The Annual Survey of Psychoanalysis,Volume III Edited by John Frosch and Nathaniel Ross,Sidney Tarachow,Jacob A. Arlow

The effects of brief group psychotherapy in relapse prevention were tested. The groups focused on the clients' capacity to formulate their own treatment goals, including controlled drinking, programmed relapse, and total abstinence. Twelve months after completion of the eight-week outpatient group treatment, thirty-five clients were followed up. There appeared to be no harmful effects as a result of the treatment. Nobody in the follow-up group had a deteriorated drinking pattern as compared to pretreatment data. The follow-up results were significantly better than before treatment and also than in a comparison group of alcohol dependent patients. It seemed as if those patients who could benefit from the treatment had a shorter duration of abuse and had a later onset of uncontrolled drinking compared to those who continued with a negative drinking pattern and the dropouts. The clients assigned the positive treatment effects to course leaders' encouragement of personal decision making, increased awareness of risk situations, and improved coping skills. The group situation in itself seemed to be of special importance for this result. The degree of structure implemented by course leaders allowed a free and respectful opennes to develop between group members.     

The Annual Survey of Psychoanalysis,Volume I Edited by John Frosch,in collaboration with Jacob A. Arlow,Nathaniel Ross,and Sidney Tarachow

Interaction analysis has become a standard tool for process-oriented research. Although now a researcher has a choice of instruments, the majority of these are based on the same concept of communication: the sender–receiver model. Communication is treated as a discrete and encoded process that progresses uniformly in time. We critically discuss these assumptions and the limits they put on communication research. It is asserted that instruments for interaction analysis based on the sender–receiver model restrict themselves to the more superficial levels of interaction and are unable to register the more significant events. Therefore they cannot account for a very essential feature of the communication process, namely the creation of meaning. Alternative options are discussed.     

Handbook of adult resilience,edited by John W. Reich,Alex J. Zautra,and John Stuart Hall

This study investigated differences in adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS), apprehension of personal and non-personal events, and the influence of recalled life events on LS. The affective temperament (AFT) classification was the framework for the research. Seventy male and 65 female adolescents participated. AFTs were developed through self-reported affect, generating four temperaments: self-actualizing, high affective, low affective, and self-destructive. LS was also self-reported. Apprehension for events was assessed through two tasks: (1) life event recollection and (2) interpretation and recognition of words in a short story. High and low affectives interpreted and remembered events as both self-actualizers and self-destructives. All AFTs, with the exception of self-destructives, showed positive biases. Only individuals with high positive affect were positively primed for non-personal events. Life events predicted self-destructives’ and low affectives’ LS. Self-actualizers showed higher LS, measured for a second time in a sub-sample, than self-destructives. The importance of the AFTs is discussed.     

The Asian Psychological Association founding convention, Bali, Indonesia, 2006

The First Convention of the Asian Psychological Association (APsyA) was held in Bali from 18-20th August 2006. This historic event marked the founding of the APsyA which is the first association in the Asian region with an individual membership spanning the whole field of psychology. The Conference was organized under the presidency of Sarlito Sarwono and was supported institutionally by the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Indonesia, Tarumanagara University, the Catholic University of Indonesia, the Indonesian Police Force, the International Council of Psychologists, Division 52 (International Psychology) of the American Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology. The Conference attracted over 120 participants from 17 countries; its Scientific Program covered matters such as indigenous Asian psychology, the contributions of psychology towards national development, and special issues in Asia. The principal symposium of the Conference dealt with terrorism and covered research into the psychology of terrorists, the process by which people become terrorists, and the rehabilitation of terrorists.