Harriet Lerner: A Feminist Voice From the Wheat Fields

ABSTRACT

Harriet Lerner, a Menninger-trained psychologist, has published widely in scholarly journals and for a general audience. Her twelve books include The New York Times bestseller, The Dance of Anger, and she blogs for Psychology Today. In this chapter, she shares her personal and professional evolution as a feminist theorist, psychotherapist, and writer.     

Monism and individuation in Anne Conway as a critique of Spinoza

ABSTRACT

In chapter IX of the Principles, Anne Conway claims that her metaphysics is diametrically opposed to those of Descartes and Spinoza. Scholars have analyzed her rejection of Cartesianism, but not her critique of Spinoza. This paper proposes that two central points of Conway’s metaphysics can be understood as direct responses to Spinoza: (1) the relation between God, Christ, and the creatures in the tripartite division of being, and (2) the individuation of beings in the lowest species. I will argue that Conway, in criticizing Spinoza’s identification between God and nature, defends a paradoxical monism, and that her concept of individuation is a reductio ad absurdum of Spinoza’s criterion of identity in the individuation of finite modes.     

Safety Planning Based on Lethality Assessment for Partners of Batterers in Intervention Programs

Summary

This chapter outlines a process of individualized safety planning with the partners of batterers in intervention programs that is based on the principles of empowerment and autonomy, and takes into account the context of the woman's situation. Assessing context is operationalized as considering the potential lethality of the situation from her partner, her relationship and emotional status, available resources, and her children. The safety planning process is described as an opportunity for the abused woman to gain information in order to strategize her responses. It is also a way for the program staff to gain more accurate information about the batterer's level of violence and dan-gerousness, and to work with women to enhance retention of abusers in the program.     

An Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Intervention

SUMMARY

In this chapter, I examine the specific problem Betty had with her children because, in many ways, it represents the problems most of the volunteers had with their children. Her problem was the most extreme among the participants, and she involved the other volunteers in helping her look for a solution. The vignette that follows comes from my field logs, and it is followed with a layered response from Betty's peers. The vignette offers a close look at Betty's problems with her daughters and the dilemma she experienced in relation to coming to work when her children needed her. Betty told her story to Esther, Dolores, and me one morning in the dayroom.     

The Archimedean point and eccentricity: Hannah Arendt's philosophy of Science and technology

In this contribution I discuss Hannah Arendt's philosophy of culture in three rounds. First I give an account of my view on Hannah Arendt's main work The Human Condition. In this frame of reference I distance myself from the importance attached to Hannah Arendt as a political philosopher and hold a warm plea for her as a philosopher of culture (I and II). Second I pay attention to her view on science and technology in their cultural meaning, expressed in the last chapter of The Human Condition. This part consists in a summary of her thoughts as I read them (III, IV, and V). After these two rounds I make some critical remarks on Hannah Arendt's interpretation of science and technology. The viewpoint of ‘eccentricity’ will be discussed as a frame of reference for her philosophy of culture (VI).     

Booming clangs and whispering ghosts: Attending to the reflexive echoes in IPA research

ABSTRACT

In this article, we propose reflexivity can be revealed through a deliberate adjunct to the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) process. This adjunct, which we refer to as “echoes,” is a mixture of the participant’s and researcher’s words and experiences resonating with each other during the research process. We argue that explicitly recognising echoes gives a heightened sensitivity to both the researcher’s own place and being in the research, and to the other in relation to the researcher. Exploring the echoes enables the researcher to work with, rather than dismiss, his or her own presuppositions and exposes greater phenomenological sensibility toward the research subject and is-ness of that phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to outline how attending to echoes is a strategy for IPA researchers to promote and overtly journal reflexivity as central within their research practices. To exemplify how echoes can be used, practical examples from a doctoral research project are given to demonstrate how resonance can explicate reflexivity in the IPA process.     

A Queer Death: The Funeral of Diana,Princess of Wales

Abstract

Elizabeth Stuart opens her paper by commenting that she feels that the most significant part of Michael Vasey's book, Stranger and Friends, is the final chapter on death. Vasey, she notes is one of the very few people to address the question of sexuality and death and his call for the queering of death has to be taken seriously. Stuart goes on to explore what a queer death might actually look like by reference to the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Through a close reading of the event, combined with personal experiences of having been in Hyde Park, Stuart shows how the many different mixed and ambiguous messages were brought together in the one event. The overall effect of this ambiguity was to subvert what should have been a national establishment ritual to make it accessible to many different people, especially to those who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. Stuart sees this as a possible pattern for the future and calls for far more work on this neglected area of sexuality and worship.     

Conclusion

Abstract

The influence of culture within a parent-child activity group is analyzed in order to explore how leaders of parent-child activity groups can use knowledge of group culture to design effective interventions. This chapter concludes with the author describing revisions to her original guidelines for parent-child activity group intervention which developed through her reflections on the findings of her qualitative study about one parent-child activity group.     

Dementia–A Spiritual Journey Towards the Divine: A Personal View of Dementia

SUMMARY

This chapter presents a moving account of one woman's journey into fronto-temporal dementia. Bryden grapples with the difficult issues of loss of self and relationship with God. She examines the significance of memory in the Christian journey, and finally, she proposes ways for relating to her as she moves further into dementia. The strategies suggested uphold her as a fellow member of the Body of Christ, where others may become her memory, and where she can still be nurtured through the love of others and feel God's love through them.     

Differences in Performance of Jewish and Non-Jewish Students on the American Council Psychological Examination

Abstract

(Murphy, G., Ed. Human Nature and Enduring Peace. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1945. Pp. 475.) Reviewed by George W. Hartmann.     

The Effect of Student Involvement on the Development of Academic Self-Concept

Abstract

Charles A. Ellwood. Methods in Sociology: A Critical Study. Durham, N. Car.: Duke University Press, 1933. Pp. 214. $1.50. Reviewed by Gardner Murphy     

The Influence of General Predispositions on Specific Attitudes

Abstract

(Saenger, G. Today's Refugees, Tomorrow's Citizens: A Story of Americanization. New York: Harper, 1941. Pp. 286.) Reviewed by Gardner Murphy.     

A Predictive Study of Stress Among Australian Dual-Career Couples

Abstract

Frank Lorimer and Frederick Osborne. Dynamics of Population: Social and biological significance of changing birth rates in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1934. Pp. xiii+461. Reviewed by Gardner Murphy     

Sense data and logical relations: Karin Costelloe-Stephen and Russell’s critique of Bergson

ABSTRACT

Though scholarship has explored Karin Costelloe-Stephen’s contributions to the history of psychoanalysis, as well as her relations to the Bloomsbury Group, her philosophical work has been almost completely ignored. This paper will examine her debate with Bertrand Russell over his criticism of Bergson. Costelloe-Stephen had employed the terminology of early analytic philosophy in presenting a number of arguments in defence of Bergson’s views. Costelloe-Stephen would object, among other things, to Russell’s use of an experiment which, as she points out, was first conducted by Carl Stumpf. Russell appeals to Stumpf's experiment in his attempt to prove that sense data are terms in logical relations, a thesis presupposed by the project of logical analysis outlined in Our Knowledge of the External World. A reformulated version of Costelloe-Stephen's argument put forth by this paper shows that Russell's argument fails to provide adequate proof for his thesis. Further modifications of the argument can also address a reconstruction (based on contemporary reports) of Russell's reply to Costelloe-Stephen. In his reply, Russell would use, already in 1914, the term ‘analytic philosophy’ in contrasting his and Moore’s approach to a continental one, exemplified by Bergson and Costelloe-Stephen.     

The socialization of emotion by parents: Following Saarni’s legacy

Abstract

In 1985, Carolyn Saarni and Michael Lewis published the landmark book, The Socialization of Emotions. In launching the focused study of emotion socialization, then guiding the field with her insights and observations for more than 3 decades, Saarni fostered the current vibrancy of the study of parents’ emotion socialization. In this paper, I begin by summarizing Saarni’s perspective on emotion socialization by parents. I then illustrate how her work has influenced, and continues to inform, many aspects of emotion socialization research by myself and others, as well as our understanding of the intricate and nuanced exchanges between children, parents and culture that serve to foster the emotional development of children. Emotion socialization is at once ubiquitous and subtly complex, and our deepening insights into its many forms and faces are themselves a tribute to Saarni’s ongoing legacy to the field.     

Personality Characteristics of Freshman Medical Students as Depicted by the Leary System

Abstract

(Biber, B., Murphy, L. B., Woodcock, L. P., &; Black, I. S. Child Life in School: A Study of a Seven-Year-Old Group. New York: Dutton, 1942. Pp. 658.) Reviewed by Louise Bates Ames     

The Perceived Relative Strength of the Therapeutic Alliance

ABSTRACT

The association between the perceived relative strength of the therapeutic alliance in couples therapy and psychotherapeutic outcome was investigated. The perceived relative strength of the couples therapeutic alliance was classified into three categories: a balancedalliance (an individual perceives his/her own alliance and the partner's alliance as approximately equal in strength), a positively biasedor blessedalliance (an individual perceives his/her alliance as stronger than the perception of the partner's alliance) and a negatively biasedor just biasedalliance (an individual perceives his/her alliance as weaker than the perception of the partner's alliance). The impact of a consensus or non-consensus within each partner about the perceived relative strength of the alliance on outcome was also investigated. The Alliance Inventory for Couples was used as a measure of the alliance and outcome was assessed with the Family Environment Scale and the Marital Satisfaction Scale. No statistically reliable relation was found between perceived relative strength of the alliance and improved outcome. Consensus was also not predictive of outcome. These findings failed to confirm previous theoretical propositions and empirical research. Possible reasons for discrepancies between the current findings and previous research are provided. The distinction between perceived strength and strength based upon independent self-report measures; and the designation of biased, blessed and balanced alliances merit future research.     

THWARTING THE PSYCHOANALYTIC DETECTIVES: DEFENDING THE SEVERN LEGACY

In 1993, The Legacy of Sandor Ferenczi (Aron & Harris) was published. This groundbreaking volume contained the chapter, The Case of “RN”: Sandor Ferenczi’s Radical Experiment in Psychoanalysis (Fortune, 1993), which told the story of “RN”—Ferenczi’s code-name in his Clinical Diary for his critically important patient, Elizabeth Severn. The chapter presented biographical details and original research supporting the rich clinical material revealed in Ferenczi’s Clinical Diary. Now, two decades later, RN has continued to affirm her place as one of the most important patients in the history of psychoanalysis. On this twentieth anniversary, just past, of the recognition of her story, I would like to reflect back and recount the beginnings of my “detective” work on the Case of RN, particularly my encounter with Severn’s daughter, Margaret.