioning and its clinical management. The discussion shows how, despite considerable agreement between these two groups concerning the critical importance of a receptive other for the successful buildup of virtually every aspect of mental life (not to be confused with the concept of co-creation), they also have quite substantial differences; differences that are rooted in contrasting basic assumptions about the ways in which fantasies, unconscious transference displacements, and self-regulating repetitive processes are set up in the mind. The discussion also illustrates how the clinical management of hysteria differs considerably depending on whether what is taking place in the consulting room is conceived of as an autonomous, repetitive process that the patient brings to the treatment and repeats (one way or another) over and over again, or whether it is conceived of as co-created, belonging to the minds of both persons in the room, even if not in equal measure or equal ways.     

Comparison of “rap” groups with traditional group therapy in the treatment of Vietnam combat veterans

An estimated 500,000–700,000 veterans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder characterized by mental flashbacks of the war, recurrent dreams of the trauma, repetitive, intrusive thoughts of the war, irritability, generalized anxiety and difficulty relating to others. For many years, these individuals went undiagnosed and, except for rap groups, untreated. The rap groups were formed to talk about the war in a general debriefing process during the early 1970s. Rap groups failed to focus on the individual pathology, but, instead, provided a forum to refashion value and meaning in the veterans' lives. Recently, more traditional forms of group therapy have been used to help treat individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder secondary to the Vietnam war. This paper discusses the unique features of traditional group therapy with Vietnam veterans.     

Another view of “we”: Majority and minority group perspectives on a common ingroup identity

Drawing on the evidence of the role of social categorisation and identity in the development and maintenance of intergroup biases, research on the Common Ingroup Identity Model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000 Gaertner, S. L. and Dovidio, J. F. 2000. Reducing intergroup bias: The Common Ingroup Identity Model, Philadelphia, PA: The Psychology Press.  [Google Scholar]) has investigated how modifying the ways that the self and others are categorised can reduce prejudice and discrimination. In this article, we review more recent research that extends our initial formulation of the model by considering more fully alternative forms of recategorisation (a dual identity as well as a one-group representation), the different preferences of majority and minority groups for these different forms of recategorised representations, and the potential implications of these different preferences on the content of intergroup interaction and on the possibilities for social change towards equality.     

Discussion of “Bread and Roses: Empathy and Recognition”

Rachel Kabasakalian McKay’s (this issue) important contribution focuses on a comparison of “empathy” and “recognition.” In her paper, McKay compares the sensibility of responsive attunement that she associates with empathy to the sensibility of distinctiveness that she connects to recognition. This discussion takes up this comparison of empathy and recognition associated with their embeddedness in self-psychology in contrast to relational and intersubjectivity theories. In the author’s view, the essential tension between autonomy and at-one-ness is necessary to both empathy and recognition and should not be split between them. Because recognition is Benjamin’s fundamental idea, the foundation of intersubjective recognition theory, it is incumbent on us to develop and elaborate the precise technical meanings, denotations, and connotations of this term, along with its clinical and social implications. The author believes that the key to this project is to see that, for Benjamin, recognition occurs throughout life across developmental levels and thus actually refers to quite different, although deeply related, phenomena.     

Discussion of “The Therapeutics of the Fee in Psychoanalysis”

This discussion of Dr. Pauley’s paper (this issue) on the therapeutics of the fee first highlights the various valuable contributions Pauley makes. It applauds his unusual openness in sharing his internal vulnerability with patients around fees, his raising the question about why fee setting is so complicated for analysts and patients alike, his focusing on omnipotent fantasies in the transference and countertransference, and his uncovering of the multiple meanings money has for therapists beyond just their income. Berger picks up on Pauley’s invitation to therapists to be more curious about their own discomforts with money. Drawing on her own teaching, writing and clinical experience, she adds to Pauley’s more global ideas, stressing instead the more specific meaning of money in each treatment dyad. Among these specifics, Berger highlights the chronic avoidance of teaching about money in analytic institutes. She clarifies some Freudian ideas about how money can become tied up with anal witholding, and offers examples of how she got stuck with three patients around setting and raising their fees. Berger describes how these patients’ believed that their fees could mean safety, value or exploitation and how these attribuitions generated countertransference blind spots for her. The discussion urges clinicians to keep digging hard into themselves for the many meanings of money, to pay attention to the devil in their own details, and thereby maximize the richness of their work with patients around a topic so loaded for all of us.     

Commentary on “Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy” by Tracey Moffatt and Discussion of “States of Exile and Marginalization” by Gillian Straker

This is an excerpt of the work that I presented in Sydney last May at the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Conference “From the Margins to the Centre: Contemporary Relational Perspectives” in my capacity as discussant of Gill Straker’s work, which included the viewing of the film Night Cries by Tracey Moffatt. I focused on the relationships that are characterized by abuse of power, by inequalities that define interpersonal relationships, and by the type of trauma that ensues from them and on the ways and possibilities to find a way out, a method to reconcile with the victims.