Freud was Right… About the Origins of Abnormal Behavior

Freud's psychodynamic theory is predominantly based on case histories of patients who displayed abnormal behavior. From a scientific point of view, Freud's analyses of these cases are unacceptable because the key concepts of his theory cannot be tested empirically. However, in one respect, Freud was totally right: most forms of abnormal behavior originate in childhood. In this paper various factors are discussed that play a role in the etiology of abnormal behavior in children and adolescents. Furthermore, problems are signaled that hinder effective interventions for disordered youths.     

To Be a Butterfly on the Wall of This Mansion …: In Place of a Response

This paper considers how the range of insights developed in the commentary of this special issue resonate with—rather than merely reflect upon—the ideas Cleonie J. White and I develop in our respective contributions.     

‘In the Beginning is Relation’: Martin Buber’s Alternative to Binary Oppositions

In this article we develop a relational understanding of sociality, that is, an account of social life that takes relation as primary. This stands in contrast to the common assumption that relations arise when subjects interact, an account that gives logical priority to separation. We will develop this relational understanding through a reading of the work of Martin Buber, a social philosopher primarily interested in dialogue, meeting, relationship, and the irreducibility and incomparability of reality. In particular, the article contrasts Buber??s work with that of poststructuralist theorists who take as their starting point the deconstruction of the Hegelian logic of binary oppositions. Deconstruction understands difference as the excess that undoes the binary, but Buber, we argue, shows how difference derives from the primacy and ontological undefinability of relation. Relational logic does not exclude the logic of separations and oppositions: relation is the primal ground that makes separations possible.     

In what sense is the no-no paradox a paradox?

Philosophical Studies - Cook regards Sorenson’s so-called ‘the no-no paradox’ as only a kind of ‘meta-paradox’ or ‘quasi-paradox’ because the symmetry...     

In Progress … I Hope: From Pediatrics to Psychoanalysis to …

Psychoanalysis must be an idiosyncratic matter. That means that the encounter between the patient and the analyst is carried out through the personal character of both participants. But there is something more. Historical and cultural patterns are also most influential. The present and the past social context where the psychoanalytic bipersonal meeting occurs is a significant factor in the evanescent constitution and the constant movement between the ego of the analyst and the ego of the patient. Therefore, in this radical view only Freud would fulfill a Freudian encounter. We, as probable post-Freudians, must be permanently searching for personal, idiosyncratic ways in the clinical work. Brazilian psychoanalysts face the challenge to treat their patients in a Brazilian way. To understand Brazilian people and the way psychoanalysis may develop in this land, we must know that Brazilians' lived experience is frequently blended by irony, paradox, and the fleeting character of the human life. Words—a pragmatic perspective of Brazilian words in action—are essential for the task. Interrogative psychoanalytic dialogues are my main topic of research.     

“because a fire was in my head”

This is a case study of a woman in midlife, trying to negotiate a transition from family attachment to sexual love and intimacy. The move was derailed earlier by traumatic adolescent losses, her denial of her lesbian identity, and the onset of bipolar disorder. By entering therapy, following her dreams and synchronous life events, and enduring another bipolar break, the woman was able to make the transition and become more completely herself.     

In the beginning was the rhyme? A reflection on Hulme,Hatcher, Nation,Brown, Adams,and Stuart (2002)

Phonological sensitivity at different grain sizes is a good predictor of reading acquisition in all languages. However, prior to any explicit tuition in alphabetic knowledge, phonological sensitivity develops at the larger grain sizes-syllables, onsets, and rimes-in all languages so far studied. There are also developmental differences in the grain size of lexical representations and reading strategies across orthographies. Phoneme-level skills develop fastest in children acquiring orthographically consistent languages with a simple syllabic (CV) structure, such as Finnish and Italian. For English, however, both "large" and "small" units are important for the successful acquisition of literacy.     

‘Martyrs as really as St Stephen was a martyr’? Commemorating the British dead of the First World War

Taking its cue from a phrase in a wartime sermon by the Bishop of London, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, this article examines the tensions between Christian and more secular approaches to the commemoration of the military casualties of the First World War. An initial overview of perceptions of sacrifice, martyrdom and Christian militarism in the early twentieth century is followed by discussion, in turn, of local war memorials, of the early policies of the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, and of the arrangements for the dedication of the Cenotaph and the interment of the ‘Unknown Warrior’ in Westminster Abbey on Armistice Day 1920. At the local and institutional level a wide spectrum of approaches between the overtly Christian and the robustly secular were adopted, but national memorialisation required compromise and consensus. Hence it was agreed that the war cemeteries should include both a Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance, and that there should be uniform headstones engraved with a cross or other religious symbol. Similarly the primarily (but not exclusively) secular ceremonial at the Cenotaph was seamlessly linked to the Christian funeral service for the Unknown in the Abbey. At the same time non-Christian faiths were accorded significant recognition. While other belligerent powers faced similar issues, and in some respects adopted similar solutions, in Britain there was nevertheless a distinctive and particularly pronounced blending of the Christian and the national which has had an abiding legacy.